Vladimír Bína
Indicators on Cultural Participation and Access to Culture[1]
A proposal
Final Draft
Introduction
Council of Europe has a long tradition of concern with participation in cultural life and access to culture. Resolutions, declarations and conventions adopted by the Council and its bodies have always stressed the importance of cultural democracy, equality and diversity.
The recent recommendation of the Parliamentary Assembly “The right of everyone to take part in cultural life” [2] is no exception: nomen est omen. The document not only contains proposals for co-operation with international organization such as UNESCO or the European Union and guidelines for policy makers in the Member States, but also recommendations for the policy of the Council itself. The Assembly recommends to: “instruct the CultureWatchEurope Platform to establish a set of indicators on the participation of different groups, in particular youth, in cultural life and to monitor developments in this field in the framework of the programme on “Democratic governance through educational, culture and youth policies”. (Paragraph 13.7)
This proposal is an attempt to design a coherent set of such indicators.
Points of departure
There is a wide range of activities which are considered as cultural practices all over Europe. The questionnaires of national surveys on cultural participation usually contain dozens of questions about different cultural practices. It makes a little sense to make indicators for all practices. Moreover, there is no real need for a comprehensive set of indicators. The preference for a certain art or a certain form of culture is rarely an isolated phenomenon. Cultural practices usually correlate with each other, establishing a pattern of cultural participation. The audience of opera, for instance is mostly also interested in performing arts in general and in classical music in particular. Many opera lovers also show more than average interest in other arts and cultural heritage. They visit museum and historic cities at home and abroad, watch programmes about art on television etc. Useful indicators refer to practices which are fairly common, yet distinctive enough. It makes, for instance, no sense to make an indicator for listening to (every kind of) music, as almost everybody does.
The strength of an indicator depends on the quality of the data. The most important data source on cultural participation is a sample survey that yields results that are (statistically) representative for the population of a country. Such surveys are expensive. It would be therefore rather unrealistic to propose an all-European survey on cultural participation to get fully comparable data for the indicators. Subsequently, the indicators can only be based on the data from available national surveys, which are not always comparable. Moreover, not all European countries have surveys on cultural participation. An inventory carried out in the framework of the so called ESSnet on Culture project among the Member States of European Union and associated countries listed 19 national surveys. Therefore we cannot expect that all 47 Member States of the Council of Europe –or the 42 that participate in the Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe – will have national surveys and thus relevant data.
In addition to the surveys other data sources can be used for the indicators. Researchers of the European Audiovisual Observatory in Strasbourg collect and analyse inter alia data on media habits. Eurostat carries out an ongoing survey for Information Society Statistics that covers internet and ICT use in 32 European countries. The authors of the Compendium are publishing a number of comparative tables and indexes. Two of these indexes are particularly suitable for measuring access to culture: CUPIX (Cultural Price Index on Goods and Services) and PASP (Public Arts Service Prices). Other data, such as figures from the annual OECD publication Education at a Glance, can also be used.
Cultural practices are closely related to demographic characteristics, such as age, gender and educational attainment. As the demographic composition of the population in different European countries varies considerably, the comparison of the whole countries has a very limited value. Indicators of cultural participation must therefore take background variables – at least gender, age and education level - in account.
The indicators should be as simple as possible. However, I am aware of the fact that a proper study of the relation between cultural participation and demographic variables requires a multivariate statistical analysis. The relationship between cultural practices and a particular characteristic can indeed be spurious. For instance: young people all over Europe are better educated than older people. As cultural participation strongly correlates with educational attainment, the divergence in cultural practices between younger and older people can be partly due to the difference in education level and not in age. To carry out a multivariate analysis one must have access to the microdata (individual response data) of the national surveys. Such analysis would require collaboration of not only the owners of the data, but also of statisticians or social scientists and thus would probably be rather costly.
The authors of the national reports for the Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe should provide the data for the indicators for their own countries.
A List of Indicators and indexes
Cultural participation
· I1. Visits to performing arts, music and popular culture
· I2. Visits to cultural heritage
· I3. Practicing arts for leisure
· I4. Reading books and newspapers
· I5. Watching television
· I6. Internet use
· X1. Youth index
· X2. Senior index
· X3. Equality index
Access to culture
· A1. Educational attainment
· A2. Cultural price index on goods and services
· A3. Public arts service prices index
Descriptions and explanations
Indicators of cultural participation
The relation between social class and culture is a classic sociological theme. La distinction of Pierre Bourdieu is probably the most famous study of this connection.[3] In this book, Bourdieu presented a critical theory on cultural capital social reproduction. According to him cultural capital is the pivotal element in the social stratification of contemporary Western European societies. Cultural practices are an important part of this capital. Preference for and knowledge of ‘high-brow’ culture – such as classical music, visual arts or literature – is an important asset for those who want keep or reach high social status. Bourdieu saw a strong connection between the cultural preferences or the ‘taste’ and the class position of the individuals.
As the nature of cultural capital has changed considerably since the publication of La distinction, Bourdieu’s triple distinction between ‘le goût de liberté’ (bourgeoisie), ‘le goût modeste’ (middle class) and ‘le goût de nécessité’ (working class) is no longer sufficient. Cultural participation of the higher educated and more affluent part of the population became broader: ”It comprises not only more “high-brow” culture, but also more ”middle-brow” and more “low-brow” culture, while the consumption of individuals in lower social strata tends to be largely restricted to more popular cultural forms. The crucial distinction, therefore, is not between elite and mass but rather between cultural omnivores and cultural univores”.[4] Social research shows that nowadays the higher educated visitors tend to be overrepresented at the manifestations of popular culture, such as rock concerts. The development of the arts audiences ‘from snob to omnivore’ has, of course, also impact on the indicators.[5] As the different genres of popular culture mostly belong to performing arts, music, film and audiovisual media (including the internet), we will need relevant indicators for these genres. If possible the indicators should not only give a figure for cultural participation in a certain domain of culture, but also make a distinction between ‘high-brow’ and popular culture.
Usually a distinction is made between three kinds of cultural practices:
· Visiting cultural venues, manifestations and institutions;
· Practicing arts for leisure;
· Media habits (reading; listening to audio media; watching audiovisual media, using computer and internet).
Below, I propose two indicators for visiting, one for practicing and three for media habits.
I1. Indicator 1
Visits to performing arts, music and popular culture, at least once in the last 12 months (in percent)[6]
Total / Performing arts and classical music / Popular cultureAll / % / % / %
Gender
Male / % / % / %
Female / % / % / %
Age
15-24 years / % / % / %
25-34 years / % / % / %
35-44 years / % / % / %
45-54 years / % / % / %
55-64 years / % / % / %
65 years and on / % / % / %
Education level
Low (ISCED 1+2) / % / % / %
Medium (ISCED 3+4) / % / % / %
High (ISCED 5-6) / % / % / %
Source: National surveys on cultural participation
Performing arts refer to visits of theatre plays, opera, ballet and modern dance as well as concerts of classical music.
Popular culture refers to visits of musicals, cabarets and stand-up comedies, movies, concerts of other than classical music (rock or pop, rap, hip-hop, folk, world music etc) as well as visits to feasts and parties with music (dance, urban and other events including performances of disc jockeys) and other performers.
We cannot expect that all national surveys will cover all genres mentioned in this or the following indicators. Questionnaires of some national surveys – for instance in France, in the Netherlands, in Spain, in Flanders – contain an extended list of genres, while others – for instance in Denmark – only distinguish between theatre visits and between visits to concerts of classical music and ‘rhythmical’ music. The authors of the Compendium who will provide the figures for the indicators should therefore specify what is included in each category.
The distinction between performing arts and classical music at one hand, and popular culture at the other makes it possible to discern a pattern in cultural practices. The majority of the audience for culture all over Europe will probably consists of omnivores who have both ‘high-brow’ and popular forms of culture on their menu and alternate between them. Nevertheless, it is interesting to compare the composition of the menu of similar audiences in different European countries. A comparison of cultural participation in six European countries, for instance, revealed important difference between high educated Dutch audience and its peers in other countries. Pop and rock music seem to be the main dish of the high educated Dutch, while the high educated elsewhere seem to retain their preference for the more traditional forms of art and culture, such as theatre plays. [7]
Visits to performing arts, popular culture and music are, of course, not the only kind of cultural practices. Comparatively speaking, these visits are rare. Most people listen to the music they prefer almost every day, but go to concerts no more than few times a year. The same for is true for other practices, such as watching films on television or internet and visiting cinemas. Nevertheless we can expect that visits reflect the cultural preferences of the audience. Visitor of dance or urban parties probably don’t listen to classical music very often; dance is probably not very popular among the audience of classical music concerts. Moreover, including watching and listening to recorded performances and music and films on television or internet would considerably weaken the strength of the indicator. As almost everybody watch and listen to such recordings, the percentages would come near to hundred, making the indicator useless.
Popular culture is not restricted to performances or music. There are also popular alternatives in the domain of cultural heritage. Visits to zoological gardens, as well as visits to amusement parks and theme parks (such as Disneyland in France, Legoland in Denmark or Madurodam in the Netherlands) can be seen as substitutes for visiting museums and monuments. Some national surveys – for instance the Finish, the French, the Italian, the Spanish and the Dutch – have figures on visits to zoo’s, amusement and theme parks. As such visits are usually not considered as cultural practices they will not be counted as heritage visits, but presented in a separate column. Although not all countries that will participate in the indicators project will have such figures it would be nevertheless interesting to be able to compare heritage visits with such family outings.
I2. Cultural heritage refers to visits of museums, galleries, exhibitions, historic sites (old quarters of cities and villages etc), monumental and/or famous buildings and archaeological sites.
Indicator 2
Visits to cultural heritage at least once in the last 12 months (in percent)
Cultural heritage / Zoo’s, amusement and theme parksAll / % / %
Gender
Male / % / %
Female / % / %
Age
15-24 years / % / %
25-34 years / % / %
35-44 years / % / %
45-54 years / % / %
55-64 years / % / %
65 years and on / % / %
Education level
Low (ISCED 1+2) / % / %
Medium (ISCED 3+4) / % / %
High (ISCED 5-6) / % / %
Source: National surveys on cultural participation
I3. Practicing the arts in the leisure time is an important pursuit for many people. They sing, act, paint, write, dance, make music, photos, videos, films etc. Most national surveys contain figures on these amateur practices. As these surveys usually don’t provide information about the content of these practices, it is not viable to distinguish between ‘high-brow’ and ‘popular’ practices. However, it is possible to judge the seriousness of the pursuits. Practitioners who take lessons and/or are member of ensembles, groups or clubs are apparently more attached to their artistic hobby than those who do not. The membership mentioned in the table doesn’t refer to a formal membership only , but to any practice in a group context
Indicator 3
Practicing arts for leisure twice a month or more often (in percent[8])
Amateur practices / Of which lessons and/or membershipAll / % / %
Gender
Male / % / %
Female / % / %
Age
15-24 years / % / %
25-34 years / % / %
35-44 years / % / %
45-54 years / % / %
55-64 years / % / %
65 years and on / % / %
Education level
Low (ISCED 1+2) / % / %
Medium (ISCED 3+4) / % / %
High (ISCED 5-6) / % / %
Source: National surveys on cultural participation