Museums as participants in the market game: The political and economic context of the functioning of the museums

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Museums as participants in the market game: The political and economic context of the functioning of the museums

Journal Title: Przegląd Socjologiczny - Year 2017, Vol 0, Issue 4

Abstract

Under the influence of contemporary social and political changes, which have resulted in, inter alia, changes in the structure of museum audiences and their expectations, museums have had to implement new practices and tools which were previously not present in their fields of interest. These processes changed the definition of the mission of a contemporary museum and the way of communicating with participants of culture. Today a museum, like every other institution on the entertainment and leisure market, has to attract recipients of its offer. Museums thus engage in ever more close relationships with the field of economy. Moreover, the model of public financing of culture subjects the activities of museums to the current politics. This article discusses the ‘spilling over’ of the principles of the fields of economy and politics into the field of museums. The empirical material collected during the realization of qualitative studies among museum employees concerning their attitude towards the changes taking place in the sphere of museums, both in Poland and all over the world, provided the inspiration to analyse this issue. The following issues, taken from a wide range of issues related to the assessment of the museums’ place in the market reality, are examined in this article: sources of cultural and economic values generated by museums; the phenomenon of competition between museums; museum attendance as a criterion of the museums’ success; and the required models of financing museums’ activity. Theoretical considerations concerning relationship between the necessity of fulfilling museums’ social mission and the expected economic efficacy, as well as the museum’s status among other players on the leisure and entertainment market, were enriched by selected research results, which are treated as a local (Polish) commentary on the global changes taking place in the operation of contemporary museums.

Authors and Affiliations

Elżbieta Nieroba

Keywords

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The article discusses the processes of meaning-making which are connected to the significance of work/employment as it intersects with the passage of time. We focus on the narratives of young people (aged 19–34) with a u...

Museums as participants in the market game: The political and economic context of the functioning of the museums

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EP ID EP263278
DOI 10.26485/PS/2017/66.4/5
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