‘Hipster Capitalism’ in the Age of Austerity? Polanyi Meets Bourdieu’s New Petite Bourgeoisie

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Scott

This article dialogues Polanyi and Bourdieu to propose a new research agenda within the sociology of cultural production. Extending recent literature on hipsters, this iconic figure is shifted from the world of consumption to the world of production via Bourdieu’s conceptualisation of the new petite bourgeoisie. Using secondary empirical material of cultural micro-enterprises, two ideal-typical career strategies are sketched: cultural-capital oriented seeking to secure positions within established creative industries, and economic-capital orientated stylising ‘old’ petite bourgeoisie occupations to access economic returns. However, within the context of ongoing austerity policies, Bourdieu’s economic capital does not fully account for the variegated forms of material resources these nascent enterprises draw on. Bringing Polanyi’s modes of economic integration – reciprocity, redistribution and exchange – to Bourdieu opens new questions on how hipster capitalism is the practice of intermediating between these ‘backstage’ material modes and the ‘frontstage’ selling of style.

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jūratė Černevičiūtė

Urban development is increasing the ability to develop a distinct and attractive position in the world. Cities are changing their role as the cultural production sites as well as the life style and creativity become the material for the creative industries development. The creative city is understood as an urban complex, where a variety of cultural activities are an integral part of the urban economy and social life. The concept of creative city has not yet been well established: we can point to even three such concepts, highlighting different agency of the creative city – from the creative city-dwellers to the business enterprises of the creative industries. On the basis of the creative city concept, the article analyses Vilnius city, revealing the most important factors, which promote the creativity of the city: the organizations and activities of Arts category; business enterprises and projects of Media category; active creative and civil communities of the city. The activity of the creative communities takes on an expression in the forms of emerging cultural districts in Užupis, Naujamiestis and Pilaitė. The above-mentioned activities of the categories of creative industries are illustrated on the basis of the data, collected under the development of The Map of Vilnius Creative Industries. The article concludes that the weakest activity in Vilnius city is the economic clustering of the business enterprises of creative industries. Santrauka Miestų raida vis labiau priklauso nuo gebėjimo plėtoti aiškią ir patrauklią laikyseną pasaulyje. Miestai tampa kultūros gamybos centrais, o miestiečių gyvensena ir kūrybiškumas – medžiaga kūrybinių industrijų plėtrai. Kūrybinis miestas suprantamas kaip miesto kompleksas, kuriame įvairios kultūrinės veiklos neatsiejamos nuo miesto ekonomikos ir socialinio gyvenimo. Kūrybinio miesto samprata iki šiol nėra nusistovėjusi: galima išskirti net tris tokias sampratas, išryškinančias skirtingus kūrybinio miesto veiksnius – pradedant kūrybingais miestiečiais, baigiant kūrybinių industrijų verslo įmonėmis. Remiantis kūrybinio miesto samprata, straipsnyje analizuojamas Vilnius, išryškinami svarbiausi miesto kūrybingumą skatinantys veiksniai: menų kategorijos organizacijos ir veiklos; medijų kategorijos verslo įmonės ir renginiai; aktyvios miesto kūrybinės ir pilietinės bendruomenės. Kūrybinių bendruomenių aktyvumas konkrečią išraišką įgauna mieste besiformuojančių kultūros kvartaų pavidalu Užupyje, Naujamiestyje ir Pilaitėje. Minėtų kūrybinių industrijų kategorijų veiklos iliustruojamos duomenimis, kurie buvo surinkti rengiant Vilniaus kūrybinių industrijų žemėlapį. Straipsnyje daroma išvada, kad silpniausiai mieste vyksta ekonominė kūrybinių industrijų įmoni ų klasterizacija.


Author(s):  
Mukti Khaire

This book describes how commercial ventures in creative industries have cultural impact. Since royal patronage of arts ended, firms in the creative industries, working within the market mechanism, have been responsible for the production and distribution of the cultural goods—art, books, films, fashion, and music—that enrich our lives. This book counters the popular perception that this marriage of art and business is a necessary evil, proposing instead that entrepreneurs who introduce radically new cultural works to the market must bring about a change in society’s beliefs about what is appropriate and valuable to encourage consumption of these goods. In so doing, these pioneer entrepreneurs change minds, not just lives; the seeds of cultural change are embedded in the world of commerce. Building on theories of value construction and cultural production, integrated with field research on pioneer firms (like Chanel and the Sundance Institute) and new market categories (like modern art and high fashion in India), the author develops conceptual frameworks that explain the structure and functioning of creative industries. Through a systematic exposition of the roles and functions of the players in this space—creators, producers, and intermediaries—the book proposes a new way to understand the relationship among markets, entrepreneurship, and culture. Khaire also discusses challenges inherent in being entrepreneurial in the creative industries, paying special attention to the implications of digitalization and globalization, and suggests prescriptive directions for individuals and firms wishing to balance pecuniary motivations with cultural convictions in this rapidly changing world.


Author(s):  
Chris Wickham

Building on impressive new research into the concept of a ‘global middle ages’, this chapter offers insights into how economic formations developed around the world. Drawing on new research on both Chinese and Mediterranean economies in the ‘medieval’ period, it compares structures of economy and exchange in very different parts of the world. The point of such comparisons is not simply to find instances of global economic flows but to understand the logic of medieval economic activity and its intersections with power and culture; and, in so doing, to remind historians that economic structures, transnational connections, and the imbrications of economy and politics do not arrive only with modernity, nor is the shape of the ‘modern’ global economy the only pattern known to humankind.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Srinivas Goli ◽  
K. S. James ◽  
Devender Singh ◽  
Venkatesh Srinivasan ◽  
Rakesh Mishra ◽  
...  

Abstract Investment in family planning (FP) provides returns through a lifetime. Global evidence shows that FP is the second-best buy in terms of return on investment after liberalizing trade. In this study, we estimate the cumulative benefits of FP investments for India from 1991 to 2016 and project them up to 2061 with four scenarios of fertility levels. The findings suggest that India will have greater elasticity of FP investments to lifetime economic returns compared to the world average (cost–revenue ratio of 1:120). We have taken four scenarios for the goalpost, viz., 2.1, 1.8, 1.6, and 1.4. Although different scenarios of total fertility rate (TFR) levels at the goalpost (i.e., the year 2061) offer varied lifetime returns from FP, scenario TFR < 1.8 will be counterproductive and will reduce the potential benefits. With a comprehensive approach, if the country focuses more on improving the quality of FP services and on reducing the unmet need for FP to enhance reproductive health care and expand maximum opportunities for education and employment for both women and men, it can improve its potential to reap more benefits.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 205630511989400
Author(s):  
Stefanie Duguay

Microcelebrity, as a set of practices contributing to personalized self-branding, has become an increasingly prominent component of self-representation on social media platforms. While “influencers” who have built lucrative followings through microcelebrity give the appearance of having fun without much exertion, recent studies have uncovered multiple forms of labor involved in their practices of cultural production. In addition, scholars analyzing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) influencers highlight a tension between labor in service of self-commodification and the representation of sexual minorities. This article examines the microcelebrity labor of everyday queer women who aim to increase their social and economic capital by interweaving personal self-representations with entrepreneurial endeavors on Instagram and Vine. Through a close analysis of these platforms’ markets, governance, and infrastructures alongside interviews with queer female users of each platform, attention is given to both platform influences and participants’ experiences of promoting their jobs, side-gigs, hobbies, or passions alongside the rest of their lives. Findings identify three modes of labor specific to participants’ efforts to build a following: (1) intimate affective labor expended in sharing and managing personal disclosures; (2) developmental aesthetic labor as the acquisition and practice of technical skills and bodily displays to achieve a desired appearance or performance; (3) aspiring relational labor in attempts to forge relationships with established influencers or celebrities. Sexual identity was pivotal across these modes of labor, as it enhanced intimacy with followers, provided a niche audience for self-branding, conveyed authenticity through self-revelation, and established a common ground for forging relationships.


Urban History ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 474-482
Author(s):  
THOMAS V. COHEN ◽  
ELIZABETH S. COHEN

In 1860, Jacob Burckhardt published his view, still influential today, of an artful, urban Italian Renaissance that launched Europe on its passage to modernity. A lively revisionary scholarship has challenged Burckhardt on many points, but his famous formulae still resonate: the state as work of art; the development of the individual; the discovery of the world and of man. Although we now know that Italy did not alone invent the new age, it was for many years a trendsetter, especially in the domains of cultural production at the centre of this collection of essays. Republican and princely polities alike framed these developments, but, whoever ruled, Italy's unusually intense urbanization (paired with that in another well-spring of culture in the Low Countries) fostered innovation. In Renaissance cities, people and groups invested heavily in special actions, objects and places – charismatic cultural products empowered by holiness, beauty, fame and ingenuity – that fortified solidarity and resilience in uncertain times. This essay collection addresses a conjunction of urban culture and society distinctive to Renaissance Italy: an array of encounters of artifacts with ways of living in community.


Author(s):  
Herbert S. Klein ◽  
Sergio T. Serrano Hernández

AbstractTraditional historical literature has stressed a generalised crisis throughout the world in the 17th century. First proposed for Europe with its numerous dynastic, religious and state conflicts, it has now been expanded to include Asia and the Middle East as well. It was also assumed that there was a significant crisis in the Americas, a theme which until recently has dominated the traditional literature. The claim that there was such a crisis was based on a series of classic studies by Earl J. Hamilton, Chaunu and Borah, among others. But new research has challenged this hypothesis and we will examine both these new studies as well as offering our own research findings on this subject.


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