The Concept of Cultural Welfare

Abstract

The long-established critical institutions have no option but to face up to reality now that their divided loyalties and ‘institutional sclerosis’ are only too obvious. Traditional culture is in such a state of confusion that consumers are on the verge of giving up on it. This is just the time to look more closely at the potential of a new recommender institution which exploits money-based collaborative filtering and promises to radically alter consumer navigation in culture. The consumer using a recommender system will have a powerful aid to rational choice which will enable him to occupy his rightful, dominant position in the market. Other players in the cultural process will have no option but to reorientate themselves towards his interests, and this will bring about a positive transformation of the entire sphere of the arts, a change in the mechanisms of price formation and distribution, a coming together of cultural communities, development of more refined taste, and an improvement in the material situation of the creative artist. The new service will make it possible to co-ordinate creative initiatives targeted at territorially dispersed groups of consumers with demand. It will help to expose cultural goods created solely in order to make money and which survive only by spreading disinformation. Their market share will plummet.