Abstract
Cultural policy has become dominated by questions of how to account for the intangible value of government investments. This is as a result of longstanding developments within government’s approaches to policy making, most notably those influenced by practices of audit and accounting. This paper will outline these developments with reference to Peter Miller’s concept of calculative practices, and will argue two central points: first, that there are practical solutions to the problem of measuring the value of culture that connect central government discourses with the discourses of the cultural sector; and second, the paper will demonstrate how academic work has been central to this area of policy making. As a result of the centrality of accounting academics in cultural policy, for example in providing advice on the appropriate measurement tools and techniques, questions are raised about the role academia might take vis-a-vis public policy. Accounting professionals and academics not only provide technical expertise that informs state calculative practices, but also play a surveillance role through the audit and evaluation of government programmes, and act as interpreters in defining terms of performance measurement, success and failure. The paper therefore concludes by reflecting on recent work by Phillip Schlesinger to preserve academic integrity whilst allowing accounting scholars and academics influence and partnership in policy.
Highlights
Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in the practices associated with governing culture
The above discussion returns us to the question of whether cultural policy is unique or special, or are the dynamics under consideration in this paper merely reflections of how states and their governments function under our current modernity? Comparative work across other areas of public sector life is clearly necessary
Taken as a case study, cultural policy points to the reality of calculative practices as both useful for decision-makers, bearers of risks and threats to the objects of calculation, and sites whereby the complicated and uncertain position of the modern accounting academic can be worked out. It is in the position of the academic, their role and function with regard to state power, which we can hope to monitor the effects of calculation, as Prince (2013), Stanziola (2012) and Schlesinger (2013) have done with regard to cultural policy, whilst opening important reflexive positions for the profession
Summary
Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in the practices associated with governing culture. Accounting professionals and academics provide technical expertise that informs state calculative practices, and play a surveillance role through the audit and evaluation of government programmes, and act as interpreters in defining terms of performance measurement, success and failure. In this light the paper reflects on the role of the accounting academic and Zygmunt Bauman’s discussion of the question of academia and intellectuals as legislators or interpreters. The paper concludes by reflecting on recent work by Phillip Schlesinger to preserve academic integrity whilst allowing academic influence and partnership in policy
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