Cultural value as meaning-making

Abstract

This article defines cultural value as a non-monetary and fundamental expression of the value of culture. It argues that cultural value is constituted through meaning-making and can be characterised as normative, hermeneutic and intersubjectively warranted. Thus understood–even though originally a construct of the discourse of cultural economics and considered a factor shaping the economic value of culture–cultural value sits outside of the purview of contemporary welfare economics. This raises many questions, including how and whether cultural value can be registered in policy which relies on standard economics as its lingua franca; what implications this has for polemics about how value, impact and evidence are framed in cultural policy; and, centrally, what role arts and humanities expertise plays in policy decision-making.