The Value of Commercial Arts and Culture: A comparative mixed-methods approach to the reception of popular culture
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Surrey
Department Name: Sociology
Abstract
This project explores the cultural and aesthetic value of commercial culture and arts, focusing on six main areas of contemporary popular culture: film, television, popular music, video gaming, popular literature and comedy.
Aesthetic and cultural value are of great importance. In our daily live we constantly make decisions about which forms of culture, art and entertainment we engage with; what texts, works and genres we enjoy, and which ones we value. The vast majority of these are commercial produced. Scholars of many disciplines across arts and humanities, in turn, are tasked to assess the relative worth of different works and objects of art and culture.
Yet, methods to evaluate, let alone quantify, cultural value have remained highly controversial, often either focusing solely on process of the production of arts and culture (artists, authors and industries) or conversely only studying uses of popular culture and arts by users alone. There are no objective criteria by which we can determine the aesthetic value of a given object, work or genre - and, as some sociological research has demonstrated, the cultural hierarchies that underpin many of our experiences of popular culture and arts reflect and sometimes legitimise existing hierarchies and inequalities in society.
This project therefore seeks to understand aesthetic value not as something that is bound up with a given work of art or text, but that is located in the interaction between culture/art and recipient. Drawing on the notion of 'horizon of experience' the project explores to what extent texts and works in the six different fields of commercial popular culture studied in this project challenge audiences' previous experiences, preferences and expectations and facilities a 'horizontal change' that enriches and broadens previous experiences. This study of intrinsic cultural value in the reception of popular commercial art and culture is supplement by the study of extrinsic social value: the degree to which users, enthusiast and fans experience film, television, popular music, video gaming, popular literature and comedy as pleasurable and enjoyable, becoming an affective part of our identities, and contributing to our wider engagement with culture, arts and society.
We do so by employing two different methods from social science research: firstly, based on the analysis of past surveys, we will design and conduct a survey across the main fields of commercial popular culture and arts. This survey will reveal a number of characteristics about the audiences for different fields and genres in commercial arts and culture, including their age, sex and occupation, their values, cultural preferences, consumption patterns, and media usage. Secondly, on the basis of different groups identified in the survey we will select a total of 24 participants, four each from the fields of film, television, popular music, video gaming, popular literature and comedy, for in-depth follow-up interviews in which we explore the history of interviewees' enthusiasm and engagements, and the role that particular fields of popular commercial culture music plays in their everyday life and their sense of identity. Using both methods in parallel will allow us to achieve the following aims:
- To identify how and under what circumstances commercial culture and arts enriches and broadens the experiences of users and readers.
- To reveal significant variations in the degrees that different fields of commercial culture and arts enrich and broaden the experiences of users and readers.
- To explore and document how commercial culture and value become important sources of enjoyment, well-being, belonging and wider participation in cultural life.
- To develop and assess research strategies that successfully use a combination of surveying and interviewing methods which are particularly suited to cultural value in commercial arts and culture.
Aesthetic and cultural value are of great importance. In our daily live we constantly make decisions about which forms of culture, art and entertainment we engage with; what texts, works and genres we enjoy, and which ones we value. The vast majority of these are commercial produced. Scholars of many disciplines across arts and humanities, in turn, are tasked to assess the relative worth of different works and objects of art and culture.
Yet, methods to evaluate, let alone quantify, cultural value have remained highly controversial, often either focusing solely on process of the production of arts and culture (artists, authors and industries) or conversely only studying uses of popular culture and arts by users alone. There are no objective criteria by which we can determine the aesthetic value of a given object, work or genre - and, as some sociological research has demonstrated, the cultural hierarchies that underpin many of our experiences of popular culture and arts reflect and sometimes legitimise existing hierarchies and inequalities in society.
This project therefore seeks to understand aesthetic value not as something that is bound up with a given work of art or text, but that is located in the interaction between culture/art and recipient. Drawing on the notion of 'horizon of experience' the project explores to what extent texts and works in the six different fields of commercial popular culture studied in this project challenge audiences' previous experiences, preferences and expectations and facilities a 'horizontal change' that enriches and broadens previous experiences. This study of intrinsic cultural value in the reception of popular commercial art and culture is supplement by the study of extrinsic social value: the degree to which users, enthusiast and fans experience film, television, popular music, video gaming, popular literature and comedy as pleasurable and enjoyable, becoming an affective part of our identities, and contributing to our wider engagement with culture, arts and society.
We do so by employing two different methods from social science research: firstly, based on the analysis of past surveys, we will design and conduct a survey across the main fields of commercial popular culture and arts. This survey will reveal a number of characteristics about the audiences for different fields and genres in commercial arts and culture, including their age, sex and occupation, their values, cultural preferences, consumption patterns, and media usage. Secondly, on the basis of different groups identified in the survey we will select a total of 24 participants, four each from the fields of film, television, popular music, video gaming, popular literature and comedy, for in-depth follow-up interviews in which we explore the history of interviewees' enthusiasm and engagements, and the role that particular fields of popular commercial culture music plays in their everyday life and their sense of identity. Using both methods in parallel will allow us to achieve the following aims:
- To identify how and under what circumstances commercial culture and arts enriches and broadens the experiences of users and readers.
- To reveal significant variations in the degrees that different fields of commercial culture and arts enrich and broaden the experiences of users and readers.
- To explore and document how commercial culture and value become important sources of enjoyment, well-being, belonging and wider participation in cultural life.
- To develop and assess research strategies that successfully use a combination of surveying and interviewing methods which are particularly suited to cultural value in commercial arts and culture.
Planned Impact
Far from being a singular concern of scholarly appreciation and classification, the systematic study of the value of art and culture is of significance to a range of user groups and thus directly and indirectly aids economic sustainability, cultural and social reflection and progress, and individual well-being. In exploring the engagements with six distinct fields of popular, commercial arts and culture (film, television, literature, popular music, gaming and comedy) this study offers a particularly broad scope that will allow different user groups to explore, address and utilise different formations of cultural value within and across different fields of commercial, popular culture and arts.
In studying both the intrinsic value of popular commercial culture and arts through the notion of the horizon of experience - and thereby assessing the degree to which different works and genres in commercial culture and arts challenge and broaden past experiences and understandings of the world around us - as well as the extrinsic value of commercial culture and art manifested in forms of enjoyment, belonging and wider social and cultural engagement, this research will offer benefits to the following user groups:
(1) Cultural policy aimed at (a) legislating the relationship between publicly funded and commercial arts and culture and (b) seeking to support the growth of creative industries as significant contributor to the UK economy will benefit from the development of new methodological approaches to the study of intrinsic and extrinsic cultural value as well as from the empirical findings of this project, which enable comparative studies of different fields of commercial culture and arts.
(2) The typologies of audience engagements resulting from this research as well as the mapping of the relationship between engagements in different fields of popular culture among contemporary users and consumers will assist those concerned with planning and developing commercial strategies in the commercial creative industries.
(3) The study of intrinsic cultural value in turn will offer important insight about inherent challenges and value in engagements with different forms of commercial culture and arts to creative professionals in the creative industries.
(4) Finally, questions of cultural value are also of significance to those who regularly and often affectively engage with popular, commercial arts and culture: the general public and in particular frequent users, enthusiast and fans. Studying intrinsic and extrinsic cultural value, inviting members of the public participating in the survey and interviews to recount their uses and evaluations of commercial arts and culture, and disseminating our research findings through a website aimed at a general audience - and thus inviting members of the public to compare their own cultural experiences and assessments of value to our findings the project actively fosters public engagement with question of cultural value and advances forms of reflective citizenship, as well as the public engagement in social science.
In studying both the intrinsic value of popular commercial culture and arts through the notion of the horizon of experience - and thereby assessing the degree to which different works and genres in commercial culture and arts challenge and broaden past experiences and understandings of the world around us - as well as the extrinsic value of commercial culture and art manifested in forms of enjoyment, belonging and wider social and cultural engagement, this research will offer benefits to the following user groups:
(1) Cultural policy aimed at (a) legislating the relationship between publicly funded and commercial arts and culture and (b) seeking to support the growth of creative industries as significant contributor to the UK economy will benefit from the development of new methodological approaches to the study of intrinsic and extrinsic cultural value as well as from the empirical findings of this project, which enable comparative studies of different fields of commercial culture and arts.
(2) The typologies of audience engagements resulting from this research as well as the mapping of the relationship between engagements in different fields of popular culture among contemporary users and consumers will assist those concerned with planning and developing commercial strategies in the commercial creative industries.
(3) The study of intrinsic cultural value in turn will offer important insight about inherent challenges and value in engagements with different forms of commercial culture and arts to creative professionals in the creative industries.
(4) Finally, questions of cultural value are also of significance to those who regularly and often affectively engage with popular, commercial arts and culture: the general public and in particular frequent users, enthusiast and fans. Studying intrinsic and extrinsic cultural value, inviting members of the public participating in the survey and interviews to recount their uses and evaluations of commercial arts and culture, and disseminating our research findings through a website aimed at a general audience - and thus inviting members of the public to compare their own cultural experiences and assessments of value to our findings the project actively fosters public engagement with question of cultural value and advances forms of reflective citizenship, as well as the public engagement in social science.
Organisations
Publications
Sandvoss, C
Keynote: Music Enthusisam and Social Change
in Popular Music Fandom and the Public Sphere - A One Day Symposium
| Description | The findings to this study are based on three datasets exploring enthusiasm across six fields of commercial popular culture and arts (CPCA): literature, music, television, film, comedy and gaming. These six fields were complemented by three further fields commonly associated with the respective polar ends of the spectrum between commercial entertainment and art: visual culture and theatre on one end and football at the other. A total of 1057 respondents completed the combined nine surveys (Dataset A) focusing on value by examining 1) Cultural preferences and enjoyment of commercial, popular arts and culture (CPCA); (2) Patterns of consumption and media use; (3) the interplay and intertextuality between areas of CPCA (e.g. between film and gaming); (4) the correlation between the reception of CPCA and non-commercial art; (5) social and political values (6) socio-demographics (e.g. .age, sex, occupation). A second survey (Dataset B) was completed by 784 respondents out of the 1057 respondents who had completed the initial survey. This survey enquired about a.) familiarity, b.) the personal liking and c.) the perceived value of 15 texts and objects of art from across the spectrum of arts and popular culture including individual arts, poetry, music, television and comedy. The final dataset (Dataset C) is composed of 36 semi-structured interviews drawn from participants of the Cultural Value Survey. Four Interviewees each were drawn from the nine fields of commercial, popular arts and culture (CPCA) and interviews explored (a) the history of enthusiasm; (b) affective relationship with emotional quality of fan object; (c) social context of enthusiasm and fandom; (d) genre context and wider engagements in CPCA; (e) media use; and (f) value judgements. Based on the analysis of all three datasets hitherto, key findings include: • Datasets A and C document high levels of extrinsic cultural value in the form of social and cultural utility. Fans and enthusiast across all nine fields of study are generally more likely to be engaged in both cultural and political life, with the partial exception of gaming enthusiasts. This headline finding holds particular importance to policy considerations about the funding and regulation of arts, media and culture. • Datasets A and C also demonstrate important variations across the nine fields of study. With regard to extrinsic value or social utility, both music and football enthusiasm and fandom facilitate particularly high levels of social capital and connectivity. Enthusiasm in these fields is also associated with lower level of challenges to exiting beliefs and lower levels of interest in social or political change. • Conversely, narrative forms of art and popular including television, literature and theatre appear to possess higher levels of intrinsic aesthetic value through reception experiences that challenge and broaden exiting expectations and experiences. These narrative art forms are also associated with higher levels of both critical readings of the status quo and civic and political engagements aimed at social change. Notably, contrary to the expectations of its respective fans, Dataset A indicates a substantively higher intrinsic value of television compared film. • Fourthly, a combination of quantitative and qualitative datasets allows to complement the detailed mapping of correlation in non-longitudinal quantitative studies with detailed findings on causation and external factors shaping the cultural value of different fields of enthusiasm in qualitative work drawn from the same pool of respondents. |
| Exploitation Route | The three datasets produced by this work offer the opportunity of extensive further analysis of the interplay between cultural participation and enthusiasm from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives within and beyond academia. The datasets hold important insights for makers of cultural policy in detailing the interplay between the utility and value of engagements in nine popular fields of cultural engagements spanning, for example, across the remit of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. They also establish the interplay between such enthusiasm and values as well as citizenship. Other aspects of the datasets concerning, for instance, the relationship between tourism and event attendance or media use among fans and enthusiasts in given fields are of significance to the cultural industry sector. In addition further analysis of the relationship of the quantitative and the qualitative data offers insights into the development of suitable methodologies of digital media use. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Creative Economy Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism Government Democracy and Justice Culture Heritage Museums and Collections Transport Other |
| URL | http://www.culture-survey.org/results/ |
| Description | As findings are in the process of being published, this section will be updated in 2015. |
| Title | Cultural Value Survey - Judgement (Survey B) |
| Description | This dataset is based on online Computer Assisted Self Interviewing of 784 respondents between May and July 2014 who had previously completed the Cultural Value Survey - Value (Survey A). The survey enquires about a.) familiarity, b.) the personal liking and c.) the perceived value of 15 texts and objects of art from across the spectrum of arts and popular culture including vidual arts, poetry, music, television and comedy. Respondents were drawn from the completed more than one survey, meaning that the number of unique respondents for all surveys is 784 Specifically, 169 responded as music enthusiasts; 115 as film enthusiasts; 116 as television enthusiasts; 83 as literature enthusiasts; 92 as comedy enthusiasts; 60 as gaming enthusiasts; 57 as theatre enthusiasts; 49 as visual art enthusiasts; and 43 as football enthusiasts. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Publications on the analysis of this dataset are currently in preparation - this section will be updated in 2015. |
| URL | http://www.culture-survey.org |
| Title | Cultural Value Survey - Value (Survey A) |
| Description | This dataset is based on online Computer Assisted Self Interviewing of 1057 respondents between May and July 2014.The quantitative survey was structured into five sections: 1) Cultural preferences and enjoyment of commercial, popular arts and culture (CPCA); (2) Patterns of consumption and media use; (3) the interplay and intertextuality between areas of CPCA (e.g. between film and gaming); (4) the correlation between the reception of CPCA and non-commercial art; (5) social and political values. (6) Socio-demographics (e.g. .age, sex, occupation). The survey questions for sections 5 and 6 were taken from well established, high quality surveys (Understanding Society and the British Social Attitudes Survey). For sections 1-4, we developed and piloted our own CPCA specific questions, informed by similar items found in the Arts in England Survey. The final survey was 49 questions long. Some respondents completed more than one survey, meaning that the number of unique respondents for all surveys is 982. Specifically, 222 responded as music enthusiasts; 160 as film enthusiasts; 146 as television enthusiasts; 111 as literature enthusiasts; 109 as comedy enthusiasts; 86 as gaming enthusiasts; 85 as theatre enthusiasts; 73 as visual art enthusiasts; and 65 as football enthusiasts. Incompletion rate, that is, the number of surveys started and then abandoned with the majority of the survey still left to complete, was 18%. Of those that were completed, 96% were fully completed with only two survey items demonstrating some significant non-response. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Publications on the analysis of this dataset are currently under review - this section will be updated in 2015. |
| URL | http://www.culture-survey.org/ |
| Title | Cultural Value and Judgement Semi-Structured Interviewes |
| Description | This data set is composed of the transcripts of 36 semi-structured interviews drawn from participants of the Cultural Value Survey. Four interviewees each were drawn from nine fields of commercial, popular arts and culture (CPCA): music, film, television, literature, gaming, comedy, theatre, visual arts and football. The interview spanned across the following themes: (a) history of enthusiasm; (b) affective relationship with emotional quality of fan object; (c) social context of enthusiasm and fandom; (d) genre context and wider engagements in CPCA; (e) media use; and (f) value judgements. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The publications based on this dataset are currently in preparation. The impact statement will be updated in 2015. |
| URL | http://www.culture-survey.org/home/#/commercialculture/ |