Culture and public policies after the deluge. Social sciences and the re-foundation of the cultural policies

Abstract

Since its invention in the fifties, cultural policy has been the subject of analysis and reflection by the social sciences. Initially, social sciences adopted a critical point of view on the objectives and instruments of public action in the cultural sphere. An attitude that Social Science were losing and finally ended uncritically legitimizing the projects of economic and urban development based on culture. This paradigm is currently exhausted, first, by the excesses one vision instrumentalization of culture and, moreover, by a general collapse of the cultural system due to the economic crisis, lack of planning and evaluation and, because of the transition to digital paradigm. In this context, the authors suggest the need to develop a multidimensional, systematic and critic review of the cultural policy, addressing its major challenges such as the rebuilding of its objectives, new forms of governance and management and its relation to emerging forms of creation and decentralized social participation in the digital society.