What Do We Know About Cultural Participation and Non-participation?

Abstract

This chapter deals with the social underpinnings of cultural participation. The most common socio-economic indicators predicting low cultural participation across different national contexts are discussed. It is argued in the light of other empirical studies that the operationalisations are often far from solid and tend to depart from highbrow-oriented participation. This means that many forms of more mundane participation often remain invisible and that activity outside of conventional culture is easily labelled as inactivity or passivity. The everyday participation debate is discussed here as a reminder of the importance of the many informal and locally negotiated cultural practices for understanding cultural participation and non-participation. Finally, it is argued that different understandings of the value of culture are at the heart of the cultural policy debates.