Cut fut /C4-1 ,q 4 (A-r, 1,,-

1\;7,,,A)

idencity

yregulation

The circuir of culture

INTRODuCTIGN 1

IntroductionThe chapters in this book all deal, in their different ways, with the questionof cultural production. This is one of the central processes and practicesthrough which meaning is made and a key moment in what-has been termed'the circuit of culture' (see du Gay, 11: 2.11 et al., 1997). But what doesproduction, industry, and the economic more generally, have to do with culture? What is the connection between them, and how are we tounderstand and conceive of this relation?

Economy and culture

If you were asked to list some of the key thernes that had come to dominatediscussion about wealth creation and successful business organization in thelast decade or so, what would spring to mind? Terms like 'efficiency' and'economy', almost certainly, 'flexibility' and `de-regulation', quite probably,but what about 'culture'?

If this suggestion leaves you somewhat confused, try taking a quic, flickthrough some of those popular management texts that seern to appear withsuch alarrning regularity. Chances are a brief examination of their contentswould soon revea' the primacy accorded to 'culture' in the battle to makeenterprises more successful. In this literature, 'culture' is allotted suchimportance because it is seen to structure the way people think, feel and actin organizations. 'Culture' has thus come to be seen as a crucial means ofensuring organizacional success because it is held that if you can effectivelymanage `meaning' at work, so that people come to conceive of and conductthemselves in such a way as to maximize their involvement in, and hencetheir contribution to, the organization for which they work, you are morelikely to have a profitable, effective and successful firm.

Perhaps one reason why we are somewhat surprised to hear that 'culture' hasemerged as a crucial concept in the world of business organization isbecause we have come to think of thes ' two terms 'business' and 'culture' as somehow mutually incompatible. Certainly there is a powerful traditionof thought which holds that 'culture' and this ormally means 'high'culture is an autonomous realm of existence dedicated to the pursuit ofparticular values 'beauty', 'authenticity' and 'truth' which are the

very antithesis of those assumed to hold sway in the banal world of theeconomy the rational pursuit of profit, unbounded 'instrumentalism' andso on. Seen from this position any blurring of the boundaries between thesetwo spheres is held to be potentially dangerous. The presumed 'higher'values of 'culture' are bound to be tainted if they come into contact with thebrutal rationalities of the economic.

* A reference in bold indicates another book. or another chapter in another book. in the series.

Cut fut /C4-1 ,q 4 (A-r, 1,,-

1\;7,,,A)

idencity

yregulation

The circuir of culture

INTRODuCTIGN 1

IntroductionThe chapters in this book all deal, in their different ways, with the questionof cultural production. This is one of the central processes and practicesthrough which meaning is made and a key moment in what-has been termed'the circuit of culture' (see du Gay, 11: 2.11 et al., 1997). But what doesproduction, industry, and the economic more generally, have to do with culture? What is the connection between them, and how are we tounderstand and conceive of this relation?

Economy and culture

If you were asked to list some of the key thernes that had come to dominatediscussion about wealth creation and successful business organization in thelast decade or so, what would spring to mind? Terms like 'efficiency' and'economy', almost certainly, 'flexibility' and `de-regulation', quite probably,but what about 'culture'?

If this suggestion leaves you somewhat confused, try taking a quic, flickthrough some of those popular management texts that seern to appear withsuch alarrning regularity. Chances are a brief examination of their contentswould soon revea' the primacy accorded to 'culture' in the battle to makeenterprises more successful. In this literature, 'culture' is allotted suchimportance because it is seen to structure the way people think, feel and actin organizations. 'Culture' has thus come to be seen as a crucial means ofensuring organizacional success because it is held that if you can effectivelymanage `meaning' at work, so that people come to conceive of and conductthemselves in such a way as to maximize their involvement in, and hencetheir contribution to, the organization for which they work, you are morelikely to have a profitable, effective and successful firm.

Perhaps one reason why we are somewhat surprised to hear that 'culture' hasemerged as a crucial concept in the world of business organization isbecause we have come to think of thes ' two terms 'business' and 'culture' as somehow mutually incompatible. Certainly there is a powerful traditionof thought which holds that 'culture' and this ormally means 'high'culture is an autonomous realm of existence dedicated to the pursuit ofparticular values 'beauty', 'authenticity' and 'truth' which are the

very antithesis of those assumed to hold sway in the banal world of theeconomy the rational pursuit of profit, unbounded 'instrumentalism' andso on. Seen from this position any blurring of the boundaries between thesetwo spheres is held to be potentially dangerous. The presumed 'higher'values of 'culture' are bound to be tainted if they come into contact with thebrutal rationalities of the economic.

* A reference in bold indicates another book. or another chapter in another book. in the series.

2 PRODUCTION OF CULTURE/CULTURES OF PRODUCTION

cultural economy

You are probably aware of the basic tropes of this argument. They areinvariably deployed when, for example, the government announcesreductions in state funding for the arts and demands that arts organizationsbecome more enterprising in their search for alternativa sources of finance.In a somewhat different context, similar trames of reference are utilizedwhen fans accuse 'indie' pop and rock bands of `selling out' when they signto major record labels. What these two examples share is a belief that`economv' . and 'culture' are absolutely autonomous entities and any mergingof them is bound to demean and debase the latter.

A rather different approach to the relationship between 'culture' and`economy', but one which nonetheless establishes an absolute hierarchv ofvalues in which one term is privileged over the other, can be found withincertain materialist and economistic traditions of thought within the socialand human sciences. In these approaches, the language of the 'economy' isheid to provide us with the possibility of 'hard', 'objective' knowledge of theworld because it deals with seemingly `transparent', 'factual' materialprocesses. In contrast, the language of 'culture' is seen to deal with the 'soft',seemingly less tangible elements of life meanings, representations andvalues, for example and these are assumed to be incapable of generating

unambiguous,and hence 'true'knowledge: For a long time. theseapproaches tended to view the 'cultural' dimensions of life as largely'superstructuraP phenomena -- that is, as `second order' processes andpractices dependent 'upon and reflective of the material base. In this sense,the economy was assumed to completely domnate and determine thecultural domain.

they have come to see the very stuff of culture meanings, norms and values-- as crucial elements of economic success.Similarly, contemporary material culture is predominantly `manufactured'.After all, what films would we watch, what televisions would we view themon, what music would we listen to and so forth, if we were determined toenforce an absolute division between culture and economy? Our everydaycultural lives are bound up with mass-produced material cultural artefacts tosuch an extent that a principled opposition between the economic andindustrial, on the one hand, and the cultural, on the other, is simplyuntenable.If such principled'oppositions have little practical or theoretical utility thenthe question arises as to how we can more productively conceptualize therelationship between the economic and the cultural in the present dav. Inthis book, an attempt at reconstruction is conducted through the notion of`cultural economy'

`Cultural economy'This phrase cultural economy may strike you as a little strange. So whatdoes it mean; what is it meant to signify? One of the main reasons for usingthis term is to suggest both continuity and rupture with deterministicapproaches to the study of 'economic On the one hand, there are echoesin this phrase of the approach to analysing economic. life commonly termed`political economy', particularly in relation to the latter's opposition to theahistoric and asocial tenets of neo-classical economics and its emphasis on amulti-paradigm analysis of the economy.

On the other hand, 'cultural economy' is also meant to signify a break with`political economy' in one ke y respect concerning the importance allocatedto meaning in the cnduct of economic life. For whereas 'political economy'has tended to emphasize features such as the distribution of income, patternsof corporate ownership and control, the dynamic nature of marketeconornies, capital accumulation and the generation and uses of econmicsurplus, it has had rather less to say about the meanings these processescome to have for those involved in them. Because political economyapproaches tend to represent economic processes and practices as `things inthemselves' with certain 'objective' meanings people are seen mainly asthe 'bearers' of these. As a result of this process of 'objectification', the`cultural' dimensions of economic activities the meanings and values theseactivities hold for people are evacuated.

As Stuart Hall has argued, however, 'culture is involved in all those practiceswhich carry meaning and value for us. which need to be meaningfully

interpreted by others, or which depend on meaning for their effectiveoperation. Culture, in this sense, permeates all of society' (Hall, 1997, p. 3).The economic is a crucial domain of existence in modern societies, and it

These two approaches have come in for considerable criticism over time andit is fair to say thatfew people espouse the

of simple 'ideal typical'versions outlined aboye. Nonetheless, it is also fair to say that traces of bothcontinue to haunt contemporary academic debates about the relationshipbetween 'economy' and 'culture* as well as everyday discussions concerningthe relativo merits of different cultural preferences and products.

This book is centrally coricerned with exploring and analysing therelationship between economy and culture in the present. However, itattempts to sidestep postions which assume either an essential oppositionbetween these tw spheres of existence or an essentially deterministicrelationship between them, where one side completely dominates the other.Instbd, the contributors to this volume all acknowledge the mutuallyconstitutive relationship between 'culture' and 'economy'.

In their different ways and in relationship to different objects of analvsisthey argue that in late modern societies such as our own the 'economic' andthe 'cultural' are irrevocably 'hybrid' categories; that what we think of aspurely 'economic' processes and practices are, in an important sense,'cultural' phenornena managers of business enterprises, as we sa

earlier,are busv attempting to create appropriate organizational 'cultures' because

2 PRODUCTION OF CULTURE/CULTURES OF PRODUCTION

cultural economy

You are probably aware of the basic tropes of this argument. They areinvariably deployed when, for example, the government announcesreductions in state funding for the arts and demands that arts organizationsbecome more enterprising in their search for alternativa sources of finance.In a somewhat different context, similar trames of reference are utilizedwhen fans accuse 'indie' pop and rock bands of `selling out' when they signto major record labels. What these two examples share is a belief that`economv' . and 'culture' are absolutely autonomous entities and any mergingof them is bound to demean and debase the latter.

A rather different approach to the relationship between 'culture' and`economy', but one which nonetheless establishes an absolute hierarchv ofvalues in which one term is privileged over the other, can be found withincertain materialist and economistic traditions of thought within the socialand human sciences. In these approaches, the language of the 'economy' isheid to provide us with the possibility of 'hard', 'objective' knowledge of theworld because it deals with seemingly `transparent', 'factual' materialprocesses. In contrast, the language of 'culture' is seen to deal with the 'soft',seemingly less tangible elements of life meanings, representations andvalues, for example and these are assumed to be incapable of generating

unambiguous,and hence 'true'knowledge: For a long time. theseapproaches tended to view the 'cultural' dimensions of life as largely'superstructuraP phenomena -- that is, as `second order' processes andpractices dependent 'upon and reflective of the material base. In this sense,the economy was assumed to completely domnate and determine thecultural domain.

they have come to see the very stuff of culture meanings, norms and values-- as crucial elements of economic success.Similarly, contemporary material culture is predominantly `manufactured'.After all, what films would we watch, what televisions would we view themon, what music would we listen to and so forth, if we were determined toenforce an absolute division between culture and economy? Our everydaycultural lives are bound up with mass-produced material cultural artefacts tosuch an extent that a principled opposition between the economic andindustrial, on the one hand, and the cultural, on the other, is simplyuntenable.If such principled'oppositions have little practical or theoretical utility thenthe question arises as to how we can more productively conceptualize therelationship between the economic and the cultural in the present dav. Inthis book, an attempt at reconstruction is conducted through the notion of`cultural economy'

`Cultural economy'This phrase cultural economy may strike you as a little strange. So whatdoes it mean; what is it meant to signify? One of the main reasons for usingthis term is to suggest both continuity and rupture with deterministicapproaches to the study of 'economic On the one hand, there are echoesin this phrase of the approach to analysing economic. life commonly termed`political economy', particularly in relation to the latter's opposition to theahistoric and asocial tenets of neo-classical economics and its emphasis on amulti-paradigm analysis of the economy.

On the other hand, 'cultural economy' is also meant to signify a break with`political economy' in one ke y respect concerning the importance allocatedto meaning in the cnduct of economic life. For whereas 'political economy'has tended to emphasize features such as the distribution of income, patternsof corporate ownership and control, the dynamic nature of marketeconornies, capital accumulation and the generation and uses of econmicsurplus, it has had rather less to say about the meanings these processescome to have for those involved in them. Because political economyapproaches tend to represent economic processes and practices as `things inthemselves' with certain 'objective' meanings people are seen mainly asthe 'bearers' of these. As a result of this process of 'objectification', the`cultural' dimensions of economic activities the meanings and values theseactivities hold for people are evacuated.

As Stuart Hall has argued, however, 'culture is involved in all those practiceswhich carry meaning and value for us. which need to be meaningfully

interpreted by others, or which depend on meaning for their effectiveoperation. Culture, in this sense, permeates all of society' (Hall, 1997, p. 3).The economic is a crucial domain of existence in modern societies, and it

These two approaches have come in for considerable criticism over time andit is fair to say thatfew people espouse the

of simple 'ideal typical'versions outlined aboye. Nonetheless, it is also fair to say that traces of bothcontinue to haunt contemporary academic debates about the relationshipbetween 'economy' and 'culture* as well as everyday discussions concerningthe relativo merits of different cultural preferences and products.

This book is centrally coricerned with exploring and analysing therelationship between economy and culture in the present. However, itattempts to sidestep postions which assume either an essential oppositionbetween these tw spheres of existence or an essentially deterministicrelationship between them, where one side completely dominates the other.Instbd, the contributors to this volume all acknowledge the mutuallyconstitutive relationship between 'culture' and 'economy'.

In their different ways and in relationship to different objects of analvsisthey argue that in late modern societies such as our own the 'economic' andthe 'cultural' are irrevocably 'hybrid' categories; that what we think of aspurely 'economic' processes and practices are, in an important sense,'cultural' phenornena managers of business enterprises, as we sa

earlier,are busv attempting to create appropriate organizational 'cultures' because

representation

4 PRODUCTION OF CULTURE/CULTURES OF PRODUCTION

too is thoroughly saturated with culture. Indeed, this is precisely what theterm 'cultural economy' is meant to signify. 'Economic' processes andpractices in all their plurality, whether we refer to management techniquesfor re-organizing the conduct of business, contemporary stritegies foradvertising goods and services, or everyday interactions between serviceemployees and their customers depend on meaning for their effects andhave particular cultural 'conditions of existence'. Meaning is produced at`economic' sites (at work, in shops) and circulated through economicprocesses and practices (through economists' models of how 'economies' or`organizations' work, through adverts, marketing materials and the verydesign of products) no less than in other domains of existence in modemsocieties.

A crucial feature of this book, then, is the way it treats economic processesand practices as cultural phenomena, as depending on meaning for theireffective operation. Just think, for a moment, about the entity we refer to as`the economy'. How do we go about managing this entity? Well, one of thefirst things we need to do is to build a clear picture of what an economylooks like. We need to ask ourselves what its main cornponents are, and howthey work. In other words, before one can even seek to manage somethingcalled an 'economy', it is first necessary to conceptualize or represent a setof processes and relations as an 'economy' which is amenable tomanagement. We need, in other words, a discourse of the economy, and this

discoursediscourse, like any other, will depend on a particular mode of representation:the elaboration of a language for conceiving of and hence constructing anobject in a certain way so that that object can then be deliberated about andacted upon. In this way, economics can be seen to be a cultural phenomenonbecause it works through language and representation. Discourses of theeconomy, like those of sexuality, `race' or nationality, carry meaning.In the same vein, processes of production and sy-stems of organization can beseen to be more than simply 'objective' structures that people inhabit andreproduce. Through a cultural lens they become assemblages of meaningfulpractices that construct certain ways for people to conceive of and conductthemselves at work. As indicated abo ye, businesses have spent enormoustime and money in recent years trying consciously and deliberately tochange their organizational 'cultures'. Through the introduction of seeminglybanal mechanisrns and practices such as cost centres, performance appraisaland team-working, employers have sought to create new meanings for thework people do and thus to construct new forms of work-based identityamongst employees. In so doing they have indicated precisely how workingpractices are 'cultural' phenomena how they are `meaningful'.Organizational practices carry particular meanings and construct certainforms of conduct amongst people subjected to them.The most important point to note about our term

economy' istherefore the crucial importance it allots to language, representation and

INTRODUCTION 5

meaning to 'culture' for understanding the conduct of economic life andthe construction of economic identities.However. the explanatory reach of the term does not end there, for 'culturaleconomy' carnes another register of meaning. It doesn't simply suggest thateconomic phenomena are inherently 'cultural', that economic processes andpractices are always meaningful practices; it also indicates something aboutthe contemporary nature of economic life, namely that , we live in an era 1:1which the economic has become thoroughly 'culturailied'. So what does inmean to talk about a 'cultural economy' in this latter sense?

In this second manifestation, 'cultural economy' refers:to the increasingimportance of 'culture' to doing business in the contemporary would. Thislsevidenced at a number of differen.t levels. First, and perhaps most obviously,by the wayin which global entertainment corporations, such as Sony, Time-Warner, Bertelsmann,.Disney and News Corporation, whose business is theproduction and distribution of 'culturar,hardware and software such asmusic, film, television, print media and computer games have becomeamongst the most powerful economic actors in the world. Today, 'culture' isa truly global business.Secondly, more and more of the goods and services produced for consumersacross a range of sectors can be conceived of as 'cultural' goods, in that theyare deliberately inscribed with particular meanings and associations as theyare produced and circulated in a conscious attempt to generate desire forthem amongst end users. The growing aestheticization or lashioning' ofseemingly banal products from instara coffee to bank accounts wherebythese are sold to consumers in ter= of particular clusters of meaningindicates-the increased importance of `culture' to the prod.uction andcirculation of a multitude of goods and services.This process has been accompanied by the increased ifilluence of what areoften termed the cultural intermediary occupations ofdvertising, designand marketing (see section 3 of du Gay, Hall et al., gZ). These practitionersplay a pivotal role in articulating production with conSUMption byattempting to associate.goods and services with particular cultural meaningsand to address these values to prospective buyers. In other words, they areconcerned to create an identification between producers and consumersthrough their expertise in certain signifying practices.

The increased influence of these signifying practices to processes ofproduction is closely linked to significant changes in manufacturingtechniques. In contrast to mass production techniques, where particularproducts were manufactured in large batches on assembly lines that requiredgreat investment in inflexible plant, novel forms of flexible, electronics-basedautomation technologies, often referred to as 'flexible specializationtechnologies', make small batch production possible. So whereas in the pasta company like Sony would produce one model of the Walkman, nowadaysSony uses computer-based technologies and a functionally flexible labour

11:11:ai rrnecliary

representation

4 PRODUCTION OF CULTURE/CULTURES OF PRODUCTION

too is thoroughly saturated with culture. Indeed, this is precisely what theterm 'cultural economy' is meant to signify. 'Economic' processes andpractices in all their plurality, whether we refer to management techniquesfor re-organizing the conduct of business, contemporary stritegies foradvertising goods and services, or everyday interactions between serviceemployees and their customers depend on meaning for their effects andhave particular cultural 'conditions of existence'. Meaning is produced at`economic' sites (at work, in shops) and circulated through economicprocesses and practices (through economists' models of how 'economies' or`organizations' work, through adverts, marketing materials and the verydesign of products) no less than in other domains of existence in modemsocieties.

A crucial feature of this book, then, is the way it treats economic processesand practices as cultural phenomena, as depending on meaning for theireffective operation. Just think, for a moment, about the entity we refer to as`the economy'. How do we go about managing this entity? Well, one of thefirst things we need to do is to build a clear picture of what an economylooks like. We need to ask ourselves what its main cornponents are, and howthey work. In other words, before one can even seek to manage somethingcalled an 'economy', it is first necessary to conceptualize or represent a setof processes and relations as an 'economy' which is amenable tomanagement. We need, in other words, a discourse of the economy, and this

discoursediscourse, like any other, will depend on a particular mode of representation:the elaboration of a language for conceiving of and hence constructing anobject in a certain way so that that object can then be deliberated about andacted upon. In this way, economics can be seen to be a cultural phenomenonbecause it works through language and representation. Discourses of theeconomy, like those of sexuality, `race' or nationality, carry meaning.In the same vein, processes of production and sy-stems of organization can beseen to be more than simply 'objective' structures that people inhabit andreproduce. Through a cultural lens they become assemblages of meaningfulpractices that construct certain ways for people to conceive of and conductthemselves at work. As indicated abo ye, businesses have spent enormoustime and money in recent years trying consciously and deliberately tochange their organizational 'cultures'. Through the introduction of seeminglybanal mechanisrns and practices such as cost centres, performance appraisaland team-working, employers have sought to create new meanings for thework people do and thus to construct new forms of work-based identityamongst employees. In so doing they have indicated precisely how workingpractices are 'cultural' phenomena how they are `meaningful'.Organizational practices carry particular meanings and construct certainforms of conduct amongst people subjected to them.The most important point to note about our term

economy' istherefore the crucial importance it allots to language, representation and

INTRODUCTION 5

meaning to 'culture' for understanding the conduct of economic life andthe construction of economic identities.However. the explanatory reach of the term does not end there, for 'culturaleconomy' carnes another register of meaning. It doesn't simply suggest thateconomic phenomena are inherently 'cultural', that economic processes andpractices are always meaningful practices; it also indicates something aboutthe contemporary nature of economic life, namely that , we live in an era 1:1which the economic has become thoroughly 'culturailied'. So what does inmean to talk about a 'cultural economy' in this latter sense?

In this second manifestation, 'cultural economy' refers:to the increasingimportance of 'culture' to doing business in the contemporary would. Thislsevidenced at a number of differen.t levels. First, and perhaps most obviously,by the wayin which global entertainment corporations, such as Sony, Time-Warner, Bertelsmann,.Disney and News Corporation, whose business is theproduction and distribution of 'culturar,hardware and software such asmusic, film, television, print media and computer games have becomeamongst the most powerful economic actors in the world. Today, 'culture' isa truly global business.Secondly, more and more of the goods and services produced for consumersacross a range of sectors can be conceived of as 'cultural' goods, in that theyare deliberately inscribed with particular meanings and associations as theyare produced and circulated in a conscious attempt to generate desire forthem amongst end users. The growing aestheticization or lashioning' ofseemingly banal products from instara coffee to bank accounts wherebythese are sold to consumers in ter= of particular clusters of meaningindicates-the increased importance of `culture' to the prod.uction andcirculation of a multitude of goods and services.This process has been accompanied by the increased ifilluence of what areoften termed the cultural intermediary occupations ofdvertising, designand marketing (see section 3 of du Gay, Hall et al., gZ). These practitionersplay a pivotal role in articulating production with conSUMption byattempting to associate.goods and services with particular cultural meaningsand to address these values to prospective buyers. In other words, they areconcerned to create an identification between producers and consumersthrough their expertise in certain signifying practices.

The increased influence of these signifying practices to processes ofproduction is closely linked to significant changes in manufacturingtechniques. In contrast to mass production techniques, where particularproducts were manufactured in large batches on assembly lines that requiredgreat investment in inflexible plant, novel forms of flexible, electronics-basedautomation technologies, often referred to as 'flexible specializationtechnologies', make small batch production possible. So whereas in the pasta company like Sony would produce one model of the Walkman, nowadaysSony uses computer-based technologies and a functionally flexible labour

11:11:ai rrnecliary

Secondly, the term suggests that the production of 'cultural' artefacts in theircontemporary manifestations cannot be divorced from economic processesand forms of organization. At the same time as making this point, however,we have also been keen to indicate that the production of culture cannot bereduced to a question of 'economics' alone. Processes of production arethemselves cultural phenomena in that they are assemblages of meariingfulpractices that construct certain ways for people to conceive of and conductthemselves in an organizational context. Theie are the cultures of

cultures of production production referred to in the ttle of this book.

Thirdly, it indicates the growing importance of 'culture' to doing business inthe contemporary world. As we have seen, increasing numbers of goods andservices across a range of sectors are 'cultural' goods in that they areinscribed with particular meanings and associations in the process of theirproduction and circulation, in a deliberate attempt to generate desire forthem amongst consumers. The growing importance of culture doesn't endhere, though, as we have seen, for the internal life of organizations and theirmembers is increasingly the subject of cultural reconstruction as well.While each of the individual chapters in the vblume focuses on differentelements of 'cultural ebonomy' they combine to present a distinctive analysisof the relationship between 'the economic' and 'the cultural' in the presentday. The chapters are also ordered in a particular way to assist in thisendeavour. Beginning with a macro-level focus on questions oLculturalglobalization and the emergence of global cultural industries, they move.steadily towards a more micro-level focus at the end of the book where thecultural reconstruction of organizational life and the experience and identitvof work are the main topics of analysis.

In Chapter 1, 'What in the world's going on?', Kevin Robins explores therelationship between culture and economy in the context of increasingglobalization.. He begins by considering the economic expressions of globalchange, focusing on the emergence of a 'global economy', on the nature ofglobal corporations and on the significance of global markets. In analysingthe forces and relations shaping the emerging global economic order, Robinsis particularly concerned with the growing significance of media,communications, information, and cultural products and markets.Throughout the chapter he indicates how economic and cultural aspects ofglobalization interact with one another. Economic developments, he argues,provide the basis for many of the key developments in global culture,opening up certain cultural possibilities, and closing off others. At the sametime, he also sees cultural forces as setting the conditions and limits ofpossibility for global economic and business developments. Robins showshow this interplay between economic and cultural logics gives rise to aglobalizing process that is complex, uneven and uncertain.

In Chapter 2, 'The production of culture', Keith Negus picks up on Robins'analysis of the complex interplay between economic and cultural logics ofglobalization to explore the wavs in which culture is produced in global

force to produce many different versions of the Walkman, each designed andmarketed or lifestyled with a particular niche consumer grouping inmirad (see du Gay, Hall et al., 1997, section 3). In other words, flexiblespecialization and the increased culturalization of products go hand in hand.They are, in effect, mutually constitutive.

Finally, the growing importance accorded to signification in doing businessis not only evident in the production, design and marketing of goods andservices, for as we have already seen, the internal life of organizations is alsothe subject of cultural reconstruction. The turn to 'culture' within the worldof business and oiganization is premised in part upon the belief that, inorder to compete effectively in the turbulent. increasingly global markets ofthe present, a foremost necessity for organizations is to change they way theyconduct their business and the ways people conduct themselves withinorganizations. 'Culture' is deemed to be crucial here because it is seen tostructure the way people think, feel and act in organizations. The aim ofinanaging organizational culture is to prdduce new sets of meanings throughwhich people will come to identify with their employing organization in away which enables them to make the right and necessary contribution to itssuccess.

This focus on 'culture' as a means of changing the way people conceive ofand relate to the work they perforrn and to their own sense of self indicatesthat its deployment as a managerial technique is intimately bound up withquestions of identity.'In this second sense of the term, then, 'cultural economy' refers to theincreasing 'culturalization' of economic life. From 'macro' level processes of`economic globalization' to 'micro' level processes of individual work-basedidentity-formation, cultural practices have come to play a crucial role in theconduct ofmany different forms of economic life in the modern world.

The structure of the book

As we have indicated, this book is structured by the notion of 'culturaleconomy'. Given the antipathy that has been held to exist between the terms`culture' and 'economics', the notion of 'cultural economy' is designed tostrike you as a little strange. However, we hope by now that you have begunto see why we are attaching such importance to it.

It is worth quickly re-capping the main themes and issues which we aregathering together under the rubric of 'cultural economy' before moving on tolook at the content of each individual chapter.

The first thing to note is that the term draws attention to the ways in whichforms of economic life are cultural phenomena; they depend on `meaning'for their effects and have particular discursive conditions of existence.

production of culture

Secondly, the term suggests that the production of 'cultural' artefacts in theircontemporary manifestations cannot be divorced from economic processesand forms of organization. At the same time as making this point, however,we have also been keen to indicate that the production of culture cannot bereduced to a question of 'economics' alone. Processes of production arethemselves cultural phenomena in that they are assemblages of meariingfulpractices that construct certain ways for people to conceive of and conductthemselves in an organizational context. Theie are the cultures of

cultures of production production referred to in the ttle of this book.

Thirdly, it indicates the growing importance of 'culture' to doing business inthe contemporary world. As we have seen, increasing numbers of goods andservices across a range of sectors are 'cultural' goods in that they areinscribed with particular meanings and associations in the process of theirproduction and circulation, in a deliberate attempt to generate desire forthem amongst consumers. The growing importance of culture doesn't endhere, though, as we have seen, for the internal life of organizations and theirmembers is increasingly the subject of cultural reconstruction as well.While each of the individual chapters in the vblume focuses on differentelements of 'cultural ebonomy' they combine to present a distinctive analysisof the relationship between 'the economic' and 'the cultural' in the presentday. The chapters are also ordered in a particular way to assist in thisendeavour. Beginning with a macro-level focus on questions oLculturalglobalization and the emergence of global cultural industries, they move.steadily towards a more micro-level focus at the end of the book where thecultural reconstruction of organizational life and the experience and identitvof work are the main topics of analysis.

In Chapter 1, 'What in the world's going on?', Kevin Robins explores therelationship between culture and economy in the context of increasingglobalization.. He begins by considering the economic expressions of globalchange, focusing on the emergence of a 'global economy', on the nature ofglobal corporations and on the significance of global markets. In analysingthe forces and relations shaping the emerging global economic order, Robinsis particularly concerned with the growing significance of media,communications, information, and cultural products and markets.Throughout the chapter he indicates how economic and cultural aspects ofglobalization interact with one another. Economic developments, he argues,provide the basis for many of the key developments in global culture,opening up certain cultural possibilities, and closing off others. At the sametime, he also sees cultural forces as setting the conditions and limits ofpossibility for global economic and business developments. Robins showshow this interplay between economic and cultural logics gives rise to aglobalizing process that is complex, uneven and uncertain.

In Chapter 2, 'The production of culture', Keith Negus picks up on Robins'analysis of the complex interplay between economic and cultural logics ofglobalization to explore the wavs in which culture is produced in global

force to produce many different versions of the Walkman, each designed andmarketed or lifestyled with a particular niche consumer grouping inmirad (see du Gay, Hall et al., 1997, section 3). In other words, flexiblespecialization and the increased culturalization of products go hand in hand.They are, in effect, mutually constitutive.

Finally, the growing importance accorded to signification in doing businessis not only evident in the production, design and marketing of goods andservices, for as we have already seen, the internal life of organizations is alsothe subject of cultural reconstruction. The turn to 'culture' within the worldof business and oiganization is premised in part upon the belief that, inorder to compete effectively in the turbulent. increasingly global markets ofthe present, a foremost necessity for organizations is to change they way theyconduct their business and the ways people conduct themselves withinorganizations. 'Culture' is deemed to be crucial here because it is seen tostructure the way people think, feel and act in organizations. The aim ofinanaging organizational culture is to prdduce new sets of meanings throughwhich people will come to identify with their employing organization in away which enables them to make the right and necessary contribution to itssuccess.

This focus on 'culture' as a means of changing the way people conceive ofand relate to the work they perforrn and to their own sense of self indicatesthat its deployment as a managerial technique is intimately bound up withquestions of identity.'In this second sense of the term, then, 'cultural economy' refers to theincreasing 'culturalization' of economic life. From 'macro' level processes of`economic globalization' to 'micro' level processes of individual work-basedidentity-formation, cultural practices have come to play a crucial role in theconduct ofmany different forms of economic life in the modern world.

The structure of the book

As we have indicated, this book is structured by the notion of 'culturaleconomy'. Given the antipathy that has been held to exist between the terms`culture' and 'economics', the notion of 'cultural economy' is designed tostrike you as a little strange. However, we hope by now that you have begunto see why we are attaching such importance to it.

It is worth quickly re-capping the main themes and issues which we aregathering together under the rubric of 'cultural economy' before moving on tolook at the content of each individual chapter.

The first thing to note is that the term draws attention to the ways in whichforms of economic life are cultural phenomena; they depend on `meaning'for their effects and have particular discursive conditions of existence.

production of culture

times. In studying the production of culture, he argues, it is necessary tounderstand not only the technical processes and economic

. pattems ofmanuf4cturing, organization and distribution but also to understand theculture the ways of life through and within which music, films and otherforms of cultral software and hardware are made and given meaning. Indeveloping this argument, Negus draws attention to an important shift inapproaches to how culture is produced: from earlier attempts to understandthe impact of specific forms of industrial production on cultural artefacts (byapplying notions of 'industry' to `culture'), towards a perspective whichapproaches 'culture' not simply as a thing which is produced but as ameaningful 'forra of life' (by applying theories of 'culture' to 'industry'). Inparticular, Negus indicates how the activities of staff working in the culturalindustries are informed by a particular set of values, meanings and workingpractices a 'culture of production' which has a significant impact on the`production of culture'.

This idea that there are 'cultural' limas to conceiving of production as ai purely' economic phenomenon is developed by Peter Braham in Chapter 3,'Fashion: unpacking a cultural production'. Through a 'case study' of oneparticular cultural industry fashion Braham indicates how practiges ofcultural production are not only shaped by an industry's 'internar culture ofproduction but also in relationship to the seemingly `externar activities ofcultural consumption. He argues that a comprehensive understanding offashion in clothing can only be approached through an exploration of themutually constitutive rhythms of production and consumption. In seeking tomap the multiple worlds where the meaning of fashion is produced, Brahamexposes the links that exist between production, distribution and retailing,on the one hand, and image, advertising, lifestyle and consumption, on theother. Focusing on the global fashion corporation, Benetton, the chaptershows how this particular producer and retailer of fashion clothing isinvolved in a constant attempt simultaneously to track and shape thecultural tastes and predispositions of consumers.

The question of how consumers are drawn into and implicated in thepractices of cultural production also forr....s the central focus of Sean Nixon'sChapter 4, 'Circulating culture'. In this chapter, Nixon is concerned withexploring the increasing influence of the 'cultural intermediaries' of design,marketing and advertising, and with analysing their role in adding culturalvalue to an increasingly greater range of goods and services. He argues that`cultural intermediaries' play a pivotal role in articulating production withconsumption through their `symbolic expertise' in making goods andservices `meaningful'. He notes that this 'culturalizing role' has increasedconsiderably in recent years and links this to wider economic shiftsassociated with the transition from an era dominated by mass productionand mass consumption to an emergent era of flexible specialization andmarket differentiation. Nixon notes that the intensified role o culturalintermediaries in contemporary economic life is not simply reflective ofmore fundamental shifts in manufacturing systems. Rather, he argues that

shifts in production methods have been, in important ways, marketing-led.He suggests that both the dynamics of contemporary consumer culture andthe emerging organizational forms of flexible specialization ensure anincreased prominence for the expertise of the cultural intermediaries ofdesign, marketing and advertising. Through their strategic location at thepoint of circulation between production and consumption these forms ofsymbolic expertise are able to affect the constitution both of processes ofcultural production and of practices of cultural consumption.

In Chapter 5, `Culturing production', Graeme Salaman argues that it is notsimply goods and services that have been increasingly tlturalized, for theprocesses and practices of organization and production llave also become thesubject of cultural change and reconstruction. Salamarnalyses the wayswhich senior managers of organizations increasingly sponsor attempts todefine, for their employees, the meaning of employment, and therelationship they should have with their employing organization. Theyattempt to do this, hwargues, because they are convinced that changing the'culture' of organizations is an effective way of improving organizationalperformance in terms of managers' objectives. These efforts (whichSalaman refers to under the heading of 'Corporate Culture') arise from, andare encouraged by, man.agerial discourses developed by a particular sort ofcultural intermediary the management consultant. These discourses offer away of thinking about how organizations work, what affects theirperformance, and how performance can be improved. However, as thechapter demonstrates, while 'Corporate Culture' discourse insists upon theessential reality of organizational consensus and harmony, thisrepresentation of organizational life is often contested and challenged by thevery people at whom it is aimed ernployees.

In the final Chapter 6, `Organizing identity: making up people at work', Pauldu Gay explores the ways in which attempts to change the culture oforganizations impact upon and reconstruct economic i4entities, not onlythose of employees whether workers or managers but,also those ofconsumers. Du Gay examines how contemporary changIs in ways ofrepresenting and intervening in what he tercos goverring" organizationallife creat new ways for people to conduct themselves, at work. In particular,he focuses upon the ways in which coLtemporary discourses oforganizational change blur some established differences between the spheresof production and consumption, work and leisure, creating certainsimilarities in the forms of conduct and modes of self-presentation requiredof people across a range of different domains. Through an examination ofcontemporary organizational change in the service sector of the economy,where economic success is perhaps most visibly premised upon theproduction of meaning, du Gay delineates the emergente of novel 'hybrid'work identities. By the term 'hybrid work identities' he refers to the ways inwhich employees in contemporary service work are encouraged to tale onboth the role of worker and that of customer in the workplace. Throughoutthe chapter, he indicates the pitfalls of attempting to allocate an essential

times. In studying the production of culture, he argues, it is necessary tounderstand not only the technical processes and economic

. pattems ofmanuf4cturing, organization and distribution but also to understand theculture the ways of life through and within which music, films and otherforms of cultral software and hardware are made and given meaning. Indeveloping this argument, Negus draws attention to an important shift inapproaches to how culture is produced: from earlier attempts to understandthe impact of specific forms of industrial production on cultural artefacts (byapplying notions of 'industry' to `culture'), towards a perspective whichapproaches 'culture' not simply as a thing which is produced but as ameaningful 'forra of life' (by applying theories of 'culture' to 'industry'). Inparticular, Negus indicates how the activities of staff working in the culturalindustries are informed by a particular set of values, meanings and workingpractices a 'culture of production' which has a significant impact on the`production of culture'.

This idea that there are 'cultural' limas to conceiving of production as ai purely' economic phenomenon is developed by Peter Braham in Chapter 3,'Fashion: unpacking a cultural production'. Through a 'case study' of oneparticular cultural industry fashion Braham indicates how practiges ofcultural production are not only shaped by an industry's 'internar culture ofproduction but also in relationship to the seemingly `externar activities ofcultural consumption. He argues that a comprehensive understanding offashion in clothing can only be approached through an exploration of themutually constitutive rhythms of production and consumption. In seeking tomap the multiple worlds where the meaning of fashion is produced, Brahamexposes the links that exist between production, distribution and retailing,on the one hand, and image, advertising, lifestyle and consumption, on theother. Focusing on the global fashion corporation, Benetton, the chaptershows how this particular producer and retailer of fashion clothing isinvolved in a constant attempt simultaneously to track and shape thecultural tastes and predispositions of consumers.

The question of how consumers are drawn into and implicated in thepractices of cultural production also forr....s the central focus of Sean Nixon'sChapter 4, 'Circulating culture'. In this chapter, Nixon is concerned withexploring the increasing influence of the 'cultural intermediaries' of design,marketing and advertising, and with analysing their role in adding culturalvalue to an increasingly greater range of goods and services. He argues that`cultural intermediaries' play a pivotal role in articulating production withconsumption through their `symbolic expertise' in making goods andservices `meaningful'. He notes that this 'culturalizing role' has increasedconsiderably in recent years and links this to wider economic shiftsassociated with the transition from an era dominated by mass productionand mass consumption to an emergent era of flexible specialization andmarket differentiation. Nixon notes that the intensified role o culturalintermediaries in contemporary economic life is not simply reflective ofmore fundamental shifts in manufacturing systems. Rather, he argues that

shifts in production methods have been, in important ways, marketing-led.He suggests that both the dynamics of contemporary consumer culture andthe emerging organizational forms of flexible specialization ensure anincreased prominence for the expertise of the cultural intermediaries ofdesign, marketing and advertising. Through their strategic location at thepoint of circulation between production and consumption these forms ofsymbolic expertise are able to affect the constitution both of processes ofcultural production and of practices of cultural consumption.

In Chapter 5, `Culturing production', Graeme Salaman argues that it is notsimply goods and services that have been increasingly tlturalized, for theprocesses and practices of organization and production llave also become thesubject of cultural change and reconstruction. Salamarnalyses the wayswhich senior managers of organizations increasingly sponsor attempts todefine, for their employees, the meaning of employment, and therelationship they should have with their employing organization. Theyattempt to do this, hwargues, because they are convinced that changing the'culture' of organizations is an effective way of improving organizationalperformance in terms of managers' objectives. These efforts (whichSalaman refers to under the heading of 'Corporate Culture') arise from, andare encouraged by, man.agerial discourses developed by a particular sort ofcultural intermediary the management consultant. These discourses offer away of thinking about how organizations work, what affects theirperformance, and how performance can be improved. However, as thechapter demonstrates, while 'Corporate Culture' discourse insists upon theessential reality of organizational consensus and harmony, thisrepresentation of organizational life is often contested and challenged by thevery people at whom it is aimed ernployees.

In the final Chapter 6, `Organizing identity: making up people at work', Pauldu Gay explores the ways in which attempts to change the culture oforganizations impact upon and reconstruct economic i4entities, not onlythose of employees whether workers or managers but,also those ofconsumers. Du Gay examines how contemporary changIs in ways ofrepresenting and intervening in what he tercos goverring" organizationallife creat new ways for people to conduct themselves, at work. In particular,he focuses upon the ways in which coLtemporary discourses oforganizational change blur some established differences between the spheresof production and consumption, work and leisure, creating certainsimilarities in the forms of conduct and modes of self-presentation requiredof people across a range of different domains. Through an examination ofcontemporary organizational change in the service sector of the economy,where economic success is perhaps most visibly premised upon theproduction of meaning, du Gay delineates the emergente of novel 'hybrid'work identities. By the term 'hybrid work identities' he refers to the ways inwhich employees in contemporary service work are encouraged to tale onboth the role of worker and that of customer in the workplace. Throughoutthe chapter, he indicates the pitfalls of attempting to allocate an essential

meaning te work and instead suggests that the experience and identity ofwork are historically and culturally constructed. What it means to be a`worker', 'manager', or any other form of economic actor, vares across timeand context in . relationship to prevailing wavs of governing economic life.

Where is meaning produced? Our 'circuit of culture' suggests that, in fact,meanings are produced at several different sites and circulated throughseveral different processes and practices (the cultural circuit). This volume isprimarily concerned with exploring the wavs in which cultural meanings aremade in production. However, while production, as we have seen, has itsown particular 'forms of life', it is not wholly separe from other sites onour circuit. In discussing the production of culture we have not been able toavoid talking about consumption, representation or identity, for example.This suggests that meaning-making processes operating in nny one site arealways partially dependent upon the meaning-making processes andpractics operating in other sites for their effect. In other words, meaning isnot simpl

sent from one autonomous sphere production, say undreceived in another autonomous sphere consumption. Meaning-makingfinctions less in terms of such a transmission' flow model, and more likethe model of a dialogue. It is an ongoing process. It rarely ends at a pre-ordained place. No doubt the producers of cultural goods and services wishit did and that they could permanently establish its boundaries! Why andhow such an ambition remains forever thwarted is explored by each of thecontributors to this volume.

Notes1 .

This term is borrowed from John Allen.

ReferencesDU GAY. P.. HALL, S., JANES, L., MACKAY, H. and NEGUS, K. (1997) Doing CulturalStudies: the storv of the Sony Walkman, London, Sage/The Open University(Book 1 in this series).HALL. S. (1997) 'Introduction' in Hall, S. (ed.) Representation: culturalrepresentations and signifying practices, London, Sage/The Open University(Book 2 in this series).

WHAT IN THE WORLD'SGOING ON?Kevin Robins

ContentaINTRODUCTION 12

2 GLOBAL CHANGE 13

2.1 Encountering globalization 14.

2.2 Complexities of globalization 19

3 ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION 22

3.1 The new world information economy 23

3.2 The global local nexus 28

4 CULTURAL GLOBALIZATION 32

4.1 New spaces of global media 33

4.2 A world of difference 38

5 CONCLUSION 43

REFERENCES 45

READINGS FOR CHAPTER ONE

READING A:Ulf Hannerz, `Varieties of transnational experience' 48

READING B:lan Angel!, 'Winners and losers in the Information Age' 52

READING C:Marc Levinson, 'It's an MTV world' 56

READING D:Marc Levinson, 'Gut, Gut, Alles Super Gut!' 60

READING E:Richard Wilk, 'The local and the global in the politicaleconomy of beauty' 6I

meaning te work and instead suggests that the experience and identity ofwork are historically and culturally constructed. What it means to be a`worker', 'manager', or any other form of economic actor, vares across timeand context in . relationship to prevailing wavs of governing economic life.

Where is meaning produced? Our 'circuit of culture' suggests that, in fact,meanings are produced at several different sites and circulated throughseveral different processes and practices (the cultural circuit). This volume isprimarily concerned with exploring the wavs in which cultural meanings aremade in production. However, while production, as we have seen, has itsown particular 'forms of life', it is not wholly separe from other sites onour circuit. In discussing the production of culture we have not been able toavoid talking about consumption, representation or identity, for example.This suggests that meaning-making processes operating in nny one site arealways partially dependent upon the meaning-making processes andpractics operating in other sites for their effect. In other words, meaning isnot simpl

sent from one autonomous sphere production, say undreceived in another autonomous sphere consumption. Meaning-makingfinctions less in terms of such a transmission' flow model, and more likethe model of a dialogue. It is an ongoing process. It rarely ends at a pre-ordained place. No doubt the producers of cultural goods and services wishit did and that they could permanently establish its boundaries! Why andhow such an ambition remains forever thwarted is explored by each of thecontributors to this volume.

Notes1 .

This term is borrowed from John Allen.

ReferencesDU GAY. P.. HALL, S., JANES, L., MACKAY, H. and NEGUS, K. (1997) Doing CulturalStudies: the storv of the Sony Walkman, London, Sage/The Open University(Book 1 in this series).HALL. S. (1997) 'Introduction' in Hall, S. (ed.) Representation: culturalrepresentations and signifying practices, London, Sage/The Open University(Book 2 in this series).

WHAT IN THE WORLD'SGOING ON?Kevin Robins

ContentaINTRODUCTION 12

2 GLOBAL CHANGE 13

2.1 Encountering globalization 14.

2.2 Complexities of globalization 19

3 ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION 22

3.1 The new world information economy 23

3.2 The global local nexus 28

4 CULTURAL GLOBALIZATION 32

4.1 New spaces of global media 33

4.2 A world of difference 38

5 CONCLUSION 43

REFERENCES 45

READINGS FOR CHAPTER ONE

READING A:Ulf Hannerz, `Varieties of transnational experience' 48

READING B:lan Angel!, 'Winners and losers in the Information Age' 52

READING C:Marc Levinson, 'It's an MTV world' 56

READING D:Marc Levinson, 'Gut, Gut, Alles Super Gut!' 60

READING E:Richard Wilk, 'The local and the global in the politicaleconomy of beauty' 6I

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