Analysis of the influence of neo-liberalism in the configuration of the values of culture [D1.4]

The report considers the relationship between the centrality of neoliberal, or market-based, logics and the prioritisation of instrumental cultural values in the cultural fields of thirty European countries. Through an analytical coding of the Council of Europe’s Compendium of Cultural Policies and Cultural Trends (2020), the report identifies the relative deployment of civic and politico-economic cultural values across the 'Resistant, Emergent, Established, and Dominant (REED) typology' of European neoliberal cultural policy regimes. A broad correlation between the centrality of market-based logics in cultural policy and the relative importance of civic and politico-economic cultural values is recognised, although this varies in regard to the specific cultural value. Positioning the instrumental cultural values in relation to Eurostat cultural expenditure and participation datasets illustrates that the deployment of civic and politicoe-conomic cultural values increases with greater cultural participation but declines with increased expenditure on culture as a percentage of total government spending.