ABSTRACT

Positioning cultural democracy in a historical context and in a context of adjacent movements such as the creative commons, open source movement, and maker movement, this book goes back to first principles and asks what personhood means in the twenty-first century, what cultural democracy means, why we should want it, and how we can work towards it.

In this new book, the author provides a timely untangling of the various historical meanings of the term and explores the various ways in which it has been co-opted, suggesting that it has a strength that we should open up to examination with a view to reinvigorating it. Just as importantly, the book situates cultural democracy within the wider framework of progressive political and social movements, and of the impact of new digital information and communication technologies. To those unfamiliar with the term, it introduces cultural democracy through related concepts such as digital cultural politics, participatory democracy, and digital citizenship.

Providing a much-needed theoretical take on the growing interest in cultural democracy, this book will be essential reading for students and scholars interested in the arts as well as practitioners and policy makers. It combines theory and practice with a view to inciting both thought and action.

part I|46 pages

Autonomous Vehicles

chapter 1|7 pages

The Mind and the Body 1

chapter 2|6 pages

Problems with Selfhood

chapter 3|5 pages

Dennett's Solution

chapter 4|5 pages

Narratives and Consciousness

chapter 5|7 pages

Darwin and Evolution

chapter 6|6 pages

Genes and Memes

chapter 7|8 pages

Late to the Party

part II|58 pages

Cultural Landscapes

chapter 8|7 pages

The First Tools

Language and Numbers

chapter 9|8 pages

The Nature of Tools

Conviviality

chapter 10|8 pages

Gamification

Shopping as Theatre

chapter 11|8 pages

Selling Ourselves

Quantified Data

chapter 12|6 pages

The Price of Fame

Film and Celebrity

chapter 13|9 pages

Liking our Selves

Social Media

chapter 14|10 pages

Buying the Culture

IP and Creativity

part III|73 pages

Making a Difference

chapter 15|8 pages

Community, Citizenship, and Creativity

chapter 16|10 pages

Codifying Culture

chapter 17|11 pages

Cultural Democracy

A Definition

chapter 18|10 pages

Cultural Democracy and Community

chapter 19|10 pages

Cultural Democracy and Economics

chapter 20|10 pages

Cultural Democracy and Politics

chapter 21|12 pages

ALL Together Now