Abstract
This chapter discusses the role of knowledge and knowledge production within the discourse and practice of cultural policy. The vantage point of the analysis is that it is an interdependency between cultural policy and cultural policy research, between the production of knowledge and the production of policy. The nature of the interdependency and the relational structures between these two fields are the focal points of the chapter. Hylland and Mangset approach politics and expert knowledge as two distinctive value systems, and aim to understand how these systems interact. With a vantage point from general studies of political use of knowledge and using concrete cases of commissioned research, including their own, Hylland and Mangset describe a general framework for how we might understand and analyse the nature of the relation between cultural policy and cultural policy research.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
It was Professor Jon Bing, international expert of IT and information law, and (then) chair of the Arts Council, who assumed the responsibility to get the report published. During that same period (1994–2000), Mangset was working part-time with establishing a research unit in the Arts Council (Mangset 1997a, preface by Bing).
- 2.
OCA, Music Norway, Performing Arts Hub Norway, etc. (MFA 2013, p. 15).
- 3.
Mangset published these final publications shortly after the publication of the white paper (but he did not alter them because of it). Mangset had submitted a very similar preliminary report to the ministry before the termination of the white paper.
- 4.
This and all other quotes from the white paper is translated by the authors.
- 5.
Boswell discusses how different areas of policy relates to expert knowledge, and whether there are any general criteria that influences the role of this knowledge. Discussing this, she separates between instrumental and legitimizing functions of knowledge and uses several parameters to distinguish between different fields of policy. One central parameter is whether the policy area contributes to a visible output, and whether it is perceived to be a strong or weak causality between a visible output and policy intervention. These parameters are named Visibility and Attribution. Where both are high, an instrumental function of knowledge will be most likely, according to Boswell, while the legitimating function will be more important where there is a low visibility and a high attribution.
References
Belfiore, Eleanore. 2009. “On Bullshit in Cultural Policy Practice and Research: Notes from the British Case.” International Journal of Cultural Policy 15 (3): 343–359.
Belfiore, Eleanore, and Oliver Bennett. 2010. “Beyond the ‘Toolkit Approach’: Arts Impact Evaluation Research and the Realities of Cultural Policy‐Making.” Journal for Cultural Research 14 (2): 121–142.
Bell, David, and Kate Oakley. 2015. Cultural Policy. London: Routledge.
Berge, Ola. 2017. “Look to Norway™. Current Norwegian Foreign Cultural Policy.” PhD diss., University College of Southeast Norway.
Boswell, Christina. 2008. “The Political Functions of Expert Knowledge: Knowledge and Legitimation in European Union Immigration Policy.” Journal of European Public Policy 15 (4): 471–488.
Boswell, Christina. 2009. The Political Uses of Expert Knowledge: Immigration Policy and Social Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brint, Steven. 1990. “Rethinking the Policy Influence of Experts: From General Characterizations to Analysis of Variation.” Sociological Forum 5 (3): 361–385.
Brooks, Thom. 2006. “Knowledge and Power in Plato’s Political Thought.” International Journal of Philosophical Studies 14 (1): 51–77.
Cairney, Paul. 2012. Understanding Public Policy: Theories and Issues. Houndmills: Palgrave.
Caplan, Nathan. 1979. “The Two-Communities Theory and Knowledge Utilization.” American Behavioral Scientist 22 (3): 459–470.
Cartwright, Nancy, Andrew Goldfinch, and Jeremy Howick. 2010. “Evidence-Based Policy: Where Is Our Theory of Evidence?” Journal of Children’s Services 4 (4): 6–14.
Christensen, Johan, and Cathrine Holst. 2017. “Advisory Commissions, Academic Expertise and Democratic Legitimacy: The Case of Norway.” Science and Public Policy 44 (6): 821–833.
Donnat, Olivier. 1998. Les pratiques culturelles des Français. Enquête 1997. Paris: Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication.
Donnat, Olivier. 1999. “La stratification sociale des pratiques culturelles et son évolution 1973–1997.” Revue française de sociologie XL (1): 111–119. http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rfsoc_0035-2969_1999_num_40_1_5150.
Donnat, Olivier. 2009. Les pratiques culturelles des Français à l’ère numérique. Paris: La Découverte/Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication.
Estlund, David. 2003. “Why not Epistocracy?” In Desire, Identity and Existence: Essays in Honor of T.M. Penner, edited by Naomi Reshotko, 53–69. Kelowna: Academic Print and Publishing.
Fisher, Rod. 1999. “Beyond Cultural Diplomacy—International Cultural Cooperation—Whose Business Is It Anyway?” Conference Reader, Cracow 10–13 June. Krakow: Circle http://www.circle-network.org/activity/cracow1999/beyond.htm.
Galloway, Susan. 2009. “Theory-Based Evaluation and the Social Impact of the Arts.” Cultural Trends 18 (2): 125–148.
Goldman, Alvin, and Thomas Blanchard. 2016. “Social Epistemology.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Winter edition, edited by Edward N. Zalta. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/epistemology-social/.
Gunter, Helen M., David Hall, and Colin Mills. 2015. “Consultants, Consultancy and Consultocracy in Education Policymaking in England.” Journal of Education Policy 30 (4), 518–539.
Holst, Cathrine. 2012. “What Is Epistocracy?” In Sacred Science? On Science and Its Interrelations with Religious Worldviews, edited by Simen Andersen Øyen, Tone Lund-Olsen, and Nora Sørensen Vaage, 41–54. Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Publishers.
Holst, Cathrine, and Anders Molander. 2017. “Public Deliberation and the Fact of Expertise: Making Experts Accountable.” Social Epistemology 31 (3): 235–250.
Innst. 260 S. 2011–2012. Innstilling fra familie- og kulturkomiteen om kultur, inkludering og deltaking [Parliamentary Recommendation from the Standing Committee on Family and Culture Matters].
Loga, Jill. 2010. Betydning av kultur og frivillighet for helse, trivsel og lykke. En kunnskapsoversikt [The Significance of Culture and Volunteer Activities for Health, Wellbeing and Happiness]. Oslo: Senter for forskning på sivilsamfunn og frivillig sektor.
Mangset, Per. 1997a. Kulturskiller i kultursamarbeid. Om norsk kultursamarbeid med utlandet [Cultural Divisions in Cultural Cooperation. On Norwegian Cultural Cooperation with Foreign Countries]. Oslo: Norsk kulturråd.
Mangset, Per. 1997b. “Cultural Divisions in International Cultural Cooperation.” International Journal of Cultural Policy 4 (1): 85–106.
Mangset, Per. 2010. “Etablering av nye kulturstudier innenfor akademia. “Cultural studies” og “cultural policy research”—Dialog eller konflikt?” [Establishing New Cultural Research within Academia. Cultural Studies and Cultural Policy Research—Dialogue or Conflict?]. Tidsskrift for kulturforskning 9 (4): 23–38.
Mangset, Per. 2012a. Demokratisering av kulturen? Om sosial ulikhet i kulturbruk og -deltakelse [Democratizing Culture? On Social Inequalities in Cultural Consumption and Participation]. Bø, Telemark: Telemarksforsking.
Mangset, Per. 2012b. “Er demokratisering av kultur mulig?” I: Hunting high and low. Skriftfest til Jostein Gripsrud på 60-årsdagen [Festschrift for Jostein Gripsrud], edited by Jan Fredrik Hovden and Karl Knapskog, 588–613. Oslo: Spartacus.
Mangset, Per. 2013. En armlengdes avstand eller statens forlengede arm? Armlengdesprinsippet i norsk og internasjonal kulturpolitikk. Bø, Telemark: Telemarksforsking.
Mangset, Per, and Ole Marius Hylland. 2017. Kulturpolitikk. Organisering, legitimering og praksis. [Cultural policy. Organization, legitimation and practice]. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Merton, Robert K. 1973. The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ministry of Cultural Affairs. 2012. Meld. St. 10 (2011–2012) Kultur, inkludering og deltaking [Governmental White Paper on Culture, Inclusion and Participation].
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2013. Meld. St. 19 (2012–2013) Regjeringens internasjonale kulturinnsats [Governmental White Paper on International Cultural Work].
NOU. 2013. Kulturutredningen [Report on Cultural Policy from Public Commission], 4. Oslo: Kulturdepartementet.
Prewitt, Kenneth, Thomas A. Schwandt, and Miron L. Straf, eds. 2012. Using Science as Evidence in Public Policy. Washington: The National Academies Press.
Sanderson, Ian. 2002. “Evaluation, Policy Learning and Evidence‐Based Policy Making.” Public Administration 80 (1): 1–22.
Selwood, Sara. 2010. “La politique culturelle en Angleterre: influences, contraintes et risques.” In Tendences et défis des politiques culturelles. Cas nationaux en perspective, edited by Diane Saint-Pierre and Claudine Audet, 53–87. Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval.
Shapin, Stephen. 1995. “Here and Everywhere: Sociology of Scientific Knowledge.” Annual Review of Sociology 21 (1): 289–321.
The Research Council of Norway. 2017. Evaluation of the Norwegian Social Science Research Institutes. Principal Report. Oslo: The Research Council of Norway.
Turner, Stephen. 2001. “What Is the Problem with Experts?” Social Studies of Science 31 (1): 123–149.
Valentine, Jeremy. 2007. “Political Art, Cultural Policy, and Artistic Agency.” Social Analysis: The International Journal of Social and Cultural Practice 51 (1): 96–111.
Vibert, Frank. 2007. The Rise of the Unelected: Democracy and the New Separation of Powers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Weiss, Carol H. 1977. “Research for Policy’s Sake: The Enlightenment Function of Social Research.” Policy Analysis 3 (4): 531–545.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hylland, O.M., Mangset, P. (2018). Knowledge Production as Mediator Between Aesthetics and Politics: The Role of Research in Cultural Policy. In: Hylland, O., Bjurström, E. (eds) Aesthetics and Politics. New Directions in Cultural Policy Research. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77854-9_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77854-9_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-77853-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-77854-9
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)