The Role of Today's Museum PDF
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THE ROLE OF TODAY’S MUSEUM The Role of Today’s Museum provides a thorough investigation of what museums do and why. Arguing that museums are multifunctional institutions, the book examines the consequences of this for the services that museums provide, the publics to whom they are provided and the providers themselves. Adopting a wide perspective on understandings of the roles of museums and con- sidering the different environments within which museums operate, Gray and McCall provide a new perspective on how transformations, as well as the gaps between intended policies and the actual work that is undertaken within museums, can be both identified and understood. By differentiating between social, economic and political visions and expectations of museums, the analysis in this book allows for a fuller understanding of what these organisations do and provide for their societies and the struggles and negotia- tions that surround their existence. The Role of Today’s Museum takes a critical, interdisciplinary approach to studying museums and museum policy. As a result, the book will be of interest to academics and students engaged in the study of museums, cultural policy, social policy, cultural sociol- ogy, public policy and cultural and political economy. Highlighting the gaps that exist between policy ideals and museum practices, the book also provides valuable insights to policy-makers and practitioners. Clive Gray is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Stud- ies at the University of Warwick. He has previously published three books. He has published widely in public policy and administration, the politics of the arts and cultural policy, and on politics, management and policy-making in museums. Vikki McCall is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Univer- sity of Stirling with work focusing on bridging the gap between policy and practice. Dr McCall is Board Director for the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and Parkhead Housing Association, alongside being a member of the Social Policy Associa- tion Executive Committee and Editorial Board member of Social Policy & Society. THE ROLE OF TODAY’S MUSEUM Clive Gray and Vikki McCall First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 Clive Gray and Vikki McCall The right of Clive Gray and Vikki McCall to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Gray, Clive, author. | McCall, Vikki, author. Title: The role of today’s museum / Clive Gray and Vikki McCall. Description: New York : Routledge, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019058343 (print) | LCCN 2019058344 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Museums—Textbooks. Classification: LCC AM6 .G73 2020 (print) | LCC AM6 (ebook) | DDC 069—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019058343 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019058344 ISBN: 978-0-367-26504-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-26509-0 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-29356-6 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by codeMantra To our children Connor and Emma, and Caitlin and Laurie CONTENTS List of illustrations x Acknowledgements xi 1 Introduction 1 Introduction 1 Understanding museums 2 But what are museums for? 6 The structure of the book 9 2 What do museums do? What are museums for? 14 Introduction 14 Which functions? Universal description 16 Which functions? Sources 21 Which functions? Policy 25 Functions and questions 27 Conclusions 32 3 The multifunctional museum 37 Introduction 37 Museums and complexity 37 Whose functions? 40 Institutions, practices, arenas 44 Time, organisation, location: the contextualisation of museum functions 49 Which contexts? 53 Conclusion 55 viii Contents 4 Museums, policy, practice and the ‘struggle over space’ 59 Introduction 59 The struggle over ‘space’ in the museum 59 Symbolic violence 62 Policy, the policy process and museums 64 ‘Top-down’ versus ‘bottom-up’ policy 68 Governance of museums 70 Museums and social inclusion 72 Museums, place, regeneration and urban development 73 Conclusions 77 5 Museums and societies 83 Introduction 83 The evolving social role of museums in society 84 The social role of the museum in society 85 Museums in the field of cultural production 88 Building a social role for museums within the ‘game of culture’ 90 The impact of the social role of the museum 91 Community 92 Social inclusion 94 Quality of life and wellbeing 96 Difficulties with social expectations in museums 97 Conclusion 100 6 Museums and economies 107 Introduction 107 Economics and museums 109 Economics and museum functions 111 Museums as the source of economic value 115 Whose value? 121 The instrumental museum? 128 7 Museums and politics 134 Introduction 134 Political functions and museums 135 Political functions in the museum 140 Political functions of museums 145 Political functions about the museum 150 Conclusion 156 Contents ix 8 Conclusion 161 Introduction 161 Functions: the museum as a social construction 162 Value: societal, social and economic 165 Legitimacy 168 Conclusion 169 Bibliography 171 Index 189
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