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Review by John Tomkins, former Lecturer in Sociology, South Bank University (Comedia, 2001, ISBN 1-837667-132 £9.00 [£11.72 inc. p&p]*)
Should we be worried about contemporary developments in culture? This book sets out the need for immediate concern in a stimulating fashion. It sees culture as something that provides us with meaningful insights, eliciting genuine and direct emotional experiences and responses, and helping us to understand the complex relationships between intellect, instincts and everyday life. The book gives us many reasons why culture may not be working in this way.

Concerns are raised about historical continuity with cultural traditions, the effects of modern digital technology, commercialisation, globalisation, and democratisation upon the sorts of cultural experience that are sought after and are available for people today.

The need for institutional change is recognised and many examples of the form they should take are given. Current views that these institutions should operate in an instrumental way to boost the image and economies of cities or localities are considered as being over simplistic and having the potential to counteract another goal of community development. As culture slips more and more out of the control of these traditional, largely placebound cultural institutions and into the media, onto the web and into retail outlets and entertainment parks, they may be losing their ability to act as cultural icons to give our culture the continuity and coherence that is required in a confusing modern world.

The book is a concise and coherent call for considered change in our cultural institutions, which outlines the dimensions of the debates about the nature of contemporary culture and policy making in which this should take place. It does, however, neglect important questions of power about the way that these debates should take place and the way they will fit into the decision making process. More fundamentally there is the question of whether they should take place at all? After all who exactly is worried about our culture? Is this the man in the street ? who may be enjoying these changes ? or is it some elite of intellectuals, critics, and arts managers?