Rethinking the Institutional Theory of George Dickie: The Art Circles

Abstract

This paper initially revisits the institutional theory of George Dickie, which originated in relation to Arthur Danto’s “The Artworld” and the works of other analytic philosophers dealing with art theory at the time. This contextualization is followed by an attempt at finding possible relations and theoretical developments of Dickie’s work in theorists such as Howard S. Becker and Pierre Bourdieu. The aim is to find basic correlations and differences between Dickie’s theory, Becker’s symbolic interactionism and Bourdieu’s field theory. The final segment consists of linking the interpreted theoretical terms and summing up the possibilities that arise out of them for contemporary art theory.