Stupidity

Stupidity

All authors

Paul Clinton

https://doi.org/10.1080/13534645.2013.809891

Published online:

12 July 2013

Fax-Bak (NY) (AC Projects), by BANK, 1999 and courtesy MOT International.     

2.

The Sinthomosexual's Failed Challenge to (Hetero)sexual Difference     

Chris Coffman 《Culture, Theory & Critique》2013,54(1):56-73

This essay argues that Lee Edelman's 2004 Edelman, L. 2004. No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive, Durham: Duke University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] No Future, while most well known for challenging the heteronormative fantasy of reproductive futurism, also performs a systematic critique of Lacanian ‘sexual difference’. This essay tracks that critique, showing its moments of success and of failure, and concludes that Edelman's neologism – the sinthomosexual, whose jouissance he believes to be capable of undoing the symbolic order – in fact supports rather than challenges it.     

3.

On the complementarity between online and offline music consumption: the case of free streaming     

Godefroy Dang Nguyen  Sylvain Dejean  François Moreau 《Journal of Cultural Economics》2014,38(4):315-330

From a representative survey of 2,000 individuals, we study whether consumption of music through streaming services, like Spotify or YouTube, is a substitute or a complement to physical music consumption modes, such as CDs and live music. Controlling for the taste for music, various socio-demographic characteristics and the usual determinants of music consumption either offline (radio, TV, friends/relatives) or online (online recommendations, social networks), our results show that free music streaming (where the consumer does not possess the music but only has access to it) has no significant effect on CD sales and affects positively live music attendance, but only for national or international artists who are more likely to be available on streaming services.     

4.

Islands of Detroit: Affect,Nostalgia and Whiteness     

Jason Sperb 《Culture, Theory & Critique》2013,54(2):183-201

Abstract

‘Islands of Detroit’ explores the possibilities for an ‘everyday, oppositional whiteness’, a thoughtful randomness, as a corrective to ‘reactionary’ and ‘evasive’ forms of whiteness which often embed themselves in populist media sites for nostalgia. Drawing on the theoretical work of Svetlana Boym, Uday Singh Mehta and Roland Barthes, this essay looks in particular at a coffee table book, The Way it Was (2004 Bulanda, G., ed. 2004. The Way It Was: Glimpses of Detroit’s History from the Pages of Hour Detroit Magazine, Royal Oak, MI: Momentum.  [Google Scholar]), and its generic sentimentalism, to understand how certain white visual representations of Detroit affectively generate nostalgia, which can in turn conceal pasts and racial tensions. Looking at the history of Detroit (with particular attention on how the two infamous race riots are and are not negotiated), Islands examines visual images of the city – as opposed to the city itself – through the discursive lenses of nostalgia, modernity and affect, while positing that the histories and identities of Detroit remain irreducible to the images which attempt to capture them.     

5.

Postdoctoral Life Scientists and Supervision Work in the Contemporary University: A Case Study of Changes in the Cultural Norms of Science     

Ruth Müller 《Minerva》2014,52(3):329-349

This paper explores the ways in which postdoctoral life scientists engage in supervision work in academic institutions in Austria. Reward systems and career conditions in academic institutions in most European and other OECD countries have changed significantly during the last two decades. While an increasing focus is put on evaluating research performances, little reward is attached to excellent performances in mentoring and advising students. Postdoctoral scientists mostly inhabit fragile institutional positions and experience harsh competition, as the number of available senior positions is small compared to that of young scientists striving for an academic career. To prevail in this competition, publications and mobility are key. Educational work is rarely rewarded. Nevertheless, postdocs play a key role in educating PhD students, as overburdened senior scientists often pass on practical supervision duties to their postdoctoral fellows. This paper shows how under these conditions, postdocs reframe the students they supervise as potential resources for co-authored publications. What might look like a mutually beneficial solution at a first glance, in practice implies the subordination of the values of education to the logic of production, which marginalizes spaces primarily devoted to education. The author argues that conflicts like this are indicative of broader changes in the cultural norms of science and academic citizenship, rendering community-oriented tasks such as education work less attractive to academic scientists. Since education and supervision work are central cornerstones of any functioning higher education and research system, this could have negative repercussions for the long-term development of academic institutions.     

6.

The Rockefeller Foundation and German physics under national socialism     

Kristie Macrakis 《Minerva》1989,27(1):33-57

Conclusion Why did the Rockefeller Foundation think that it had to redeem its pledge of 1930 after the drastic political changes had occurred in Germany? It is my impression that the foundation was forced reluctantly to do so. There had, of course, been a resolution passed by the trustees in 1930 to vote the funds. This did constitute an obligation for the foundation which its trustees and officers were reluctant to disavow. It would probably have preferred that Planck could not meet the conditions set forth by the foundation. If this had occurred, it could have avoided the onus of failure to meet an obligation undertaken in 1930 and could then have also avoided providing support, even if only indirectly, for National Socialist Germany. When faced with the alternatives of withdrawal or payment of the grant, most of the officers preferred to delay action. Max Mason, on the other hand, had promised Planck that the grant would be made, despite the delay.Increasingly, after 1933, the Rockefeller Foundation spent more time dealing with requests for refugee scientists than with the support of scientific work in Germany. The dismissal of foundation-supported assistants on racial grounds had angered some members of the foundation.When the Rockefeller Foundation was chartered in New York in 1913 it declared that its objective was the well-being of mankind throughout the world. That remained its aim, but a fanatical nationalism made it impossible for the foundation to pursue an internationalist policy in a country with a regime entirely antithetical to that ideal.     

7.

The influence of pollutants on accelerated ageing of parchment with iron gall inks     

《Journal of Cultural Heritage》2014,15(4):373-381

     

8.

Estimates, Bias and “No Sales” in Latin-American Art Auctions, 1977–1996     

Robert B. Ekelund Jr.  Rand W. Ressler  John Keith Watson 《Journal of Cultural Economics》1998,22(1):33-42

Estimate bias and no-sales are investigated in the context of Latin American Art auctions conducted in New York between 1977 and 1996. We find that, using a new method for calculating bias, both Sotheby's and Christie's overestimated art (oil-on-canvas pieces) by 2.7 percent. The inclusion of no-sales raises that proportion to a full one-third of the art traded. Utilizing a binomial probit analysis, moreover, we find that the estimate window is negatively and significantly related to the likelihood of a no sale at auction.     

9.

II President's statement on the “Recruitment and Retention of Minority Group Members on the Faculty at Yale”     

Karen van der Zee 《Minerva》1990,28(2):242-247

Reports and Documents

II President's statement on the Recruitment and Retention of Minority Group Members on the Faculty at YalePresident's statement on the recruitment and retention of minority group members on the faculty at YALE     

10.

The economic impact of intellectual property rights: An overview and guide     

Robert P. Merges 《Journal of Cultural Economics》1995,19(2):103-117

This paper, adapted from a conference presentation in Venice, links the history of intellectual property protection to two important trends in this field: (1) the shifting baseline, from a presumption of no property rights and open competition, to the presumption that all intellectual effort deserves the award of a property right; and (2) growing awareness of the political economy of these rights, which legislators can create and strengthen with little direct effect on government budgets. The paper also considers a shift in the scholarly emphasis, from the brand question of the overall worth of intellectual property to defailed consideration of individual doctrines and rules.     

11.

Selection processes and appropriability in art,science and technology     

Nachoem M. Wijnberg 《Journal of Cultural Economics》1995,19(3):221-235

Recently, there has been a mutually beneficial interchange of models and ideas between the sociology of science and the economics of technological innovation. Concepts such as the paradigm and the network seem to lend themselves to useful application in both fields. To these is added the concept of the selection system. The major aim of this paper is to show that the development of the arts can be described using the same conceptual framework. This allows the development of hypotheses concerning the relationship between art, science and technology, and also about the effect of appropriability conditions.     

12.

The buy-out/property right share choice in film financing: Financial rationing,adverse selection and the bayesian dilemma     

Michele Bagella  Leonardo Becchetti 《Journal of Cultural Economics》1995,19(4):279-304

Reduced state support of film financing in Europe requires the creation of an efficient market of private cinema financiers. Principal-agent models with and without common consent over film risk show that the two main problems of film financing (high risk and lack of collateral for the borrower) may be solved if the financier achieves economies of scale in costs of capital and is efficient in information gathering. Conversely, the pathology of a market with inefficient financiers includes: film financial rationing, adverse selection, and refusal of financial support to otherwise profitable film projects. From the normative point of view, the creation of efficient financiers would be fostered by institutional changes that promote market thickening and risk spreading (the case of the USA) instead of simple forms of risk shifting (the case of Italy).     

13.

Internal bolshevisation? Elite social science training in stalinist Poland     

John Connelly 《Minerva》1996,34(4):323-346

Conclusion From the viewpoint of its Stalinist-era creators, the IKKN/INS could at best be described as a mixed success. Despite heroic efforts, it failed to train the cadres that might have permeated Polish scholarship with Marxism-Leninism. If it was the major channel for transmitting Soviet experience to Polish academia, then Poland's universities would not learn to be Soviet—the Polish historian Jerzy Halbersztadt has made the point that the institute was the only direct conduit of Soviet experience into Polish academic life. It even had a major role in educating some of Poland's most famous critical thinkers, although they, unlike their master Adam Schaff, seem less fond of reminiscing about the institute. Leszek Koakowski writes that he does not regard his role in the ideological struggles of the early 1950s as a source of pride.⁹⁰ The legacy of the IKKN/INS has also been a mixed one. It was not only a foundry of revisionists. For every future critical thinker of world repute, it graduated several cadres who served the PZPR loyally over decades. Adam Schaff recognises this dual legacy. Looking back on a long and active life, he has called the institute a pearl in my crown.⁹¹ Its members filled top party and government posts throughout the history of People's Poland. Andrzej Werblan served as Central Committee secretary and a member of the Politburo, Sylwester Zawadzki became minister of justice, Stanisaw Wroski was minister of culture, Mieczysaw Jagielski was the Politburo member who negotiated the Gdask accords, Stanisaw Kania succeeded Edward Gierek, and Mieczysaw Rakowski acted as General Jaruzelski's Party First Secretary.⁹² Undoubtedly much of the institute's strange course is to be attributed to the designs of Adam Schaff. Despite his Moscow training, Schaff retained an attachment to the Polish academic milieu which had formed him. He may have believed in Stalinist doctrine, but he also believed that this doctrine would show its superiority in competition with other views—even if the competition was far from a fair one. Of course, Schaff tried to retain ultimate control, and to play, as he now calls himself, the grey eminence. Nevertheless, his was a very unstalinist way of propagating Stalinism, and he must be given credit for helping to keep a spirit of intellectual inquiry alive in Poland during the dark years of the early 1950s.Yet Schaff tends to exaggerate his personal role in educating philosophers, dissidents and critical thinkers. This tendency is itself a legacy of the Stalinist period and its concentration of power. Stalinists view the present as their personal creation and therefore reject all criticisms of the past. At the final meeting of the Crooked Circle Club in 1962, Schaff encountered unwonted criticism from, among others, Andrzej Walicki. Schaff shot back at him: You are ours, you are our creation, a creation of socialism ... we educated you, and we didn't do such a bad job. But far from being a creation of Schaff's, the non-party member Walicki had been denied admission to graduate studies in philosophy. He felt relieved when those in attendance, who knew him better than Schaff did, burst out laughing.⁹³ The point is that the Polish intellectual world maintained its integrity outside the IKKN/INS, and in the end it was the institute which merged into the Polish intelligentsia, rather than the opposite. After 1957 the non-Marxist sociologists and philosophers made their way back to academia, and were joined by many former INS staff members. The basic unity of Polish social science training, and of the Polish intelligentsia, was restored.⁹⁴ Of course in a larger sense the fate of the IKKN/INS had little to do with the designs of its master. Schaff admits as much, proclaiming that I did this because I did not know what I was doing! If he had been asked to start such a project five years later, the answer would have been: No!⁹⁵ The fatal flaw of the Institute for Training Scientific Cadres was cadres: Poland did not have them. By 1956, Schaff and the party leadership, and perhaps Soviet advisers as well, had learned that one could not create an elite party scientific institution almost out of nothing. It would either be party or scientific, because apparatchiki could not become scientists, scientists would not become apparatchiki, and students could not produce teachers. In the Stalinist period, Polish intellectual life had stood in the shadow of the party; yet during the Thaw the relationship was reversed—increasingly the tiny party training institute was engulfed by the shadow of the resurgent Polish universities. Talented young people, even those in the party, made their way into the traditional higher educational establishment.The IKKN/INS did not, therefore, fail because of its own failings, nor succeed because of its own successes. It was a failed part of a failed whole. To succeed, mild revolution would have required decades, and Poland's Stalinists had only a few years. To make matters worse—or better, depending on viewpoint—they did not use these years in a conventional Stalinist manner. Under Schaff's guidance and at somewhat erratic Soviet bidding, the institute became an awkward series of half-measures, reminiscent of much of Polish Stalinism. When Poland's communists fell back and regrouped in 1956, the IKKN/INS occupied a lonely position they preferred to abandon.     

14.

Quality Judgements and Demand for French Public Theatre     

Daniel Urrutiaguer 《Journal of Cultural Economics》2002,26(3):185-202

Regression models often reveal a low statistical significance for the quality variables that are used to explain theatrical demand. I posit that opposing opinions on quality are the cause of this. A regression equation is constructed in order to explain demand, with continuous variables for price and volume, and with dummy variables for drama critics, directors-cum-managers, growth in funding by public authorities and repertoire classification. I use detailed data on demand for French theatrical institutions in 1995 and 1996 to test this model. To some extent, the results support the hypothesis that the media reputation of shows, as expressed in the form of drama reviews, and the artistic reputation of directors-cum-managers, which are listed on the programme, havean opposite effect on attendance. Nevertheless, the least squares coefficients show that the most reliable sign of quality remains the reputation of the theatrical institution.     

15.

Movie Stars and the Distribution of Financially Successful Films in the Motion Picture Industry     

Steven Albert 《Journal of Cultural Economics》1998,22(4):249-270

Audiences choose to see films using information from previous films. A stochastic consumer choice process based on this assumption generates a particular distribution of financially successful films among film types. Movie stars can be used to mark these successful film types. Thus, their star power originates not only from box-office appeal but also from marking power. Evidence of 960 top 20 films released in the United States and Canada between 1940–1955 and 1960–1995 is consistent with this model.     

16.

The progress of “affirmative action”: Yale declares itself     

《Minerva》1990,28(2):217-220

Reports and Documents

The progress of affirmative action: Yale declares itself     

17.

Charging for Admission to Museums and Galleries: A Framework for Analysing the Impact on Access     

Stephen J. Bailey  Peter Falconer 《Journal of Cultural Economics》1998,22(2-3):167-177

The Labour Government recently stated that access is a cornerstone of all its cultural policies, including those for museums and galleries. This paper therefore outlines a robust paradigm by means of which the impact of admission charges on access can be analysed. In applying that paradigm to museums, it demonstrates a number of analytical and theoretical red herrings which serve only to confuse a study of charges, including the zero marginal cost argument for free admission. Unless it uses this framework, the Government cannot be sure that it has secured access for the many instead of the few.     

18.

An economic model of artistic behavior     

C. Richard Waits  Edward M. McNertney 《Journal of Cultural Economics》1984,8(1):49-60

Conclusion What we have accomplished is to provide a framework in which artists are seen as economic individuals who base decisions on the same set of factors as nonartists. We are uncomfortable with the notion that artists are a special breed who are not responsive to economic incentives. We are also uncomfortable with the notion that nonartists could never be artists. However, the model as presented does allow for the possibility that an artist will incorrectly estimate the worth of his or her works, and continue to pursue an artistic career. It also allows for the possibility that some nonartists may also make the wrong choice and pursue a nonartistic career instead of an artistic one.     

19.

The Prussian Academy of Sciences and Humanities During the Weimar Republic     

Hardtwig  Wolfgang 《Minerva》2004,42(4):333-357

The German Revolution of November 1918 dramatically altered the Academys view of its relationship with government. In particular, the Academys Prussian tradition had to be rethought. From initial wariness to grudging acceptance, the Academy came to accept the Weimar regime. This paper studies the politics of the Academy, uncovers factions and fault lines amongst its members, and offers a fresh interpretation on the Academys relationship with Albert Einstein.     

20.

Perfect reproductions of works of art: Substitutes or heresy?   总被引：1，自引：1，他引：0  

Werner W. Pommerehne  J. Martin Granica 《Journal of Cultural Economics》1995,19(3):237-249

The paper attempts an empirical investigation into a number of subjective determinants used in the evaluation of a work of art. Individuals' decisions to buy works of art seem based predominantly on aesthetic benefits. This is true for original pieces of art as well as for reproductions, i.e. there seems to be some substitutability between both kinds of objects. Major differences in the evaluation of originals and reproductions arise with respect to the secondary characteristics of art objects, not specifically with regard to the work of art itself. With respect to the willingness to pay (wtp) for a reproduction, a major impact seems to be whether or not the original work exists, i.e. a rationing effect seems to arise. The wtp for a reproduction also seems to depend on whether or not an individual earns his/her income in the arts sector.     

The Sinthomosexual's Failed Challenge to (Hetero)sexual Difference

This essay argues that Lee Edelman's 2004 Edelman, L. 2004. No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive, Durham: Duke University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] No Future, while most well known for challenging the heteronormative fantasy of reproductive futurism, also performs a systematic critique of Lacanian ‘sexual difference’. This essay tracks that critique, showing its moments of success and of failure, and concludes that Edelman's neologism – the sinthomosexual, whose jouissance he believes to be capable of undoing the symbolic order – in fact supports rather than challenges it.     

On the complementarity between online and offline music consumption: the case of free streaming

From a representative survey of 2,000 individuals, we study whether consumption of music through streaming services, like Spotify or YouTube, is a substitute or a complement to physical music consumption modes, such as CDs and live music. Controlling for the taste for music, various socio-demographic characteristics and the usual determinants of music consumption either offline (radio, TV, friends/relatives) or online (online recommendations, social networks), our results show that free music streaming (where the consumer does not possess the music but only has access to it) has no significant effect on CD sales and affects positively live music attendance, but only for national or international artists who are more likely to be available on streaming services.     

Islands of Detroit: Affect,Nostalgia and Whiteness

Abstract

‘Islands of Detroit’ explores the possibilities for an ‘everyday, oppositional whiteness’, a thoughtful randomness, as a corrective to ‘reactionary’ and ‘evasive’ forms of whiteness which often embed themselves in populist media sites for nostalgia. Drawing on the theoretical work of Svetlana Boym, Uday Singh Mehta and Roland Barthes, this essay looks in particular at a coffee table book, The Way it Was (2004 Bulanda, G., ed. 2004. The Way It Was: Glimpses of Detroit’s History from the Pages of Hour Detroit Magazine, Royal Oak, MI: Momentum.  [Google Scholar]), and its generic sentimentalism, to understand how certain white visual representations of Detroit affectively generate nostalgia, which can in turn conceal pasts and racial tensions. Looking at the history of Detroit (with particular attention on how the two infamous race riots are and are not negotiated), Islands examines visual images of the city – as opposed to the city itself – through the discursive lenses of nostalgia, modernity and affect, while positing that the histories and identities of Detroit remain irreducible to the images which attempt to capture them.     

Postdoctoral Life Scientists and Supervision Work in the Contemporary University: A Case Study of Changes in the Cultural Norms of Science

This paper explores the ways in which postdoctoral life scientists engage in supervision work in academic institutions in Austria. Reward systems and career conditions in academic institutions in most European and other OECD countries have changed significantly during the last two decades. While an increasing focus is put on evaluating research performances, little reward is attached to excellent performances in mentoring and advising students. Postdoctoral scientists mostly inhabit fragile institutional positions and experience harsh competition, as the number of available senior positions is small compared to that of young scientists striving for an academic career. To prevail in this competition, publications and mobility are key. Educational work is rarely rewarded. Nevertheless, postdocs play a key role in educating PhD students, as overburdened senior scientists often pass on practical supervision duties to their postdoctoral fellows. This paper shows how under these conditions, postdocs reframe the students they supervise as potential resources for co-authored publications. What might look like a mutually beneficial solution at a first glance, in practice implies the subordination of the values of education to the logic of production, which marginalizes spaces primarily devoted to education. The author argues that conflicts like this are indicative of broader changes in the cultural norms of science and academic citizenship, rendering community-oriented tasks such as education work less attractive to academic scientists. Since education and supervision work are central cornerstones of any functioning higher education and research system, this could have negative repercussions for the long-term development of academic institutions.     

The Rockefeller Foundation and German physics under national socialism

Conclusion Why did the Rockefeller Foundation think that it had to redeem its pledge of 1930 after the drastic political changes had occurred in Germany? It is my impression that the foundation was forced reluctantly to do so. There had, of course, been a resolution passed by the trustees in 1930 to vote the funds. This did constitute an obligation for the foundation which its trustees and officers were reluctant to disavow. It would probably have preferred that Planck could not meet the conditions set forth by the foundation. If this had occurred, it could have avoided the onus of failure to meet an obligation undertaken in 1930 and could then have also avoided providing support, even if only indirectly, for National Socialist Germany. When faced with the alternatives of withdrawal or payment of the grant, most of the officers preferred to delay action. Max Mason, on the other hand, had promised Planck that the grant would be made, despite the delay.Increasingly, after 1933, the Rockefeller Foundation spent more time dealing with requests for refugee scientists than with the support of scientific work in Germany. The dismissal of foundation-supported assistants on racial grounds had angered some members of the foundation.When the Rockefeller Foundation was chartered in New York in 1913 it declared that its objective was the well-being of mankind throughout the world. That remained its aim, but a fanatical nationalism made it impossible for the foundation to pursue an internationalist policy in a country with a regime entirely antithetical to that ideal.     

Estimates, Bias and “No Sales” in Latin-American Art Auctions, 1977–1996

Estimate bias and no-sales are investigated in the context of Latin American Art auctions conducted in New York between 1977 and 1996. We find that, using a new method for calculating bias, both Sotheby's and Christie's overestimated art (oil-on-canvas pieces) by 2.7 percent. The inclusion of no-sales raises that proportion to a full one-third of the art traded. Utilizing a binomial probit analysis, moreover, we find that the estimate window is negatively and significantly related to the likelihood of a no sale at auction.     

II President's statement on the “Recruitment and Retention of Minority Group Members on the Faculty at Yale”

Reports and Documents

II President's statement on the Recruitment and Retention of Minority Group Members on the Faculty at YalePresident's statement on the recruitment and retention of minority group members on the faculty at YALE     

The economic impact of intellectual property rights: An overview and guide

This paper, adapted from a conference presentation in Venice, links the history of intellectual property protection to two important trends in this field: (1) the shifting baseline, from a presumption of no property rights and open competition, to the presumption that all intellectual effort deserves the award of a property right; and (2) growing awareness of the political economy of these rights, which legislators can create and strengthen with little direct effect on government budgets. The paper also considers a shift in the scholarly emphasis, from the brand question of the overall worth of intellectual property to defailed consideration of individual doctrines and rules.     

Selection processes and appropriability in art,science and technology

Recently, there has been a mutually beneficial interchange of models and ideas between the sociology of science and the economics of technological innovation. Concepts such as the paradigm and the network seem to lend themselves to useful application in both fields. To these is added the concept of the selection system. The major aim of this paper is to show that the development of the arts can be described using the same conceptual framework. This allows the development of hypotheses concerning the relationship between art, science and technology, and also about the effect of appropriability conditions.     

The buy-out/property right share choice in film financing: Financial rationing,adverse selection and the bayesian dilemma

Reduced state support of film financing in Europe requires the creation of an efficient market of private cinema financiers. Principal-agent models with and without common consent over film risk show that the two main problems of film financing (high risk and lack of collateral for the borrower) may be solved if the financier achieves economies of scale in costs of capital and is efficient in information gathering. Conversely, the pathology of a market with inefficient financiers includes: film financial rationing, adverse selection, and refusal of financial support to otherwise profitable film projects. From the normative point of view, the creation of efficient financiers would be fostered by institutional changes that promote market thickening and risk spreading (the case of the USA) instead of simple forms of risk shifting (the case of Italy).     

Internal bolshevisation? Elite social science training in stalinist Poland

Conclusion From the viewpoint of its Stalinist-era creators, the IKKN/INS could at best be described as a mixed success. Despite heroic efforts, it failed to train the cadres that might have permeated Polish scholarship with Marxism-Leninism. If it was the major channel for transmitting Soviet experience to Polish academia, then Poland's universities would not learn to be Soviet—the Polish historian Jerzy Halbersztadt has made the point that the institute was the only direct conduit of Soviet experience into Polish academic life. It even had a major role in educating some of Poland's most famous critical thinkers, although they, unlike their master Adam Schaff, seem less fond of reminiscing about the institute. Leszek Koakowski writes that he does not regard his role in the ideological struggles of the early 1950s as a source of pride.⁹⁰ The legacy of the IKKN/INS has also been a mixed one. It was not only a foundry of revisionists. For every future critical thinker of world repute, it graduated several cadres who served the PZPR loyally over decades. Adam Schaff recognises this dual legacy. Looking back on a long and active life, he has called the institute a pearl in my crown.⁹¹ Its members filled top party and government posts throughout the history of People's Poland. Andrzej Werblan served as Central Committee secretary and a member of the Politburo, Sylwester Zawadzki became minister of justice, Stanisaw Wroski was minister of culture, Mieczysaw Jagielski was the Politburo member who negotiated the Gdask accords, Stanisaw Kania succeeded Edward Gierek, and Mieczysaw Rakowski acted as General Jaruzelski's Party First Secretary.⁹² Undoubtedly much of the institute's strange course is to be attributed to the designs of Adam Schaff. Despite his Moscow training, Schaff retained an attachment to the Polish academic milieu which had formed him. He may have believed in Stalinist doctrine, but he also believed that this doctrine would show its superiority in competition with other views—even if the competition was far from a fair one. Of course, Schaff tried to retain ultimate control, and to play, as he now calls himself, the grey eminence. Nevertheless, his was a very unstalinist way of propagating Stalinism, and he must be given credit for helping to keep a spirit of intellectual inquiry alive in Poland during the dark years of the early 1950s.Yet Schaff tends to exaggerate his personal role in educating philosophers, dissidents and critical thinkers. This tendency is itself a legacy of the Stalinist period and its concentration of power. Stalinists view the present as their personal creation and therefore reject all criticisms of the past. At the final meeting of the Crooked Circle Club in 1962, Schaff encountered unwonted criticism from, among others, Andrzej Walicki. Schaff shot back at him: You are ours, you are our creation, a creation of socialism ... we educated you, and we didn't do such a bad job. But far from being a creation of Schaff's, the non-party member Walicki had been denied admission to graduate studies in philosophy. He felt relieved when those in attendance, who knew him better than Schaff did, burst out laughing.⁹³ The point is that the Polish intellectual world maintained its integrity outside the IKKN/INS, and in the end it was the institute which merged into the Polish intelligentsia, rather than the opposite. After 1957 the non-Marxist sociologists and philosophers made their way back to academia, and were joined by many former INS staff members. The basic unity of Polish social science training, and of the Polish intelligentsia, was restored.⁹⁴ Of course in a larger sense the fate of the IKKN/INS had little to do with the designs of its master. Schaff admits as much, proclaiming that I did this because I did not know what I was doing! If he had been asked to start such a project five years later, the answer would have been: No!⁹⁵ The fatal flaw of the Institute for Training Scientific Cadres was cadres: Poland did not have them. By 1956, Schaff and the party leadership, and perhaps Soviet advisers as well, had learned that one could not create an elite party scientific institution almost out of nothing. It would either be party or scientific, because apparatchiki could not become scientists, scientists would not become apparatchiki, and students could not produce teachers. In the Stalinist period, Polish intellectual life had stood in the shadow of the party; yet during the Thaw the relationship was reversed—increasingly the tiny party training institute was engulfed by the shadow of the resurgent Polish universities. Talented young people, even those in the party, made their way into the traditional higher educational establishment.The IKKN/INS did not, therefore, fail because of its own failings, nor succeed because of its own successes. It was a failed part of a failed whole. To succeed, mild revolution would have required decades, and Poland's Stalinists had only a few years. To make matters worse—or better, depending on viewpoint—they did not use these years in a conventional Stalinist manner. Under Schaff's guidance and at somewhat erratic Soviet bidding, the institute became an awkward series of half-measures, reminiscent of much of Polish Stalinism. When Poland's communists fell back and regrouped in 1956, the IKKN/INS occupied a lonely position they preferred to abandon.     

Quality Judgements and Demand for French Public Theatre

Regression models often reveal a low statistical significance for the quality variables that are used to explain theatrical demand. I posit that opposing opinions on quality are the cause of this. A regression equation is constructed in order to explain demand, with continuous variables for price and volume, and with dummy variables for drama critics, directors-cum-managers, growth in funding by public authorities and repertoire classification. I use detailed data on demand for French theatrical institutions in 1995 and 1996 to test this model. To some extent, the results support the hypothesis that the media reputation of shows, as expressed in the form of drama reviews, and the artistic reputation of directors-cum-managers, which are listed on the programme, havean opposite effect on attendance. Nevertheless, the least squares coefficients show that the most reliable sign of quality remains the reputation of the theatrical institution.     

Movie Stars and the Distribution of Financially Successful Films in the Motion Picture Industry

Audiences choose to see films using information from previous films. A stochastic consumer choice process based on this assumption generates a particular distribution of financially successful films among film types. Movie stars can be used to mark these successful film types. Thus, their star power originates not only from box-office appeal but also from marking power. Evidence of 960 top 20 films released in the United States and Canada between 1940–1955 and 1960–1995 is consistent with this model.     

The progress of “affirmative action”: Yale declares itself

Reports and Documents

The progress of affirmative action: Yale declares itself     

Charging for Admission to Museums and Galleries: A Framework for Analysing the Impact on Access

The Labour Government recently stated that access is a cornerstone of all its cultural policies, including those for museums and galleries. This paper therefore outlines a robust paradigm by means of which the impact of admission charges on access can be analysed. In applying that paradigm to museums, it demonstrates a number of analytical and theoretical red herrings which serve only to confuse a study of charges, including the zero marginal cost argument for free admission. Unless it uses this framework, the Government cannot be sure that it has secured access for the many instead of the few.     

An economic model of artistic behavior

Conclusion What we have accomplished is to provide a framework in which artists are seen as economic individuals who base decisions on the same set of factors as nonartists. We are uncomfortable with the notion that artists are a special breed who are not responsive to economic incentives. We are also uncomfortable with the notion that nonartists could never be artists. However, the model as presented does allow for the possibility that an artist will incorrectly estimate the worth of his or her works, and continue to pursue an artistic career. It also allows for the possibility that some nonartists may also make the wrong choice and pursue a nonartistic career instead of an artistic one.     

The Prussian Academy of Sciences and Humanities During the Weimar Republic

The German Revolution of November 1918 dramatically altered the Academys view of its relationship with government. In particular, the Academys Prussian tradition had to be rethought. From initial wariness to grudging acceptance, the Academy came to accept the Weimar regime. This paper studies the politics of the Academy, uncovers factions and fault lines amongst its members, and offers a fresh interpretation on the Academys relationship with Albert Einstein.     

Perfect reproductions of works of art: Substitutes or heresy?

The paper attempts an empirical investigation into a number of subjective determinants used in the evaluation of a work of art. Individuals' decisions to buy works of art seem based predominantly on aesthetic benefits. This is true for original pieces of art as well as for reproductions, i.e. there seems to be some substitutability between both kinds of objects. Major differences in the evaluation of originals and reproductions arise with respect to the secondary characteristics of art objects, not specifically with regard to the work of art itself. With respect to the willingness to pay (wtp) for a reproduction, a major impact seems to be whether or not the original work exists, i.e. a rationing effect seems to arise. The wtp for a reproduction also seems to depend on whether or not an individual earns his/her income in the arts sector.