Culture as foundational

This introductory overview outlines the conceptual and contextual basis for the Special Issue “Culture as Foundational”. It first locates the need for a new, more radical approach to cultural policy, noting how the economic imaginary of neoliberalism is currently being generally contested, but that culture is barely included in these endeavours. The article then outlines the work around foundational liveability and suggests ways in which cultural policy might align with this approach. In particular, it explores the idea of cultural infrastructure, noting that it needs to be conceptually distinguished from the social infrastructure, which in turn is part of a distinction between culture as a “realised signifying system” and the anthropological notion of culture as a “way of life.” It explores the idea of cultural infrastructure as a system of public goods and some current debates around this. The article suggests that cultural infrastructure and related public goods are required to provide the resources and capabilities to realise the fundamental human right to full participation in the cultural life of the community, as in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The article also suggests that the idea of public goods needs to be understood in its normative sense as a public good and that both of these are applicable to the small-scale commercial field of culture, or “everyday” economy. Intervening in this local cultural ecosystem should seek the public good by using a range of policy tools. Finally, we suggest that the other side of public goods are “public bads,” and these are currently represented by the intrusions of “platform capitalism” into all areas of culture as a signifying system and as a way of life. Recognition of these public bids is urgent but beyond the capabilities of the standard creative economy policy settings. We need a radically new cultural imaginary.