Trading in Culture: The Role of Language

Abstract

This chapter considers why the imperatives of cultural development and economy are often perceived to be contradictory; the fundamental ambiguity of meaning of the category “culture"; the conflict between socially established understandings of the category “culture” and the patterns of cultural practice created by contemporary circumstances (notably the industrialization/popularization of culture and globalization of economic activity). It examines the importance of language as a factor in explaining the structure of important cultural markets and considers the distinctive position of “new societies” in the global cultural economy and the possibilities offered by Canada’s linguistic endowment.