Cultural goods and the limits of the market : beyond commercial modelling

The chapters in this book were written over a period of ten years or so. Four of them (Chapters 1-4) have been published previously; the others (Chapters 5-8) have not, though the final one draws on other published papers not included here. All of them, though in different ways, address a single problem, that of 'market boundaries': they explore the possible grounds for regarding the market as an inappropriate framework for the conduct of certain kinds of activities, and hence for placing limits on the scope or extent of the market domain. Their main focus is on a particular, though loosely defined, class of such activities which may be called 'cultural', including broadcasting, the arts, academic research and so on. They are intended to show why it is that cultural activities of this kind, and the institutions within which they are conducted, should be 'protected' in various ways from the operation of the market. The Introduction, as well as outlining their respective contents, sketches out the trajectory of thought which led to their composition. It is written in a somewhat more personal mode than is usual, but I hope it will prove helpful in making sense of what follows, and not be seen merely as self-indulgent. It also makes clear my indebtedness to the work of several writers, especially Alasdair MacIntyre and Michael Walzer, despite my sometimes being critical of their claims and putting their ideas to uses they would not endorse. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the long period of time over which the various chapters have been written, I changed my mind about certain things in the course of writing them. These changes are explained in the Introduction; they imply that some of the arguments relied on in the earlier chapters, in Part I, are rejected in the later ones, in Part II. Having concluded that some (though not all) of what I had previously argued was wrong, I should perhaps have excluded these earlier chapters, or tried to re-work them to bring them more fully into line with the later ones. But I decided not to do this, and have instead included them in their original form. After all, I might now be wrong to think they are wrong, and perhaps someone else will find my reasons for doubting them unconvincing. And in any case, despite these intellectual doubts, I still find the arguments in Part I more attractive than some of those in Part II. i x x P r e f a c e P a r t I Keeping the Market at Bay \* First published in R. Keat, N. Whiteley and N. Abercrombie (eds), T h e Authority of the Consumer, London: Routledge 1994, pp. 23-42, and reproduced here by permission of the publishers. Cross-references to other essays in the present volume have been added in square brackets; otherwise no substantive changes to the original text have been made. Its arguments are influenced by other papers in The Authority of the Consumer, especially Abercrombie (1994) and Whiteley (1994); also by Abercrombie (1991). "In this book Russell Keat presents a theoretical challenge to extensions of the market domain and the introduction of commercially modelled forms of organization in areas such as broadcasting, the arts and academic research Drawing on Michael Walzer's pluralistic conception of social goods and their respective spheres, and Alasdair MacIntyre's account of social practices and their institutional requirements, he argues that cultural activities of this kind, and the institutions within which they are conducted, can best make their distinctive contributions to human well-being when protected from the damaging effects of an unbounded market."--Jacket In Cultural Institutions and the Limits of the Market, Russell Keat presents a theoretical challenge to recent extensions of the market domain and the introduction of commercially modeled forms of organizations in areas such as broadcasting, the arts, and academic research. Drawing on Walzer's pluralistic conception of social goods and MacIntyre's account of social practices, he argues that cultural activities of this kind, and the institutions within which they are conducted, can best make distinctive contributions to human well-being when protected from the damaging effects of an unbounded market. In Cultural Goods and the Limits of the Market , Russell Keat presents a theoretical challenge to recent extensions of the market domain and the introduction of commercially modelled forms of organization in areas such as broadcasting, the arts and academic research. Drawing on Walzer's pluralistic conception of social goods, and MacIntyre's account of social practices, he argues that cultural activities of this kind, and the institutions within which they are conducted, can best make their distinctive contributions to human well-being when protected from the damaging effects of an unbounded market.