Three arguments against ‘soft innovation’: towards a richer understanding of cultural innovation

This paper critiques recent research on innovation in the cultural and creative industries. In particular, this paper examines Paul Stoneman’s idea of ‘soft innovation’ as a jumping off point for discussing theories of cultural innovation more broadly. Three critiques are advanced. Firstly, soft innovation is a theoretical perspective that has developed from neoclassical economics, and is therefore vulnerable to criticisms levelled at neoclassical explanations of economic behaviour. Secondly, the theory of soft innovation can be criticised for being contingently inaccurate: the observed reality of cultural industries and marketplaces may not reflect the theory’s premises. Thirdly, because soft innovation defines the significance of an innovation in terms of marketplace success, it implies that only high-selling cultural products are significant, a difficult claim to substantiate. This paper concludes by arguing that our understanding of innovation in the cultural sphere can benefit from a multi-disciplinary approach grounded in the full gamut of human creativity.     

From culture for the people to culture for profit: the PRC’s journey toward a cultural industries approach

This paper seeks to explore the internal driving forces behind the emergence and prosperity of China’s cultural industries. The paper traces the Chinese Communist Party’s radical transformation from stressing the class stand and ideological nature of culture to concluding with the concept of ‘cultural industries’ so as to expand an orthodox Marxist/Leninist/Maoist notion of culture. The Chinese party-state legalizes ‘cultural industries’ by extending the market mechanism into the cultural arena, and acknowledges the triple statuses of culture as a public service provider, a market profit contributor, and an essential builder of the ‘socialist core value system.’ By doing so, the Chinese Party-state is able to take advantage of the economic power of the market while retaining the ideological control function of culture. As such, cultural industries become a mode of governance for the CCP to maintain cultural security and national identity, and a source of soft power to maneuver.     

A study of social‐market interventions in the shaping of the field of cultural production

A social analysis based on extensive evaluation of the Dance and Drama Awards programme reveals the social‐market political paradigm underpinning the formation of cultural policy in the UK underthe New Labour government. This specific intervention in the field of cultural production is placed in the context of broader government interventions in the cultural domain that seek to give respect to undervalued social and cultural groups. There is a political analysis of the characteristics of the social‐market political formation that underpin New Labour’s “affirmative” actions, and the political strategies informing the government’s “access” and “inclusion” agendas and their impact on the cultural and creative industries. The authors argue that the construction of a “social‐market” position in New Labour’s cultural policy represents an attempt to bridge or “hyphenate” the contradictory claims of social democracy, on the one hand, and economic fatalism, on the other. Despite the rhetoric of social and cultural “transformation”, the authors argue that a “faith” in the market prevents New Labour from transforming the political‐economic and cultural structures that generate economic and cultural injustices.     

美国国会与美国政府对华决策(1949．1～1950．6)

新中国成立前后 ,美国国会深深卷入了美国政府对华政策的制定过程。当时 ,美国国会要求政府继续给予国民党政权经济、军事援助 ,主张军事保卫台湾 ,反对承认新中国。美国国会议员援蒋反共的行为动机既有传统政治因素的影响 ,也受特殊时代背景的制约。新中国成立前后美国国会在对华决策中扮演了一个至关重要的角色 ,但其影响并非支配性的     

基于功能分工网络的文创产业城市专业化格局研究

摘要: 本文以截止2020年的347家中国文创上市企业和其投资的7828家企业为样本,运用社会网络分析,刻画了文创产业价值链4种功能分工城市网络的特征,并测算了各城市功能专业化水平。研究发现:第一,中国文创产业价值链环节齐全,国内循环格局完备。第二,4类功能城市的空间分布特色明显:研究开发型城市以北京、天津、武汉、成都等国家中心城市为代表,数量少、空间分散。生产制作型城市以金华、台州、绍兴、无锡、南京为代表,高度集聚在长三角。批发零售型城市以广州、深圳、上海、厦门、福州为代表,主要集聚在珠三角、闽南三角。而运营服务型城市数量众多,基本拟合“胡焕庸线”分布。     

全球与地方的契合:权力与生产网络的二维治理

企业间关键资源的不均衡引致权力关系的不对称,强势企业得以领导以其为核心的企业网络。由于生产环节的组织和地域上的可分割性,居于权力优势地位的领先公司在全球招募企业组成生产网络。全球购买型领先公司通过外包与地方生产网络建立新的关系拓扑,地方生产网络的治理以全球商品链为纽带,嵌入到以领先公司为主导的全球价值链治理体系中。全球生产型领先公司跨境投资时无法将生产网络全盘复制,以其为主导的跨界生产网络的治理需要通过各种权力的博奕和管理上的互动来实现。     

Mapping the arts: industry concentrations,distribution, and change in the US, 1980–2010

This paper studies arts industries in all 366 US metropolitan statistical areas between 1980 and 2010. Our analysis provides evidence that the arts are an important component of many regional economies, but also highlights their volatility. After radical growth and diffusion between 1980 and 2000, in the last decade, the arts industries are defined more by shrinkage and reconcentration in fewer metropolitan areas. Further, we find that the vast majority of metros have strengths in particular sets of arts industries. As we discuss in the conclusion, these conditions present challenges and opportunities for urban cultural policy that goes beyond the current focus on the arts as consumption amenities.