Cultural Honours and Career Promotions: Re-conceptualizing Prizes in the Field of Cultural Production

Abstract

Despite their implications for careers, cultural goods and honours in the field of cultural production have rarely been examined as career events by culture researchers. More typically, cultural prizes are examined as they relate to the process of cultural valorization or are used to construct samples of venerated cultural products or producers for subsequent analysis. However, embedding cultural goods and distinctions in the career trajectories of cultural producers provides important neglected context. The example of the Academy Awards, the equivalent of a promotion in film acting, demonstrates the usefulness of the perspective. The research concludes that previously understood gendered age disparities are linked to earlier life course events, social networks, and structural factors that govern access to the career track. Implications for cultural policy are discussed.

Close, But No Cigar

“…4 The original objective of establishing the Oscars was to recognize excellence in film, making the "best" in the field salient and thereby increasing the esteem (and market demand) for the selected films disproportionate to those that are not considered "best" (Lincoln 2007;Rossman, Esparza, and Bonacich 2010). Nelson and colleagues' (2001) empirical results illustrate how the Oscars transform small differences in quality into large differences in earnings.…”

“…In contrast, other judgment devices, such as rankings, create relatively continuous distinctions, following a logic of ordinal valorization rather than discontinuous consecration (see Allen and Parsons [2006] for the difference between valorization and consecration). Whereas such ordinal valorization assigns incrementally differentiated prestige to the majority of products, prizes elevate a few products above the rest (Anand and Watson 2004;Frank and Cook 1995;Goode 1978;Lincoln 2007). This means that in distinguishing the truly excellent, prizes create a complement of losers that homogenizes the merely good with the mediocre and the atrocious.…”

“…Given their close fit with our theory's scope conditions, their usage in prior sociological research (e.g., Faulkner and Anderson 1987;Lincoln 2007;Rossman et al 2010), and the availability of systematic data over a prolonged period of time, we use the Oscars to test our hypotheses. The unit of analysis is the film.…”

“…As a result, the existence of prizes can extend the breadth of cultural fields by creating demand for works with high prize appeal but comparatively little direct mass appeal. Overall, our argument suggests that pursuing consecration is a risky strategy, thereby providing a new twist on the literature on effects of cultural prizes (e.g., Lee 2009;Lincoln 2007) by also reckoning the costs of their pursuit.…”

Cinematic success criteria and their predictors: The art and business of the film industry

“…For example, women more often get their start as models and thereby enter the acting profession at younger ages. This early start helps account for the fact that women tend to earn major acting awards sooner than men (Gilberg & Hines, 2000;Lincoln, 2007;cf. Markson & Taylor, 1993).…”