European inventory of
societal values of culture

NON-PARTICIPATION

What is cultural non-participation? One of the main challenges in the scholarly debate on cultural non-participation has been the fact that there are many different yet partly overlapping definitions for it. Most of the operationalisations of cultural non-participation have been tied to more institutionalized forms of culture: a non-participant would be a person who never attends, for instance, the theatre, concerts, or museums, be they more high-brow or more popular.

This approach has been criticised by several scholars for being derogatory, as the more informal cultural practices, especially of groups low in social hierarchies, have largely been invisible in many studies. Such practices include activities like handicrafts, gardening, watching gameshows, and the like. However, recent studies have often tried to use broader conceptualisations of participation than before. This means that they have included a larger number of indicators beyond more institutionalized items to measure cultural participation.

The flourishing debates on ‘everyday participation’, which have put more emphasis on the value of the mundane pastimes of many people, have played a significant role in this context.

Who is a cultural non-participant, then? In the light of many studies across different national contexts, cultural non-participation and scarce cultural participation are extremely common.

Typical predicting factors for cultural non-participation or very low participation are low education, low cultural competence, an occupation in working-class jobs or intermediate positions, male gender, not having suitable venues within a reasonable distance, or not having enough money to participate in culture. Furthermore, this seems to be a form of self-reinforcing behavior, with low preferences for and a cultural distance towards cultural participation being reinforced by non-participation and vice versa.

Cultural non-participation is a complex phenomenon that cannot be explained but is, at best, predicted through certain standard background factors. Recently, researchers have paid more attention to the fact that cultural non-participation could also be related to moral defiance and anger related to downward social mobility. Research has shown that groups with low amounts of capital more easily embrace ideals about anti-establishment and beliefs about not properly benefitting from how society works.

Non-participation debates force policy-makers to define what is valued as culture in society.

The different understandings of the value of culture – whether it is understood as purely cultural or simply instrumental – are at the heart of the cultural policy debates. Many researchers have criticised the ‘deficit model of cultural participation’, based on the idea that cultural participation is desirable and that non-participating groups should be pushed towards being more active. This often results in implicit hierarchies of cultural participation.

Cultural policy would benefit from better understanding the cultural participation patterns of different groups and from more extensively discussing how culture can best be funded in an effective yet equal way. Namely, enabling and encouraging cultural participation for all social groups is also important for a fair use of taxpayers’ money used for cultural participation. (RH, JR)