The Social Life of Cultural Value

Abstract

In a recent discussion on the creative economy, Calvin Taylor (2013), a Professor of Cultural Economy at the University of Leeds, coined a useful reference point for many discussions in this area: ‘once more (with feeling)’. While neither directly discussing the debates around ‘cultural value’, nor, presumably, being a nod to an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with the same title, there is something in that phrase that seems to pertain to ‘cultural value’. The term has seen a steadily increasing usage during the twentieth century (see Figure 6.1) but seems to have reached a frenzy following the turn of the millennium.