Think Global, Act Local : Cultural Policies of Dundee from World Cultural Perspective
Hietala, Verneri (2017)
Hietala, Verneri
2017
Master's Degree Programme in Global and Transnational Sociology
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2017-06-06
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201706262093
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201706262093
Tiivistelmä
Despite growing interest in neo-institutionalism and world culture theory in recent years, few studies have researched urban cultural policies from this perspective. By far the most research on urban cultural policy-making relies on rational choice and structural theoretical perspectives. The purpose of this thesis is to acquire new knowledge on urban cultural policies by examining the main justifications of cultural policies in Dundee from world cultural theoretical perspective.
This thesis is organised as a case study and it analyses the justifications ascribed to cultural policies in the official cultural policy documents of the city of Dundee. It utilises critical discourse analysis and social-interactive discourse theory as its prime methodological tools.
The analysis indicates that the cultural policies are justified using economic, social, intrinsic as well as global justifications. While the use of economic, social and intrinsic benefits as justifications has been identified in earlier research, the additional emphasis on global justifications in the documents of Dundee is a finding which lends credence to the explanatory power of world culture theory. Further analysis of the documents reveals clear diffusion of global influences which takes place through four key conduits of world culture: international organisations, universities, statistics and measurement, and global political culture. Finally, the analysis reveals some contradictory features in the documents, which do not make sense from pure rational choice and structural perspectives. This suggests that it is not only possible but in fact imperative to trace back the sources of different cultural policy justifications to the global discourse on cultural policies.
The results of the study emphasise the need to conduct more research on urban cultural policies from the perspective of world culture theory. This is because the theory reveals how different policies, which are conventionally viewed to be of local origin and to serve local interests, are in fact better understood as globally shared policy models.
This thesis is organised as a case study and it analyses the justifications ascribed to cultural policies in the official cultural policy documents of the city of Dundee. It utilises critical discourse analysis and social-interactive discourse theory as its prime methodological tools.
The analysis indicates that the cultural policies are justified using economic, social, intrinsic as well as global justifications. While the use of economic, social and intrinsic benefits as justifications has been identified in earlier research, the additional emphasis on global justifications in the documents of Dundee is a finding which lends credence to the explanatory power of world culture theory. Further analysis of the documents reveals clear diffusion of global influences which takes place through four key conduits of world culture: international organisations, universities, statistics and measurement, and global political culture. Finally, the analysis reveals some contradictory features in the documents, which do not make sense from pure rational choice and structural perspectives. This suggests that it is not only possible but in fact imperative to trace back the sources of different cultural policy justifications to the global discourse on cultural policies.
The results of the study emphasise the need to conduct more research on urban cultural policies from the perspective of world culture theory. This is because the theory reveals how different policies, which are conventionally viewed to be of local origin and to serve local interests, are in fact better understood as globally shared policy models.