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KULMEDIA-Kultur- og mediesektoren

Political Dynamics of the Cultural Sector

Alternative title: Politiske dynamikker i kultursektoren

Awarded: NOK 11.4 mill.

This project depart from the hypothesis that explanations for developments in cultural policy, and in particular its failure to realize programmatic goals, are found in the dynamics of interest-based politics that at work in the cultural sector. The aim of the project is to generate new empirical and theoretical understanding of these political dynamics, the forms and outcomes these take in various domains of the sector and how they shape developments within the sector. As such, the project addresses an important gap in knowledge within the field of cultural policy research, which has been concerned mainly with the study of the formulation of official strategies and goals of cultural policy and their implementation. Through the development of the concept of ?state patronage?, the project aims to promote theoretically informed critical understanding of cultural policy within the field of cultural policy research.

This project depart from the hypothesis that explanations for developments in cultural policy, and in particular its failure to realize programmatic goals, are found in the dynamics of interest-based politics that at work in the cultural sector. The aim of the project is to generate new empirical and theoretical understanding of these political dynamics, the forms and outcomes these take in various domains of the sector and how they shape developments within the sector. As such, the project addresses an important gap in knowledge within the field of cultural policy research, which has been concerned mainly with the study of the formulation of official strategies and goals of cultural policy and their implementation. Through the development of the concept of “state patronage”, the project aims to promote theoretically informed critical understanding of cultural policy within the field of cultural policy research. More specifically, the project addresses questions of what the political dynamics of the cultural sector are made up of, in terms of forms of actors, relations, interests and actions, and how these enable or restrict changes in cultural policy, the distribution of resources within the sector and its responses to challenges of digitalization. These questions will be illuminated through empirical studies in Norway and other Nordic countries that rely on qualitative and quantitative methods from the social sciences. The studies will generate new knowledge on the relations and obligations of policy makers at various levels of government to actors that seek to influence cultural policy. They will illuminate policy making processes in the cultural sector related to organization reforms, investments in infrastructure, regulations of the book market and the role of digitally mediated literature. Also illuminated in the project is the role of private donations and donators in the cultural sector.

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KULMEDIA-Kultur- og mediesektoren

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