The Shape of Culture A Study of Contemporary Cultural Patterns in the United States

A systematic analysis of the prevailing cultural patterns of contemporary American society.

This book systematically examines prevailing cultural patterns in contemporary American society. Using information on several thousands of cultural organisations, including elite ones (such as opera and chamber music companies) and popular cultural ones (such as cinemas and live rock concerts), Professor Blau examines the geography of culture, the changing demands for culture, the interdependencies among cultural organisations of different kinds, the nature of labour markets for artists, and the effects of arts subsidies on nonprofit cultural establishments over a ten year period. One of the major conclusions of the book is that the social conditions that support elite and popular culture are increasingly similar over time.

1. Culture as structure and meaning; 2. The American cultural landscape; 3. Reproduction and decline; 4. Co-ocurrence, tipping in, and bridging; 5. Organizational assembly and disassembly; 6. Increasing returns on diminishing artists; 7. A little more on the hobby horse; 8. Masses and classes; 9. The transformation of American culture.

Using information on thousands of cultural organisations, cinemas and live rock concerts as well as opera and chamber music companies, this text systematically analyses the prevailing cultural patterns of contemporary American society.