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Capitalist Economy as a Precondition and Restraint of Modern and Contemporary Art Worlds

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Art and the Challenge of Markets Volume 2

Part of the book series: Sociology of the Arts ((SOA))

Abstract

This chapter deals with capitalist economy’s ambiguous relation to art. Capitalist economy was once, in the eighteenth century, a necessary precondition for the emerging of the modern system of art, as well as for art’s emancipation from the control of royal ruler families, churches, patrons, and guilds. In this sense, the emerging and establishing of capitalist ways of action made modern art’s relatively autonomous position in society possible. However, in current national societies and world society, art has increasingly merged with capitalist economy, in particular, with commercial entertainment culture, which has called this autonomy in question and, in part, suppressed it. The chapter clears up this developmental line and shows that the current hegemony of capitalist economy has also aroused critical resistance in contemporary art.

This chapter has been written within the premise/scope of the research project “How Art Worlds Have Reacted to the Market-Based or Neoliberal Turn in Society” financed by the Academy of Finland for the years 2011–14. The number of the project is 139049.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Marx (1974) presents his own view of original accumulation in the last chapter of the first volume of Das Kapital (1867). At the beginning of this volume, he formulates his own value theory.

  2. 2.

    This book’s literal translation into English is, in fact, “The Art of Society.” Despite this, the title “Art as a Social System” aptly expresses Luhmann’s way of conceptualizing art.

  3. 3.

    Manuel Castells (2000, 2012) has presented a wider and a more systematic description of these types of movements. Besides these three movements mentioned in the text, they include, among others, the Mexican Zapatista movement and American fundamentalist movements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland

    Erkki Sevänen

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  1. Erkki Sevänen
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK

    Victoria D. Alexander

  2. University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland

    Samuli Hägg

  3. University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland

    Simo Häyrynen

  4. University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland

    Erkki Sevänen

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Sevänen, E. (2018). Capitalist Economy as a Precondition and Restraint of Modern and Contemporary Art Worlds. In: Alexander, V., Hägg, S., Häyrynen, S., Sevänen, E. (eds) Art and the Challenge of Markets Volume 2. Sociology of the Arts . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64644-2_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64644-2_1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-64643-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-64644-2

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