Two cultures: the use and non-use of hypotheses in cultural policy research1

In the hard sciences research programmes are designed to generate evidence consistent or inconsistent with particular hypotheses. Hypotheses unsupported by evidence are modified or abandoned. The framers and testers of scientific hypotheses are members of the same profession, similarly trained and likely to interpret evidence in similar ways. They have professionally generalized responsibility for the quality and integrity of each other's work. Peer review systems are in place to monitor performance and expose chicanery. This is not the case in the cultural policy research arena. Here, policymakers, arts advocates and academic policy analysts are breeds apart. Their professional affiliations and lines of accountability are radically unlike. We have highly selective “advocacy” evidence on the one hand; highly developed but untestable academic theory on the other, suggesting the hypothetical existence of evidence for which academics are not allowed to look. Policymakers avoid “what if?” questions because they are paid to maintain positions of certainty. Academics ask, but lack the data to answer. Neither approach is satisfactory for shaping the future. This paper explains how the two opposing research traditions came into being and points to some of the problems which poor communication between theoreticians and practitioners can create.     

Big Data and structural organisation in major arts bodies: an evolving ethnographic method

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the use and impact of the so-called Big Data on arts organisations. The article argues that arts bodies have been slower than some business sectors to enter the data sphere and to contribute to the key debates even though many arts organisations have been developing data systems as a means of responding to the demands of funding bodies for more concrete measurement of impact. The article tests this hypothesis by examining the outcomes of a major NESTA/ACE/AHRC-funded project which applied ethnographic method to analyse the use of data by three major arts bodies operating in London, a project which built on the arguments forwarded in a previous NESTA document, Counting what counts (NESTA 2013). The project, managed by the Audience Agency, on which the present author was principal researcher, was delivered over 12 months from August 2014 to August 2015. The article outlines the methodology, and highlights the emergence of a new ethnographic form, “thick data” grounded in data theory and practice. This form is then used to illuminate some of the practices used by large arts organisations to handle audience data, and to develop inclusive and comprehensive future programming strategies. A range of embedded practices are discussed and examined illustrating the various strategies used by the partner organisations to address key data issues and problems. From this detailed analysis, the article then outlines a number of models for the organisation of data within arts institutions.     

The effect of study abroad and personality on cultural intelligence: A deeper understanding using the expanded model of cultural intelligence

Using an expanded assessment of cultural intelligence (CQ), this study provides a detailed analysis of how studying abroad impacts the development of CQ. We examined (1) the effect of a study abroad semester on the development of each of the eleven subdimensions of cultural intelligence – Expanded-CQ or E-CQ over time; and (2) whether personality traits (i.e., extraversion and openness to experience) had a moderating role in the relationship between a study abroad semester and E-CQ in a longitudinal study. Data were collected from 361 students both before (Time 1) and after (Time 2) the study abroad semester. Mixed between-within subjects analysis of variance showed that the study abroad semester did have a statistically significant effect on the development of ten subdimensions of E-CQ over time. Moreover, contrary to our expectations, multiple regression analyses demonstrated that individuals who were low on extraversion improved their metacognitive CQ (awareness) more than did individuals who were high on extraversion. Similarly, individuals who were low on openness to experience improved their metacognitive CQ (awareness), their cognitive CQ (culture-general knowledge), and their motivational CQ (intrinsic interest) more than did individuals who were high on openness to experience. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

The rise of the national-popular and its limits: communism and the cultural in Kerala

The emergence of the communist movement in Kerala, India in a society that was characterized by immense divisions of caste and class is significant for understanding social transformation. What is of particular importance is the ways in which the communist activists who spoke the language of a supposedly alien ideology engaged with a populace that was predominantly agrarian and poor. This paper will look at the communist engagement with certain aspects of culture, specifically songs, folk arts and theater, in the initial years of the movement, and will argue that something akin to a national-popular will was constructed, which broke down many existing hierarchies and created new unities. But this engagement was equally characterized by many contradictions and spectacular failures, which dented the emerging national-popular will. The cultural, and the communist engagement with it will played a crucial role in laying the seeds of a substantive postcolonial democracy but only in relative terms and without necessarily conferring on the most exploited classes equal rights.     

The measure of all things: on the use of time as a value indicator in arts impact assessment

Like money, time is a scarce resource. People used to economizing with one are likely to economize with the other. This proposition has serious implications for cultural economics (as for economics generally); three in particular are explored here. (1) Because cultural values are learned, and learning takes time, from the sorts of learning experience to which people have committed time in the past much can be inferred about their probable cultural consumption behaviour in future and about their attitudes to art. (2) The arts deliver socio-economic impact by encouraging new forms of belief – altering people's values essentially. Beliefs then influence action. Impact assessors must confront the question of value generation head on. (3) Use of time indicators will enable assessors to capture and quantify impacts which barely register on the usual money-economic scale, generating new categories of evidence directly if unconventionally relevant to cultural policy debate. The discussion is situated in historical context, drawing attention to a rich tradition of time-reflexive thinking within professional economics. The assumption underlying much of modern, purposely “neoclassical” cultural economics – that cultural value can best be measured in terms of willingness to pay or willingness to be paid money – is not strictly necessary either in economic theory or in economic practice, and for impact assessment purposes it is not always helpful. Sections following the historical introduction take careful account of recent developments in cultural economics, and to facilitate further reading frequently refer to the summative handbooks edited by Ruth Towse (2003) and Victor Ginsburgh and David Throsby (2006).     

Highbrow cultural participation of Turks and Moroccans in the Netherlands: Testing an identification and social network explanation

Little is known about ethnic differences in highbrow cultural interests, because research on social differentiation in cultural participation has traditionally focused on educational or income inequalities. Employing data from the Netherlands’ Longitudinal Lifecourse Study 2010 we explored the extent to which educational attainment, national identification and social integration explain inequality in cultural participation among Turkish and Moroccan immigrants, and to what extent the effect of education was moderated by aspects of social identification and integration. Our results indicate that Turks and Moroccans, who identify more with the Netherlands and have a social network that includes larger numbers of Dutch and higher educated friends, are more active in the cultural realm. Most interestingly, we found that strong identification with Dutch society actually moderates the relationship between an immigrants’ educational attainment and their cultural participation: that is, highly educated people of Turkish and Moroccan descent, who strongly identify with the Netherlands, participated more in highbrow culture than their highly educated counterparts who identified less with the Netherlands.     

Transnational imagination in action cinema: Hong Kong and the making of a global popular culture

Taking action cinema as an example, this paper outlines a historical approach to the transnational study of globally popular cultural forms. Action cinema has long had a complex economy in which Hollywood not only trades stars, styles and narratives with the hybrid culture of Hong Kong cinema itself, but draws on a vast ‘direct to tape’ industry significantly based in East Asia. The paper outlines a Hong Kong‐based approach to two earlier phases in the history of action: the ‘international co‐production’ as an industrially innovative form (1973–85), and the golden age of the ‘direct to tape’ industry enabled by the rapid spread of video technology (1985–93). Focusing on the latter, it suggests that the global uptake by filmmakers of a ‘contact’ narrative and an ethic of emulation taken from Hong Kong cinema allowed direct‐to‐video action to address issues of social class in emotionally complex ways.     

Mandarin lessons: modernity,colonialism and Chinese cultural nationalism in the Dutch East Indies,c.1900s

The Chinese Association in the Dutch East Indies, known locally as the Tiong Hoa Hwe Koan (THHK) was first established in Batavia in 1900. A key objective of the THHK’s foundation was the creation of modern schools instructing in Mandarin for local Chinese students. At the turn of the 20th century, this odd choice of instructional language led to highly charged debates about languages, pedagogical efficacy, practicality, modernity-tradition and cultural authenticity. Using underutilized source materials in the local Malay-Hokkien vernacular, this article revisits these debates amongst the Chinese in the Dutch colony. This article interrogates the transparency of common ethnicity in analyses of Chinese nationalisms that developed outside of continental China. Drawing on the concept of “literary governance” as well as comparative work by scholars on Indian and continental Chinese nationalisms, it demonstrates the significance of the colonial context which provoked the THHK to adopt the vocabulary of modernity in reworking progressive ideas circulating in displaced Chinese nationalistic circles. Notwithstanding the THHK’s promotion of Mandarin, such reworking was accomplished through vigorous acts of transliteration and translation in the hybridized Malay-Hokkien vernacular. The THHK was hardly on the receiving end of nationalistic influences emanating from the proverbial China core but was an active agent in what has been described as a “global moment of Chinese nationalism.” The case of the THHK demonstrates the need for a finer understanding of multivalent histories of Chinese nationalisms as well as how these histories intersected with those of European colonialism in Southeast Asia.     

Shaping screen talent: Conceptualising and developing the film and TV workforce in Scotland

Together with “creativity”, the concept of “talent” has emerged within UK and global policy discussions as being central to unlocking economic success within the creative industries. At a crucial time of political and technological change, Scotland finds itself competing within a highly competitive global market to identify, attract and retain creative talent and strengthen its skills base. As such, developing “talent” is a key aspect of the Scottish Government's Strategy for the Creative Industries. However, while creativity has been interrogated across academic disciplines in recent years, talent remains under-theorised within the academy and lacks a clear definition across policy and industry. Taking the screen industries as its focus, this paper draws on empirical data derived from a series of knowledge exchange workshops funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh designed to initiate dialogue between academics, policy-makers and stakeholders within Scotland and beyond. In doing so, it scopes out some of the key ways in which screen “talent” is conceptualised by these groups and raises questions regarding how particular understandings may impact on policies designed to identify, attract and retain a diverse range of skilled workers within the sector. We argue that greater precision should be used in policy discourse to emphasise the importance of developing particular and discrete craft skills rather than privileging a workforce that is highly flexible and mobile. We also suggest that policy-makers and educators must acknowledge and encourage transparency regarding the precariousness of building a career within the screen industries.     

Cultural policy indicators: reflections on the role of official statisticians in the politics of data collection

Cultural policy indicators are being constructed in many countries today as a consequence of reforms in public governance aimed at increasing cost-effectiveness and general efficiency as well as transparency and accountability. Drawing upon a project of the Finnish Ministry of Education, the article discusses the responsibilities of official statisticians in regard to the collection and processing of data to be used as “evidence” of the outcomes of cultural policies. Official statisticians are bound by an ethical code that emphasises the objective and independent production of information on different aspects of the economy and society. Direct involvement with the construction of cultural policy indicators may threaten the integrity of official statisticians, because such work would require close collaboration with administrators and decision makers who have their own particular interests in the cultural field. Moreover, the system of cultural statistics, which was established internationally at the turn of the 1970s, has a history of providing justification for public cultural policies. The Finnish project, in which two officials from Statistics Finland functioned in the role of commissioned experts, was officially about societal effectiveness indicators but was extended to encompass arguments for cultural policy. The final report even went as far as to propose that cultural considerations could be mainstreamed through indices and evaluation schemes covering all policy sectors. The article shows how easily official statisticians are drawn into the politics of data collection in the field of culture even when precautions are in place. The article concludes that the code of ethics of official statisticians serves as an indispensable buffer against partiality, but, to put this ideal fully into action, cultural statisticians need to develop reflexive practices that combine an applied approach and critical discourse. Such practices are similar to those outlined recently by cultural policy researchers.     

Arts participation and the three faces of time: A reflection on disentangling the impact of life stage,period and socialization on arts participation,exemplified by an analysis of the US arts audience

Arts participation bears the threefold imprint of time: people's life stage (age), their earlier socializing imprint (cohort) and the historical circumstances of the moment (period). A proper understanding of these three effects is of great importance in understanding the present and future sizes and preferences of arts audiences. Such understanding implies disentangling those three effects properly, rather than overlooking or confusing them. An example of how that might be done is presented here with regard to arts participation in the US.     

Addressing the effect of concern with COVID-19 threat on prejudice towards immigrants: The sequential mediating role of need for cognitive closure and desire for cultural tightness

The link between threat and anti-immigrant prejudice is well-established. Relatedly, recent research has also shown that situational threats (such as concern with COVID-19 threat) increase anti-immigrant prejudice through the mediating role of desire for cultural tightness. This study aims to further our understanding of the psychological processes underlying the relation between concern with COVID-19 threat and increased negative attitudes towards immigrants by considering the mediational role of an individual epistemic motivation (i.e., the need for cognitive closure). A study was conducted on a large sample of Italian respondents covering all the Italian regions. Findings revealed that high concern with COVID-19 threat led to increased negative attitudes towards immigrants through the sequential mediating role of higher need for cognitive closure, leading in turn to higher desire for cultural tightness. Implications of these findings for a timely contextualized study of anti-immigrant prejudice will be highlighted.     

The impact of cultural,ethnic, and national variables on attitudes towards the disabled in Israel: A review

Studies in Israel relating to attitudes of various ethnic, cultural and religious groups towards the disabled were reviewed. The results indicate that although there were differences in attitudes towards the disabled, these differences appear to be a function of interaction effects between many other variables and not necessarily only related to ethnic, cultural, and religious affiliation.     

Evaluating the effects of cultural immersion on counselor trainees' multicultural development and intercultural competence: A metasynthesis of qualitative evidence

This metasynthesis critically surveyed and evaluated the learning impacts on counselor and psychology trainees’ multicultural development and intercultural competence through participating in cultural immersion (CI), based on published qualitative research evidence. Accordingly, this metasynthesis identified and assessed the characteristics, the methodological strengths and qualities, and the thematic findings of 33 qualitative and mixed-methods CI studies resulting from exhaustive database searches. Using a directed content analysis technique, a six-domain analytical framework was applied to code and analyze the themes reported in these studies. The results point to CI intervention as a multifaceted and versatile instructional apparatus that impacted and contributed to trainees’ multicultural development and intercultural learning multidimensionally, across cognitive, perceptual-attitudinal, affective, and skills-behavioral domains. These learning outcomes include trainees’ increased cultural awareness and knowledge (cognitive), enhanced reflexivity on their worldview, positionality, and attitude (perceptual-attitudinal), heightened emotion and growth in cultural empathy (affective), adaptation and display of new behaviors and relational skills and increased multicultural competence (skills-behavioral). Therefore, CI embodies many favorable characteristics of experientially-based learning as stipulated in the existing multicultural counseling and intercultural training literature. These findings lend nuanced empirical support for the application of CI to facilitate counselor trainees’ multicultural orientation, development, and skills, and offer insights into structural facilitators for enhancing immersion training. However, a lack of structural and methodological consistency and theoretical depth among the existing CI studies were observed as major limitations. Implications and recommendations for advancing future CI and multicultural training practice and research are discussed.     

A Chinese in the new world: television dramas,global cities,and travels to modernity

Abstract

After having lain dormant for some 20 years during 1973 and 1991, the Singaporean film industry is experiencing a revival. Films produced since the early 1990s have been resolutely ‘local’ in their portrayals in an effort to ground this emergent cinematic modernity. Only a handful of these films have, however, received any international attention; most remain ‘too local’, ‘too colloquial’ to be exported further afield. This paper explores those visions or versions of the local presented in contemporary films from Singapore that simultaneously manufacture a brand of foreignness assimilable by international audiences. Through an overview of films from the revival period, this paper will show that the images that do travel successfully overseas are those that portray the dark side to Singapore’s road to economic modernization, the failed processes of an Asianized modernity. It is these images, representing one vision of an ‘authentic’ social reality, that is recognizable by international audiences in the context of previous successes by Asian films utilizing a shared form of (local) expression. My question is whether we can read these images as a particular kind of ‘slang’ – a vagabond expression that represents a filmic vernacular that also strategically invokes a cinematic modernity for the Singaporean film industry. This argument may extend to other (emergent) Asian cinemas that also participate in the production of this particular brand of foreignness. The paper will therefore provide some initial speculations towards the regionalization of cinema and ask whether such a move might be desirable and what its purpose might be.     

Exploring resilience as a mediator and moderator in the relationship between cultural intelligence and sociocultural adjustment: A study of expatriates in Switzerland

Recent studies suggest that cultural intelligence (CQ) and resilience play a key role in sociocultural adjustment in expatriate populations. The current study aimed to clarify the relationships between CQ, resilience and sociocultural adjustment in a population of expatriates in Switzerland. Participants (N = 126) completed validated, self-report measures of resilience, cultural intelligence, and sociocultural adjustment and hierarchical linear regression, mediation and moderation analyses tested relationships between the study variables. Preliminary results verified findings from previous research indicating that increased resilience and CQ predict fewer sociocultural adjustment difficulties. Additional analyses showed that the CQ Skills subscale explained a significant amount of variance in sociocultural adjustment while the other subscales, metacognition and knowledge, did not. Finally, we found that resilience partially mediates the relationship between CQ and sociocultural adjustment but does not act as a moderator in this relationship. The results have theoretical implications for understanding the process of sociocultural adjustment, as well as practical implications for implementing targeted training programmes to support expatriate adjustment.     

The mediating role of transformational leadership in the relationship between cultural intelligence and employee voice behavior: A case of hotel employees

This study, for the first time, evaluates the mediating effect of transformational leadership in the relationship between cultural intelligence and voice behavior. Data were collected from 316 non-national employees from various hotels in Thailand. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The results show that non-national employees with a higher level of cultural intelligence are more likely to display voice behaviors. Furthermore, this relationship is partially mediated by transformational leadership. This study offers a unique perspective by presenting cultural intelligence as a personal antecedent of voice behavior and by identifying the underlying mediation mechanism that affects this relationship. This investigation has important implications to manage and lead multicultural organizations, especially to promote voice behavior.     

The relationship between cultural intelligence and performance with the mediating effect of culture shock: A case from Philippine laborers in Taiwan

This purpose of the present study was to explore the role of cultural intelligence (CQ) and its effect on performance of foreign laborers. We also examined the mediating effect of culture shock on the relationship between CQ and performance. Data were collected from Philippine laborers working in Taiwan. A paper-based survey, with a return rate of 76.4%, was completed by 382 Philippine laborers working in Taiwan's manufacturing industries. The results showed that CQ was positively related to the performance of Philippine laborers and negatively related to culture shock. In addition, we found that culture shock partly mediated the relationship of CQ and performance. These findings suggested that CQ can serve as a predictor for cross-cultural effectiveness. Implications for practice and direction for future research are offered.     

The religious,the plural,the secular and the modern: a brief critical survey on Islam in Malaysia

Abstract

The embedization of Islam in Malaysia has gone through a long and complex process that involved an interaction with three major world civilizations (Indian, Chinese and European) and two colonial systems (Dutch and British) during which many aspects of its practices were reconfigured. This paper provides a brief critical survey of the evolution of the said embedization process during which Islam and the Muslims in Malaysia were moulded by a series of sociological realities, namely plural society, secularism and modernity. This has resulted, we argue, in the creation of 'moderate' Islam in Malaysia, one that is quite different from the fundamentalist image of Islam profiled in the contemporary worldwide discourse on global Islam