Is Culture Bad for Us? Modern Trends in Understanding of the Social Functioning of the Art

Abstract

The critical review of trends in modern sociological interpretations of the artistic culture problems in Western countries presented in this article is based on the analysis of scientific publications of the last two decades. It demonstrates the breadth of the subject field of the sociology of art, the diversity of the author’s concepts and trends in theoretical understanding of artistic life. Today, in the sociology of art, as in other social sciences, there is an obvious rejection of immutable truths and taboos, and the interpretation of empirical facts is often polemical. They increasingly reflect the personality of the author and their attitude to moral and ethical aspects that go beyond the framework of cultural life — social justice and inequality, racial, gender and other problems of modern society. The revision of axiological guidelines and the relativity of modern criteria of truth can give rise to doubts not only about the importance of the empirical study of artistic life, but also about the practical need for public support for art and even about the epistemological potential of science. The desire for absolute freedom of art from external influences, for universal equality in cultural consumption and social justice in the literal sense of the word, sometimes paradoxically turns into a denial of the humanistic essence of art and even leads to statements about the dangers of artistic culture for people. However, most scientists in the West still agree that in order to maintain the positive social role of art, we must continue the attempts to comprehend the challenges posed by the global trends of our time. In this regard, it is extremely important to find common ground for uniting the efforts of art-centric and empirical areas of the sociology of art.

Keywords

• art-centrism
• empirical sociology of art
• social functioning of art
• cultural policy
• public support
• audience research