Qualitative criteria and cultural policy: An examination of the normative basis for government policy on art and the media in the Netherlands

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Poetics 12 (1983) 357-352 North-Holland

QUALITATIVE CRITERIA AND CULTURAL POLICY: AN EXAMINATION OF THE NORMATIVE BASIS FOR GOVERNMENT POLICY ON ART AND THE MEDIA IN THE NETHERLANDS WIM KNULST

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The value of products of the mind such as information and creative expression cannot be considerations: objectively determined. Their quality is judged on the basis of normative qualitative standards. It is characteristic of value orientations in this field that not one of them has full authority and that they thus compete with one another. Nevertheless. in its cultural policy the government does accord authority to certain qualitative standards and thereby endeavours to win the public for the quality of its choice. This article goes into the background of qualitative standards. their role in the formulation of media and art policy and discusses the question as to whether the government succeeds in increasing the authority of its ch osen qualitative standards amongst the public. Qualitative standards have been defined as justification formulae. on the basis of which producers or distributors justify the validity of their information or cultural products. Three distinctions are made in describing the situation in the Netherlands: professional or artistic. ideological and commercial qualitative standards. Dutch cultural policy is based on the first two: art policy on professional-artistic standards and media policy on ideological-qualitative standards, and moreover on the professional and ideological polarisation vis-a-vis market-orientated standards. The government’s approach to the information and cultural market is based on differing and mutually conflicting principles. Media policy is based on the existence of dominant ideological currents amongst the public and is aimed at organising the supply not only of information but also of entertainment and culture according to these guide lines. Cultural care is not orientated on the varied nature of the public. It protects cultural products. which have emerged according to professional qualitative standards, and endeavours to stimulate the public’s receptiveness. AS far as the supply aspect is concerned, this policy still works well: there is an ideologically pluriform supply of information and there is an extensive amount of art on offer. As regards the consumption aspect, this policy is less satisfactory. The majority of the public is no longer guided by ideological criteria in its media consumption. Subsidies and distribution policy have not succeeded in making cultural products and the qualitative standards on which they are based into common property on a greater scale. This article gives a number of reasons for this failure. The conclusion is that at the present day qualitative subject to the whims of fashion than in times past.

standards

* Author’s address: The Netherlands.

Planbureau,

0304-422X/83/$3.00

Wim Knulst.

Sociaal en Cultureel

C 1983, Elsevier Science Publishers

are more controversial

Postbus

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37, 2280 AA Rijswijk.

B.V. (North-Holland)

1. Introduction In a democratic society it is up to the individual citizen to decide whether and to what extent he or she takes note of information and cultural expressions. It is the individual who must ultimately determine the meaning and importance of what he has been introduced to. This does not mean that each individual is unique in the type of need which stimulates him into taking not or in the type of experience which this brings about. And yet these needs and experiences are so varied and so often dependent on more or less fortuitous circumstances that it is impossible to generalise on whether a particular product of the mind has made an “adequate” impact. In this respect. goods of the mind - the aesthetic design of consumer goods, for example, may also be classified under this heading - distinguish themselves from most other goods. The absence of an absolute measure with which to judge whether products of the mind “serve their purpose” does not necessarily mean that there are not norms by which their significance can be assessed. On the contrary. a variety of qualitative criteria are used in judging information or cultural expressions. Some carry more weight than others, but even the authoritative criteria do not make an immediate impression on a casual observer who has no previous acquaintance with these norms. Moreover, by no means do all the producers or consumers accept the qualitative criteria of experts, though where provisions for education and health care are concerned, this is generally the case. It would not, therefore, appear to be a matter of chance that in an examination of the supply of information and cultural expressions. qualitative judgements repeatedly play an important role, since it is not possible simply to refer to generally valid or accepted criteria. It is difficult to evade the demand for criteria with which to judge the products of the mind, since these products themselves make continuing demands on political, ethical or aesthetic norms from their public. In spite of the absence of generally authoritative qualitative criteria, in most of the Western democracies the government does pursue a cultural policy which promotes the provision of information and protects cultural products in “the general interest”. Moreover, the government stimulates the receptiveness to the protected cultural expressions. On what grounds does the government do this? What are the qualitative criteria which determine their choice? What effect does government support have in a society, in which producers and consumers are free to ignore that choice and even to scorn it? These questions form the central theme of this article, which is a shortened _ and partly adapted - version of three chapters from the study ‘LMediabe/eid and Cultuurbeleid’, which the author published in 1982. In this survey “cultural policy” in the general sense means: the whole complex of policy activities connected with institutions which put reports, ideas and forms of expression into circulation. In this general sense, cultural policy comprises: the aspects of the transmission of culture in education: the transmission of culture outside

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the educational system; broadcasting. the press. museums. etc. In a narrower sense, in this article generally referred to as “culture care”, cultural policy coincides with the care sector for cultural affairs: the arts. museums. conservation of ancient monuments and historic buildings, art appreciation training. In this survey, cultural care forms the pendant to policy for the media. “Media policy” is used here as a collective term for policy on broadcasting. press and libraries. Government care for the media and the arts is based on a positive appreciation of their significance in society, whereby qualitative criteria form the foundation of this appreciation. If the concrete policy with regard to the media and the arts is examined more closely, it soon becomes apparent that the government measures with different criteria in these two fields. As far as broadcasting is concerned, which daily supplies a mass public with information and entertainment, it is not the programmes, but the broadcasting organisations which are assessed and this assessment usually takes place when application is made for a broadcasting licence. Where support is given to the press, it is not the editorial content which is judged but, just as with broadcasting, it is the press organ’s contribution to the diversity of the vvhole which matters. The cultural and recreational functions of these media are, for the press more emphatically than for broadcasting, dealt with as being derived from the political function of the publicity organ. The government treats the various currents in press and broadcasting as being of equal value, not only in the provision of news and political comment. but also in the presentation of culture and entertainment. There is a different situation where arts subsidies are concerned. The supply, which reaches a less substantial and, on average, more highly educated public is indeed judged on its own quality. Another difference is that in this field the government only recognises diversity of quality and trends insofar as this is manifested within the professional art world. Other sorts of culture on offer (e.g. popular manifestations) are certainly not regarded as being of equal qualitative value. Thus, policy for the arts is based on a completely different tradition of judgement than that for broadcasting and press policy; and a tradition which also differs from that for library policy, which does not assume that any one cultural product should be treated as superior. The origin of these differing traditions of judgement forms the theme of the following section. Section 3 deals with the way in which qualitative criteria are interwoven with government policy for the media and culture. Finally, section 4 discusses the extent to which the public appears to be receptive to qualitative standards and ideals of cultural policy.

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2. The background of qualitative standards

2. I. Definitions A great deal has been written in the United States on differences in standards of quality. Attention is often drawn to the contrast between the commercial field, i.e. mass culture and refined culture, which comes into being according to the qualitative standards of intellectuals or artistic professionals (Kando 1980: ch. 3; Rosenberg and White 1957, 1971). This division also plays an important part in the development of ideas on qualitative standards in Western Europe, although the supply structure here differs greatly from that in America, especially as far as broadcasting and the arts are concerned. This applies, for instance, to the Netherlands where precisely in the second half of the 19th century, the period in which newspapers and periodicals became mass media. dailies and periodicals were established as a binding agent for population groups which shared a common conviction. Some fifty years later the radio. preeminently suitable as a mass medium, was destined to be the means of communication for population groups with the same religious and political views. This denominational or ideological element has remained important up to the present day as a guideline in the preparation of broadcasts or the publication of newspapers or periodicals. The division into mass culture and refined culture allows no scope for this variant. Instead, people in the Netherlands talk about a division into commercial and non-commercial culture. However, it would appear to be just as erroneous to group all the publicity institutions operating on the free market under the undifferentiated heading of commercial culture. Most books, newspapers and periodicals are published by enterprises for the profit motive. The production is not in the service of denominational or ideological groups, hence there is no institutional tie with a group of the public. In that respect one can talk about a commercial relationship, whereby the supplier and the consumer only enter into the relationship for the delivery of a (series of) service(s). However, it is incorrect to qualify the substantive quality of the supply according to this single characteristic. Thus the one-dimensional usage which juxtaposes commercial and non-commercial is also too restricted. Many editors of daily newspapers or periodicals, compilers of broadcasts or publishers of books are not primarily orientated towards the sale of success numbers in their efforts to achieve the best results. Nor is it a question of propagating certain convictions. Their approach can best be characterised as professional or artistic orientation. The emphasis is not on optimum sales results, nor on a political ideology, but on the qualitative criteria of the respective professional fields. All this calls for an adjusted classification. Classifications often turn out to be too limited to reflect the various shades of

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reality. Nevertheless it would seem to be useful to bring some degree systematisation into a description of qualitative standards. Three sorts qualitative standards can be distinguished for this purpose. They serve characterise a difference in norms, to which producers or distributors information or cultural expressions can appeal in the last instance in order justify the quality of the supply. Three aspects can be distinguished:

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A market orientation could be described as an orientation which derives its criteria for quality from market conditions, approaches the public in the role of consumer, and translates stimuli from the public or from society as the need for services on the pretext of “offering what the consumer wants” (Murdock 1980: 121-130; Manschot 1974: ch. VII; van Waesberghe 1981: 43-75). - A professional or artistic orientation is based on the qualitative standards of a group of professionals, who view the public as laymen and decode signals from society as a challenge to the exercise of their profession. Their justification lies in the conviction that it is the task of the professional to offer the public work of a high professional level (van der Ven 1965; van Doorn 1966; Mok 1973). - An ideological orientation is based on a political or denominational task. whereby the supply is tested on its relevance to a conviction; stimuli from society are interpreted in terms of support for or resistance to a particular conviction and the public are seen as the (possible) supporters. The justification is based on the idea of vocation - what is offered is what people need in order to gain a certain insight (van Doorn 1978) This distinction shows the characteristics of value systems, which are used by producers, distributors or subsidisers of information or cultural expressions to justify The veracity of their products, respectively the selection of products. Thus it is definitely not a question of classifying cultural products themselves. Although the distinction has been made in order to indicate fundamentally irreconcilable orientations, nevertheless in large organisations with independent departments such as newspapers, publishers or broadcasting companies there is often scope for divergent qualitative standards per department. In Dutch broadcasting organisations, for example, there is a difference in treatment between entertainment and culture, between light music and classical music, between weighty and less weighty information. Moreover, different qualitative standards can play a part in the products which are on offer. Variety in qualitative standards is also often connected with the production phase of the supply: religious programmes which have been produced with an eye on the American market can, for instance, be launched on television by a Dutch denominational broadcasting organisation according to strictly ideological principles. It also frequently happens that books, music and drama in

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which the creator has elaborated a vision of society or an artistic formula, are put on the market by third parties according to strictly commercial standards. The reverse also occurs. Productions which originated according to commercial norms are later distributed on the basis of artistic qualitative standards. It would go too far to go into all the nuances in this context. The description of the historical and social background of qualitative standards which follows below does not pretend to be more than a sketch and concentrates mainly on the professional and ideological standards. The market orientation is illustrated by judgements passed by intellectuals on this subject. This approach has been chosen - and it is thus a somewhat biased representation as far as market orientation is concerned - because it is these three viewx Lvhich have had such a great influence on cultural policy in the Netherlands. 2.2. An outline of the background

to professional

and artistic qualitntiue standards

If one delves into the history of various occupations it is soon apparent what a mark has been made by social relations, not only one the way in which a profession was practised, but also on the criteria by which the results lvere judged. In the general literature on the social development of the newspaper. the book, or the performing arts, attention has also been paid to a shift in the nature of the production structure. Various authors point in this connection to which are kno\vn in sociology as the development from changes, “Gemeinschaft” to “Gesellschaft”. Before the Industrial Revolution, the forms of communication mentioned above would main15 have flourished in more or less closed consumer units. As a rule, an author xvas a member of a circle of intellectuals to which the readers also belonged. There was little differentiation of roles. The creator of products of the mind generally derived his qualitative criteria from the public for Lvhich he was working. Habermas writes about a stage at the end of the 18th century in which the newspaper, the periodical and the book were the common vehicles of discussion between enlightened citizens (Habermas 1962). Other authors point to the blossoming of the performing arts in a closed circle of aristocrats and patricians at about the same period (Hauser 1975: ch. VI: Burke 1979: ch. 9; Gedin 1977: ch. 1). The growth of impersonal market relations supposedly altered this situation. In the world of the press and the arts, the role of the producer and the consumer became more clearly differentiated. The press came under the market regime; so, too, did the performing arts to start with. but a new (state) maecenas came to their aid. Both the press and the performing arts grew into independent institutions and gradually each type of product of the mind developed its own traditions of qualitative norms. From the very beginning, the press revealed itself as a medium for news and opinions which came into being independent of - and often also in opposition to - the temporal or spiritual centres of power. The forerunners of the

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independent formation of opinion were the anonymous pamphlets of the sixteenth century and the precursors of new gathering were the regular reports between the trade centres of the time. The development of an independent press and the growth of democratic relations are inseparably bound up with one another. The first regular newspapers and periodicals appeared in countries where spiritual toleration had made the most progress: in the Republic of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands and in England (Schneider and Hemels 1979). Ever since that period, newspapers and periodicals have occupied forward positions in the political and social dialogue. They fought against governments for their independence. Many press organs, also in the Netherlands, acquired this independence as exponents of a recognised political or intellectual current. A further step in the development of journalistic independence has been the break-away by the editors of publicity organs from the political or denominational frameworks. The development is of more recent date. It occurred first in newspapers and periodicals from abroad, which had acquired an international readership and whose reporting and comment were valued for the very reason that they were intellectual and detached. A quality press. which is fairly independent, has also developed in the Netherlands (van Waesberghe 1981; Kaiser 1981: 83-95). Regardless of the scope offered by a newspaper publisher or broadcasting organisation for editorial independence, the journalistic profession has remained strongly orientated touards providing a service to the public. The artistic professions grew towards independence of a kind which also aimed at not being tied to the public. The process of professionalisation in the performing arts goes much further back than in journalism. There are numerous indications that the protection offered to creative artists by aristocrats or patricians made a considerable contribution to the specialisation and perfection of the pursuit of literature, music, dance or the theatre. It may be assumed that some important aspects of the professionalisation process got under way - in some countries more than in others - when theatre and music escaped from the exclusive atmosphere of courts and salons and reached public places at the beginning of the 19th century. The performing arts and popular theatrical and musical manifestations came across each other in the open market, as did “belles lettres” and popular reading matter. Williams establishes a link between the development of market relations in the literary field and the rise of the charismatic picture of the artistic profession. “It is a fact that in the same period in which the market and the idea of specialist production received increasing emphasis there grew up also a system of thinking about the arts, of which the most important elements are: first an emphasis on the special nature of art-activity as a means to “imaginative truth”, and second an emphasis on the artist as a special kind of person” (Williams 1979: 53).

The pursuit of the arts developed into an independent specialism and the views of the artists themselves dictated to an ever increasing extent the uay in which they went to work. The unfettered nature of the creative power of imagination, of which artists became increasingly conscious, became the professional artistic norm. Since the beginning of the last century that idealistic freedom has been emphatically propagated. Artistic circles demonstrated this freedom by dissociating themselves from the public. Hauser characterises this movement amongst artists durin g the romantic period as follows: “. . . all this simply points to the desire to detach themselves from bourgeois society or rather: to represent the already existant detachment as deliberate and welcome” (Hauser 1975: 456). The romantic conception of the artistic calling, which does not in principle consider that there is a social task for the artist, asserted itself most forcibly as the ‘1’ art pour l‘art’ adage amongst creative artists. On the other hand it was mainly creative, and in particular visual artists and writers who, as a reaction to the ‘1’ art pour 1 ‘art’ movement, wanted to find a way of putting their creative skill at the service of a social or political function. Ideas on the social involvement of the artistic calling gained ground towards the end of the nineteenth century (Hauser 1975: ch. VII), a period in which the romantic picture of the artist gained popularity amongst those engaged in the performing arts. The romantic artistic orientation may be regarded as an extreme variation of a professional orientation, whereby social values and norms and, in fact, those of the clients as well have to give way entirely to the demands imposed by the free development of artistic potential. The public is left with the role of an admirer and/or financial backer. It is really rather remarkable that the subservient role which this tradition accords to the art-loving public has not been interpreted by the latter as a disqualification. The reverse would appear to be the case. According to the romantic-artistic tradition the public derives distinction from its association uith the muse and this view of participation in art does not come exclusively from artists themselves. Ever since the Renaissance, the cultivation of the faculties of the mind, as for instance through the contemplation of the arts and sciences, has been regarded as an ideal for intellectuals. According to Elias. the bourgeois strata of society in eighteenth century Germany, who were striving for their emancipation, regarded this form of developing personal potential as their ovvn hallmark of refinement by which they dissociated themselves from the German aristocracy’s mode of life which they considered to be based too much on outward show (Elias 1980: 17-42). Hauser is one of those who has described a later stage in the history of art participation. He considers that the citizens who, in the second half of the last century, had reached a prosperous position were very readily inclined to imitate certain elements of the mode of life of the old aristocracy, or what they believed it to be. Especially during the Second Empire in France, the last phase

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of the Habsburg dynasty in Austria, and after the establishment of the Empire in Germany there grew up, according to Hauser. an ostentatious form of art participation. This coincided with intense interest in a heroic national past, in opera and orchestral music on a grand scale and also with the construction of imposing theatres and concert halls (Hauser 1975: 516-518). The solemn atmosphere, which has continued to surround refined culture in spite of later sacrilegious actions, dates from this period. From this time on, it was not proper to talk, cheer on the actors and actrices, eat or drink during a performance. This ceremonial enjoyment of culture was in market contrast to the trivial atmosphere in which cultural expressions such as the photo, the gramaphone record, the film, illustrated reading matter appeared on the market from the turn of the century onwards. Although it was the well-to-do bourgeoisie who where the first to take possession of these ingenious technical novelties. what the open market had to offer in the way of reproduced cultur was predominantly attuned to the popular style of amusement. The film was introduced on the fairground, gramophone music in bars and illustrated literature in news-stands (Gelatt 1977). Whilest the well-to-do enjoyed the new opportunities offered by the mass media in the domestic circle (Boorstin 1973), the contrast in activities taking place in public, between culture in imposing temples and mass media culture in amusement palaces drew the most attention. It is this latter point to which intellectuals apparently refer when they divide the public’s cultural tastes into “high” and “low” and without exception attribute to the high status groups an aversion to popular culture.

2.3. On the background

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For centuries, religious feelings and ideas on the social order have found expression in pamphlets, songs or drama. Indeed, popular culture from before the industrial revolution was largely based on Christian traditions and customs. Political convictions or religious feelings are bound up both with popular culture and the refined cultural tradition, and yet for many years political or religious views found their way to a wide public mainly via the printing press and popular forms of expression (Burke 1979: 259-270). In the pre-industrial era, spiritual and temporal powers (inquisition!) could exercise a dominant sometimes even totalitarian - influence on what came into public circulation. From the nineteenth century onwards, when formal restraints were placed on the power of church and state and these two institutions went their separate ways, state interference with pronouncements made in public slowly started to diminish. The church remained a powerful institution for the supenision of morals but its authority was gradually restricted to the circle of its own followers. Religious convictions increasingly found expression through private

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organisations on the same level as, or in competition with other intellectual currents. In anticipation of, but in a sense also as a counterbalance to the socialist movement, which was just beginning its organised existence. denominational daily and weekly papers were established in the Netherlands in the second half of the last century. For both Catholics and Protestants the provision of their own news and opinion papers formed the vanguard in the cultural and emancipator? struggle (IMarsman 1967; Thurlings 1978; Hemels 1978; Hendriks 1971). The socialist movement first became a factor in the cultural struggle roundabout the turn of the century. At the beginning of the movement, more attention was paid to other matters, such as economic relations, universal suffrage and education of the masses. Thus the formation of the socialist “pillar” in the realm of provision of information, clubs and societies started later than those of the denominational groups. Just as in the Catholic movement, the socialist stream manifested itself at an early stage within the intellectual cultural tradition. Particularly in literature and in the theatre a socialist current formed an important counterweight to the “art for art’s sake” idea which prevailed at the end of the century. Although the socialists had established their own daily papers and periodicals since the beginning of the century. they were a better match for the denominational organisations in the struggle for control of the radio between 1925 and 1930. The autonomy of political and denominational organisations regarding their own radio communications channel with their followers was recognised by- the government in 1930 (van den Heuvel 1976: ch. 1). Even where no official recognition vvas called for, such as with the provision of reading matter and with clubs and societies, the denominational groups in particular de\,eloped their own organisations. In order to restrain “unbridled amusement” (sport, films, illustrated reading matter, modern music), provisions for information and culture came into being u-hereby the denominational qualitative standards could be upheld (van der Plas 1963; van der Kroon 1965; van Kaam 1964). The population groups which ivere organised along denominational and ideological lines were introduced under denominational supervision to the new forms of leisure resulting from the industrial era. The vertical denominational and ideological structure in this field has been characterised as a “guided modernisation of leisure culture” (Knulst 1980). In a less comprehensive “pillar” and with strong emphasis on opportunities of developing personal potential for the workers and on youth work, the socialist movement fought its own battle for a popular culture based on socialist principles but, just as with the denominational groups, the objective was to arm their followers against (urban) mass culture which was reprehensible in their eyes (Michielse 1980; Nijenhuis 1981: ch. 3). Since 1960 provisions based on these ideological qualitative standards have

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lost a great deal of ground. Within the institutions which retained an official ideological or denominational character. the ideological qualitative standards have been partly ousted by a professional or market orientation (cf. section 4). 2.4. Short survey of intellectual

and scientific vie\t,s on qualitatiue standards

It is important to go into scientific views on qualitative standards in depth. Various points of view which have emerged herefrom have had great influence both on the professional (artistic) and also on the ideological orientation with regard to quality. It is not surprising that scholars often exhibit a professional orientation to quality in their views. Many intellectuals have explicitly or implicitly take sides and have criticised a market-orientated culture. This judgment - whether or not as a scientific pronouncement - has had great influence on the government’s cultural policy views. One of the first to pass judgement on the effect of the market mechanism on the supply of culture was an adherent of the Romantic School in England. He expressed his views as follows: “It is a vile evil that literature is become so much a trade all over Europe. Nothing has gone so far to nurture a corrupt taste, and to give the unintellectual power over the intellectual. Merit is now universally esteemed by the multitude of readers that an author can attract [. . .] Will the uncultivated mind admire what delights the cultivated?” (Williams 1979: 52-53). In 1834 Tom Moore formulated a theory on the cultural levelling process which, thanks to others, was later to become known as the effect of the greatest common denominator. He talked about the: “lowering of standard that must necessarily arise from the extending of the circle of judges; from letting the mob in to vote, particularly at a period when the market is such an object to authors” (Williams 1979: 53). In broad outline, this point of view still carries weight in intellectual and artistic circles up to the present day. De Tocqueville, in his classic work on the early years of the United States, laid more emphasis on the consequences of democracy than on market relationships. He considered that democracy in its striving for immediate practical effects has little time to search for excellence. It reaches towards what is available rather than something which requires long cultivation, perseverance and tradition (Zuzanek 1979: 57). Nietsche believed that an increased reading public would endanger not only literature but more generally all intellectual development (Zuzanek 1979: 55). Apart from the development of market relationships and the growth of democratic structures, the phenomenon of revolution has had considerable influence on intellectual reflections on qualitative standards. There was a belief that the traditional forms of soliarity amongst the masses were affected by the disintegration of institutions such as the church, the guilds or the family, with the result that the people as a disorderly mass would become the sport of irrational elements. This idea, which had taken root in nineteenth century

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France, also made a great impression in other countries (Hayward 1959; Gouldner 1972; 94-108). The unpredictable behaviour of the mass was added to the list of factors (market relationships, democracy) which were held responsible for cultural decay. Simmel wrote that the qualitative level of society is very close to that of its lowest components. He therefore considered it mistaken to designate the level of society as the average level of its members (Simmel 1969). In a subsequent period people talked about the effect of the “lowest common denominator”. The growing power of the common people was seen as a serious threat to the superior values implicit in classical culture. This conviction was firmly anchored in the views of cultural pessimists such as Burckhardt, Spengler, Ortega y Gasset and, in the Netherlands, Huizinga. In the present day period we also find influential adherents: Boorstin, Tuchman, Kousbroek (Boorstin 1963; Tuchman 1981). And they are not all cultural pessimists. A thinker such as Mannheim, who saw planning as a solution for the pre-war phenomena of crisis and degeneration. tried to convince his readers of the necessity for this by repeatedly pointing out the dangers of disorderly mass behaviour (Mannheim 1966). Since the twentieth century. the growth of technical means of communication has also been seen as a source of cultural decline. Huizinga wrote a great deal over cultural superficiality and in this connection repudiated the use of technical aids in the publication or distribution of expressions of the mind. According to him, the telephone, the cinema and even the newspaper would encourage much more superficial reception than the book or the (directly) spoken word (Huizinga 1920). He was certainly not alone in this. In the previous paragraph it was noted that aversion to industrially distributed products such as films. modern dance music, popular illustrated reading matter and initially also radio, played an important part in the “pillarisation” process in the realm of entertainment culture between 1900 and 1960. In the period before 1950 pessimism predominated in reflections on the rise of the mass media. At that time people were not very used to cultural expressions which were industrially produced or distributed and what they had experienced was not very encouraging. In particular the way in which the Nazis used the mass media for propaganda and agitation served to increase this pessimism (Manschot 1974: 29). Whereas before the Second World War the thought of the unbridled and irrational forces of the masses gave rise to alarm, after the war the terms ‘mass media’ and ‘mass culture’ mainly conjured up a picture of the manipulated or indoctrinated mass. In the period before the Second World War there were hardly any thinkers to be found, who spoke out in favour of the general distribution of cultural products via the media. There were very few intellectual currents which expected that increased participation by the common man would lead to an

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improvement in the quality of culture. Marxism saw, and still sees, in the growing awakening of the workers and in the classless society which it is striving to attain, the very impulse necessary for cultural renewal. The evolutionary thinking at the end of the last century also gave rise to the idea that a confrontation between various cultural expressions might bring about a higher average qualitative level. Cooley postulated the view that under the conditions of a free competition of ideas the more competent views or tastes are the winners and have a favourable influence on the lower, which results in an upgrading of the average level of culture (Zuzanek 1979: 59-60). Both Marxism and evolutionary thinking introduced a modern element: qualitative standards were no longer identified with an acquired and static possession. According to these views, social change or a confrontation of competing modes of life could initiate nevv qualitative standards. However, in the recent period a pessimistic conclusion has been drawn from a dynamic view of qualitative standards whereby the lower prevail over the higher. Gresham’s Law on monetary circulation was interpreted by MacDonald in cultural terms: a general supply of low level cultural expressions drives the high quality off the market (MacDonald 1957). It would not appear to be a matter of chance that precisely in the United States social scientists became fascinated by the controversy between mass culture and refined culture. In the United States where - unlike in Europe - public broadcasting belongs to the field of commercial enterprise, one already saw on the TV screen directly after the war extreme examples of a cultural industry which was strongly market orientated. Moreover, research into the effect of radio and TV broadcasts (on public opinion) provided empirical insight in the mass media for the first time. Thus the discussion on qualitative standards in the USA was of a less philosophic-literary nature than on the continent of Europe. Although in the American discussion the objections already known were certainly brought up, nevertheless new insight was gained. Thus there was in-depth discussion on the social context in which art or mass culture flourish. In the realm of art the creator is clearly in the foreground; the production is orientated to the values and norms of the producer and the consumer is often face to face with the artist or his original work. In mass culture, the producer stays more in the background; he is orientated to the preferences of the public and the nature of consumption is more anonymous and indirect. At the same time it is postulated that from time past, art has developed from certain groups or classes, whilst mass culture is not rooted in any particular social group but has cut across the very social relationships. Content analysis provided an empirical basis for a thematic examination of mass culture. This brought to light, for example, stereotype plots and roles in mass reading matter, films or TV series; oversimplified or exaggerated use of material from classical culture; nostalgic and romantic representation of human relations, etc. (Schramm 1960: 367-419). The conception of the “narco-

tising dysfunction” of mass culture and the picture of a mass culture which confirms the social relationships added new dimensions to the criticism of mass culture (Lazarsfeld and Xlerton 1960: 492-512). For the German critical current, known as the Frankfurter Schule, the analysis of mass culture was one of the favourite topics in its social criticism. In accordance with the School’s neo-Marxist approach, this criticism concentrated on the production structure of mass media. According to Habermas the media nowadays are instruments at the service of private interests and not. as they used to be, links in a public discussion (Habermas 1962). Enzensberger launched the term “Bewusstseinsindustrie” to indicate the information and entertainment enterprises which market cultural products in a constant stream (Enzensberger 1962). Both the critical and other approaches in Europe were mainly based on cultural monism: that only one real quality could exist or be conceivable. As far as this point is concerned, the functionalistic school of thought in sociology has enlivened thinkin g on the subject of culture. Inspired by the work of cultural anthropologists, the view has been adopted that different cultures exist not only between. but also within societies. Whilst evolutionary thinking classified the various cultures on a hierarchical basis (higher and lower degree of development). functionalistic sociologists pointed to equivalent elements in differing cultural systems. Following on from this, some people have called attention to similarities between mass culture and art, such as, for example, the view that the mass culture public is. on the grounds of similar needs, interested in. or derives pleasure from cultural expressions as does the art public. They defend this premise by saying that uhat art is for the cultivated upper class, mass culture is for the middle and lowest classes of the population and “counterculture” of the young (Shills 1962. 1971: 61-84; Gans 1974). Research on youth culture and pop music has given convincing proof of the degree to which certain pop music is interwoven with the real feelings and ideals of younger people; moreover, it has shown that it often sprang from an urban background or urban problems (Denisoff and Peterson 1972). Thus the objections to cultural expressions which are mass produced or distributed are hereby partially refuted. 3.5. Sonle comments The literature on qualitative standards provides no clear-cut definitions, or at least no classification which has fewer drawbacks than that used here. One of the chief objections is that either refined professional culture and market orientated culture are juxtaposed or ideologically valid culture and market orientated. Classifications which do indeed include a greater variety of cultural qualifications do not contain a heading for ideological qualitative standards, which is the very aspect which cannot be dispensed with in characterising relationships in the Netherlands. Although there are authors - in particular

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Americans - who try to relativise the differences between qualitative standards (Shills 1971; Gans 1974). an objection for many other authors is the fact that they are themselves a party to the discussion. As followers of a professional or ideological orientation to culture they are contesting other qualitative orientations instead of describing them. Another objection is that the classifications are often too static and give little insight into the historical dynamics of qualitative standards. Although their remarks were not entirely addressed to this subject, authors such as Elias or Veblen have pointed to the significance of taste and its manifestation for the social aspirations of the various strata of the population. Observations on the social rise or decline in modes of living and the accompanying cultural goods in connection with the ever recurring need of status symbols are also enlightening for a proper understanding of qualitative standards (Munters 1977). Cultural expressions such as jazz music or an ideological or denominational press, which have fulfilled a definite function in the struggle for emancipation of certain population groups, have received a cultural revaluation thanks to the positive results of that struggle. An example of a reverse development is given by Burke: in connection with the growth of the classical vogue in the performing arts since the second half of the seventeenth century, the popular plays of Shakespeare fell into disrepute amongst the trendsetting classes (Burke 1979: 277-278). Thus, qualitative standards are certainly not just guide lines for products but also, in particular, value orientations, determined by time and place, with the aid of which individuals or groups identify themselves with a particular mode of life and dissociate themselves from others. They play a part in the struggle for emancipation, but also in the consolidation of acquired positions of power. Thus, there are various moments in the history of further education for the masses which show that fear of the growing power of the working class also played a part in the initiatives taken by some sections of the population to .further the moral uplift of the people (Nijenhuis 1981: 11-59). One of the first things which strikes one when looking up the utterances of those who were involved earlier on in the education of the masses. is the unequivocal nature of their judgements on quality. (The more recent the utterance, the more scope is allowed for defending the judgment.) Attention is sometimes drawn to the fact that differences between population categories are more consciously experienced and emphasised in the very matters in which the categories are closest to one another. In the open society of the present day, where many social differences are no longer visible and different groups of the public are confronted with one another’s forms of expression over a wide field, qualitative standards fulfil the undiminished need to be identified with a respectable level of taste. Producers and distributors of information and culture, who sing the praises of their goods on a market offering similar goods, make particular use of qualitative standards to emphasise their position more strongly. The inde-

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pendent obssner must not allow himself to be fooled by this and lose sight of what are sometimes very slight differences. Moreover, he will become interested in the striking points of similarity which occur in the practical use of div.ergent qualitative principles. Institutions, which uphold professional standards of quality, dissociate themselves from products which are generally accepted or do well on the market. Institutions which work along ideological lines also denounce products “vvithout identity”. This has given rise in the Netherlands to polarisation over a ivide front with regard to the supply of cultural products which the professional and ideological institutions consider to be attuned to the indolence of the consumer. Both systems justify their existence with the idea of a calling. In both cases. the emphasis is on independence with regard to the public and its likes or dislikes. Both orientations are conscious of being voices cry-ing in the ivilderness. Are the differences from the enterprises which attune their supply to the market public really so great? Ideological broadcasting organisations make use. as has been mentioned earlier, of productions which ha1.e come into being accordin g to commercial principles, whilst professional and artistic producers derive inspiration from commercial products from the recent past (provided they are off the market). Generally speaking, marketorientated supply systems avoid cultural products which are not very popular and not easily understandable. But they are not averse to artistic quality, nor to products Lvith a strong ideological slant, provided there is a public for them. For the rest. there are not great differences in practice between institutions uhich are market-orientated and those which are based on professional or artistic criteria since there is little direct influence possible from the public. As far as the market-orientated institutions are concerned, the only thing which counts is the consumer behaviour of the public. The professional and artistic institutions work on the principle of keeping their distance from the public, since they believe that only specialists are capable of judging quality, and that to this there is generally an independence produces quality. In contrast opportunity Lvith ideologically-orientated institutions for two-way traffic. This type of institution is backed by - or at any rate is derived from - an active group of supporters. As described above, these institutions were established as a means of communication between a group of like-minded people. But there are also similarities between these ideologically tinted institutions and marketorientated enterprises. In practice there is little difference between canvassing for customers and canvassing for followers, since the tactics used are often the same.

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and

culture: development and background 3.1. Five main channels in the development

of cultural polic)

This section gives a description of the way in which value orientations and qualitative standards have affected the central government’s cultural policy. This is done with the aid of a short historical survey of the development of government intervention. In this context. attention has been paid to the origin of the main objectives in the cultural policy of the last few years. There are at least five themes which can be distinguished: -

the promotion of the free circulation of ideas and information; the creation of institutional bases for idealistic diversity; the protection of the intellectual cultural tradition; the protection of Dutch cultural expression; - development of personal potential for the masses. The background and development of these points is described briefly below. The background of the third point is gone into in slightly more depth. Active policy on a free circulation of ideas and information does not have a long tradition in Dutch cultural policy. As far as the press is concerned, the government has for years played a passive role via a policy of abstention (Boon 1980; van den Heuvel 1976). With regard to other forms of public cultural expression, the government often acted in the past as the guardian of public order and of morals. This took place in a field where the “pillars” already checked much of the supply of information and culture against their own ideological and denominational principles. The changeover to a positive attitude towards the free expression and reception of ideas was marked by the efforts to provide for more varied shades of opinion in the press which began about 10 years ago; restraint in applying the penal code; and the abolition of preventive government supervision of the broadcasting network. On account of the political preference, which has been predominant since the beginning of this century, for the provision of information and entertainment according to ideological standards, there is another channel in Dutch cultural policy, whereby the government grants powers or financial support to organisations with a distinctive identity to enable them to maintain public services. It is via this channel that broadcasting policy and further education work, including library policy, came about (van Riemsdijk 1978; van den Heuvel 1976). As far as broadcasting is concerned, this is still clearly to be seen in present day policy. Without siding with any one ideology or denomination, the government shows in this policy that it is in favour of an ideologicaliy tinted broadcasting system, that is to say, in principle it only recognises broadcasting

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organisations as representatives of idealistic streams. Ever since the existence of broadcasting there have been protagonists of a national broadcasting organisation, but there has never been support for this from a political majority. The present cultural care situation can be reduced to three other principles of cultural policy: the protection of the intellectual cultural tradition, the prorection of Dutch cultural expression and partly also the promotion of further education for the masses. These principles differ from the above-mentioned in that here the government does indeed come out in favour of qua1itatiL.e standards in the circulation of information and culture. It was not until after the war that the latter objective - sometimes referred to as the dissemination of culture - was transformed from a private initiative into official government policy (Smiers 1977; Nijenhuis 1981). The old ideal of educating the population in the development of personal potential and in the choice of entertainment according to intellectual criteria forms the origin of this objective. In supporting artistic activities, museums. monuments and archives. the government is protecting cultural expressions which are regarded as valuable in the light of the intellectual tradition. Specific attention to Dutch cultural expressions my be regarded as a separate objective. 3.2. The protection

of the intellectual

cultural tradition

One of the oldest aspects of cultural policy is state care for culture. controlled by parliament. Reflections on the origins of cultural care are dominated by the view that the aristocratic patronage of arts and sciences was superceded in the nineteenth century by public support. This picture does not entirely fit the picture in the Netherlands. Quite apart from the fact that it was not so much the aristocrats but regents of patrician stock, especially in the province of Holland, who played the dominant role in public life, the Dutch Republic neither knew nor tolerated many ostentatiously inclined princes who held court in the French style and gathered artists around them. In the Republic, apart from the Stadhouders, it was principally city councils and the enlightened bourgeoisie with their societies, who Lvere responsible for continuity in the renaissance cultural tradition. It was in the spirit of this ideal of intellectual development that they promoted the arts and sciences (Michael 1974: 9-14). Apart from those who practised the applied sciences (law, medicine, military science) and the visual arts, where professions had come into being. for a long period it were cultured dilettanti who carried on the intellectual cultural tradition. A common orientation to classical civilisation gave rise to firm ties between what were later known as the humanities and the arts. The sciences at that period were not yet so strongly differentiated from literature and the liberal arts, since all these accomplishments were practised as the application of prescribed paradigms derived from the classics. Thus, initially, the interest

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in natural phenomena and unfamiliar people also belonged to this cultural pattern. The contents of present-day (state) museums still bear witness to the practice of the eighteenth and nineteenth century collectors and to the close relation at that time between knowledge and the arts (Nota naar een Nieuw Museumbeleid 1976). In the nineteenth century this pattern changed its nature. Most of the sciences had outgrown the philosophic stage and had become professionalised specialisms, just as in the case of the refined performing arts. The art for art’s sake adage drove a wedge between the practice of art and the sciences. The idea that a government should protect cultural expressions was only accepted after great hesitation in the second half of the last century, when parliament got the last word on government expenditure. The extremely irresolute start of cultural care in the Netherlands did not indicate a lack of respect for beauty. The young parliamentary democracy, the state based on the ideals of the middle classes, viewed state abstention as the highest good and considered the promotion of culture a task for private initiative. Private societies for the practice of the arts and sciences blossomed at this period (Nota naar een Nieuw Museumbeleid 1976: ch. II; Boekman 1974: ch. 2). The modest care provided by the state for monuments and museums was augmented at the end of the nineteenth century by care for some new museum collections. During this period the state also subsidised the State Academy for the Visual Arts and schools for music. And yet there was, apart from the period of stagnation during the crisis years, a gradual growth in support for artistic activities. The first post-war support for the visual arts, for example, was initially viewed as a bridging subsidy for the rehabilitation of the disturbed relationship of the artist and public (Smiers 1977: 200). A number of factors made permanent government care necessary after the Second World War. In the first place a start was made on achieving income levelling (wealth tax and progressive income tax), whereby the capital with which cultural bodies and art collections were financed. shifted to a great extent from private persons to the state. Partly in view of this, the care for private art legacies is increasingly passed to the state. A second factor, which had a great deal to do with the gradual change income ratios. was the labour-intensive character of artistic activities and the conservation of culture. Wages in this field were paid according to general wage developments, which were determined by a rapid increase in mechanisation and efficiency in industry (Baumol and Bowen 1966). This mechanism has led to the disappearance of unnumerable (unprotected) craft professions. If, for instance, the costs of a performance of an orchestral work at symphonic strength were to be charged entirely to the public, then each concert-goer would have to pay a day’s wages for one concert. A third point is the fact that no contribution can be levied on the enjoyment of public cultural treasures and the beauty of

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townscapes. The same applies to the so-called availability benefit of skills, whereby music and drama from periods can be brought to life. A fourth factor is that, as against the rising cost of wages for performances, the enjoyment of which can in principle partly be charged out to the audience, there has been no growth in attendance (Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau 1978: 121-123). After 1955 it was realised that support for art and culture would have to be of a permanent nature. Since that time there has not only been an increased amount of government support in the costs of cultural activities, but the number of fields receiving help has also been increased (e.g. film, mime, jazz. as well as art education and amateur art activities). Subsidies for bodies such as museums, orchestras, theatre or ballet companies has remained much more extensive than the support for individual art activities. Thus, public patronage of the various aspects of artistic activity has become a fact. In contrast to the earlier feudal forms of art custodianship, the present form of public patronage not only provides the most renowned artist, but also the artistic profession in general, with a certain degree of protection. The administrators responsible do not act according to their own preferences, as was the case with the earlier forms of patronage, but take advice on the subject. Closely connected with all this is a third difference between the classical and the modern form of patronage: in exchange for support or facilities the artist does not have to abandon his independence. The receipt of a subsidy enables artists to work according to professional or artistic qualitative criteria without being dependent on either the political principles of the subsidizer or on the market. The protection of the intellectual cultural tradition in general and support for the arts in particular cannot be reduced to principles of the free expression opinion or pluriformity, but form an independent principle in Dutch cultural policy. Whilst in the case of the first two principles the government does not favour any one idealistic orientation, where cultural care is concerned it takes a stand as the guardian of a value orientation in society.

4. Qualitative evaluation

standards and cultural policy ideals in present day society:

4.1. Breakdown of ideological guardianship

and denominational

an

barriers and of the idea of

The state approach to the information and cultural market is based on more than one principle. Broadcasting policy proceeds on the premise that there are various idealistic currents in existence amongst the public and that the structure of the broadcasting organisations should be such that they can offer the public programmes on those lines. Cultural care is not orientated towards different views and preferences amongst the public. It protects cultural prod-

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ucts, which are created according to intellectual or professional qualitative standards, and aims at stimulating the public’s receptivity. Changes in society during the Sixties and Seventies of this century have undermined if not the principles themselves, then at least their effects in practice. On the one hand, these social changes resulted in the majority of people abandoning denominational or political values in connection with the acquisition of information or entertainment. On the other hand, it became clear that the authority of the original intellectual qualitative standards or educational ideals had considerably decreased. Both the secularisation process and the loss of authority of the traditional educational ideals are to be ascribed to developments such as: a stronger orientation towards the development of personal potential; the increased influence of competitive cultural products via the mass media and the rise of a new generation of intellectuals, recruited from a wider variety of social strata. 4.2. The ethos of the development

of personal potential

Never before in western civilisation has so much value been attached to the development of personal potential. Various impediments have in the meantime been removed. Households have been relieved of a number of traditional obligations, such as providing financial support for relatives and looking after or nursing the elderly and the infirm. The influence of regional customs, the prosperity or occupational tradition of the family or of sexual relations on the career of the individual has in the main been greatly reduced. This development is also stimulated by policy on education and emancipation. 4.3. NeH; fragmented

orientations

via the mass media

The influence of the time-honoured traditions has also been diminished in other ways. The penetration of the mass media, by means of which about 40% of people’s weekly leisure time is filled, is responsible for the fact that community norms and values, such as those of family traditions. regional customs, church organisations, meet with ever increasing competition in the national or international field (Ellemers 1979:429-451; Bardoel 1975: Knulst and van der Staay 1980: 51-79). Thus, individuals are enabled to orientate themselves on a variety of ideologies or values for different aspects of life (van Heek 1973: ch. III). This led to the development of new, but more fragmented orientations: a youth culture in, for example, the field of leusure activities and environmental and women’s movements in the political field. 4.4, Eclecticism

amongst the post-war

A third factor of importance qualitative standards appears

generation

of intellectuals

in connection with the diminished authority of to be the more heterogeneous composition of the

post-war generation of intellectuals. The influx of young people from the middle and lower classes into higher education was not accompanied by a general acceptance of the traditional intellectual mode of life (Lammers 1968; Gortzak 1980: 307-321). Various elements from their original milieu accompany the young in their upward mobility. In this way, various cultural elements, which were formerly considered in bad taste in intellectual circles, have been promoted to a higher cultural level. Recent examples are: comic strips, graffiti, the cinematography from the heyday of Hollywood. Thus, qualitative standards can both fall as well as rise from the sociological vievvpoint. The adoption, or passing on of fashions and taste is accompanied by a change in their social prestige (Elias 1980: 40(-433). When the well-to-do chose plush for their homes, simple unvarnished furniture used to be the mark of poverty. Now almost the reverse is true. Xlany cultural expressions from the past meet with permanent appreciation. though the motives are subject to change. It is this very widening of the realm of doubt and reorientation, which makes long-term cultural policy objectives so vulnerable. This certainly applies to the idea of cultural dissemination. The arrival of a new generation of writers. journalists, film-makers, programme makers or cultural workers with dynamic and eclectic qualitative standards, has well and truly unsettled the public of the institutions responsible for forming taste. Standard Dutch is not longer required of those who broadcast to the public; the theatre public now often have to watch legitimate theatre in the unhallowed atmosphere of former music halls, vvhilst farces and bedroom comedy are often on the programme of the more dignified theatres; comic strips are subsidised and can be borrowed from libraries and “demoralised” music has long since been accepted and is also stimulated in youth work (Knulst 1980: 66-67). Eclecticism, and the doubts about the qualitative monopoly of classical cultural expressions, have also affected attendance at cultural events. In spite of the fact that the government has confirmed the merits of classical culture by providing subsidies and promoting its distribution, public support has not succeeded in making art into public property from the societal point of view. The population groups which regularly attend stage performances and visit museums, has not increased during the last few decades, nor has it become more varied in its social characteristics. The number of people who visit museums and attend theatrical performances of concerts once or more in three months appears to have diminished between 1962 and 1979. Taken by and large, museums have indeed attracted more visitors, but the growth is concentrated amongst those who only occasionally enter a museum (Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau 1980: 154). If one only takes non-schoolgoing audiences. so that the not entirely voluntary nature of school visits is eliminated, then it can be seen that stage audiences have dropped, whatever their level of

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education (Knulst 1982). The museums suffered the least loss of “faithful” visitors amongst the more highly educated. Thus the greatly increased participation in secondary education during the last few decades has not led to better attendance at events which have always lain within the intellectual sphere of interest. In particular, the decreased interest amongst the more highly educated population groups points to a broken relation between the individual’s upward social mobility and acceptance of the intellectual mode of life.

4.5. An empirical characterisation

of the information

and culture on offer

Nowadays, qualitative standards appear to be more controversial and more strongly subject to the whims of fashion than was previously the case. Since there are no uncontroversial criteria with which to classify the consumers according to the characteristics of the cultural products offered, the best way of designating the supply is according to the characteristics of the public. Empirical data on this subject may be summarised as follows (Knulst 1982: 108-115). The participation pattern of various forms of information and culture is characterised by a large common area in which the difference in participation between the highest and the lowest social strata does not amount to more than a factor 2. This field includes: the popular daily press, popular illustrated weeklies, women’s magazines, television programmes in the realm of information, entertainment, drama and culture, the cinema, comic strips, adventure stories, detectives and popular novels. There are also fields where the participation is more selective and where participation from the highest social strata is three to five times more intensive than from the lowest: news and opinion papers, quality newspapers, popular scientific books, drama and ballet performances, and concerts, art museums, art books, literary novels, poetry, etc.It is all the more striking that television programmes on art attract a proportionately socially heterogeneous public. For drama programmes the television even attracts a disproportionate number of viewers from the lower social strata. Both the popular and the more exclusive items of information and entertainment draw at least half their public from the middle classes. For instance, the popular illustrated press 61%; comic strips 72%; art museums 58%; literary novels 64%. The highest social strata do not distinguish themselves from the lowest by keeping aloof from the popular culture and information market. However, they also make intensive use of more exclusive forms of culture. The lowest social strata do make some use of the more exclusive forms, but the bulk of their participation is in the popular forms.

Some concluding remarks

The structure of consumption of information on the one hand and entertainment and culture on the other does not greatly differ. There are no indications that the public uses totally different criteria in selecting these types of supply. The social composition of the museum, concert and theatre public is very akin to that of the public for literature, news and opinion papers, and high-class newspapers. In spite of the difference in presentation technique, both types of product evidently appeal to the same qualitative standards amonst the public. Thus, from the public’s point of view. there is little reason to treat what the media have to offer any differently from what is presented to the public directly in public places. According to this vision the present boundaries of cultural care do not provide an adequate demarcation line for the type of cultural products which are valued in intellectual circles. If the public’s receptiveness to cultural products, which are considered intellectually valuable, is to be promoted, then the distribution of culture will have to be attuned to present day ideas on quality. Moreover, all the distribution channels, through which the public can come into contact with valuable cultural products, will have to be included in the distribution policy. In this connection, particular attention should be paid to the media, including video and tape recorders. The distinction between culture via the stage and concert hall or the museum and culture via the media, which is still made in Dutch cultural policy, and in that of many other Western European countries, is no longer attuned to the present day pattern of cultural consumption.

References Bardoel, J.C.S., 1975. Marges in de media. Baarn: Het Wereldvenster. Baumol, W.J. and W.G. Bowen, 1966. Performing arts. The economic dilemma. New York: The Twentieth Century Fund. Boekman, T.E., 1974. Overheid en kunst in Nederland. Utrecht: Bijleveld. Boon, P.J., 1980. Zonder voorafgaand verlof. Utrecht: Ars Aequi Libri. Boorstin. D.J.. 1963. The image. New York/Harmondsworth: Pelican. Boorstin, D.J., 1973. The Americans, the democratic experience. New York: Random House. Burke, P., 1979. Popular culture in early modern Europe. London: Temple Smith. Denisoff, R.S. and R.A. Peterson, eds., 1972. The sounds of socialchange. Chicago. IL: Rand McNally. van Doorn, J.A.A., 1966. Organisatie en maatschappij. Leiden: Stentert Kroese. van Doom. J.A.A., 1978. ‘De verzorgingsmaatschappij in the praktijk!’ In: J.A.A. van Doom and C.J.M. Schuyt (eds.), De stagnerende verzorgingsstaat. Meppel/Amsterdam: Boom. Elias. N., 1980. Uber den Process der Zivilisation. Part I and II. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. Ellemers. J.E., 1979. Nederland in de jaren zestig and zeventig. Sociologische Gids 6: 429-451. Enzensberger. H.M., 1962. ‘Bewusstseinsindustrie’. In: H.M. Enzensberger (ed.), Einzelheiten I. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. Gans. H.J., 1974. Popular culture and high culture. New York: Glencoe, Crowell, Collier.

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It’rni P. Knukt (1945) studied sociology at the University of Lehdsn and is since 1974 H.S.0 at the Social and Cultural Planning Office (of the Dutch Government). His main subject matters are: leisure, cultural policy and media usage, on which he published in professional journals and readers. He currently finished two publications. one on media usage in the near future and the other on the relation between cultural and media policy.