Cultural Work and Moral Futures

Abstract

For many, the freedoms unleashed by processes of ‘reflexive modernization’ would appear to have imbued a vast array of creative workers, counter-capitalists, bohemians and community-minded cultural entrepreneurs with fresh impetus to fashion worlds in their own image. But before we retire to celebrate the revival of art and the newfound freedoms of the cultural worker, it is clear there remains much to be discussed. Rather than accept these ‘alternative’ interventions as inherently progressive, the first aim of this chapter is to more thoroughly question how far such initiatives present a serious deviation from, or significant challenge to, the capitalistic practices they purport to subvert. Indeed, for a body of renascent sceptics, while so-called ‘alternative’ cultural economies are seen to provide some palliative to the virulent excesses of neo-liberal ‘culture industry’, as long as the efforts of artists, firms and entrepreneurs remain contained within a capitalist framework — where, ultimately, profit and accumulation remain necessary for underwriting the continuation of alternative production — then attempts to moderate or check capitalism are unlikely to succeed. Thus, the chapter begins by providing a summary of more recent critical responses to the idea of alternative production — and the real freedoms of liberal-democratic individualization are finally assessed.