ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the 'status' of popular cultures, together with their perceived 'value', before going on to consider the ways in which participants in that culture describe it in a series of interviews and vignettes. Manchester, then, is a city associated more with popular culture than high culture, despite the presence of renowned 'high' cultural institutions such as the Royal Exchange Theatre, the Lowry or the Bridgewater Hall. Hulme's cultural proliferation marked the transition of Manchester from a 'rubbish city' with little 'value' to one where cultural investment was seen as an income generator. Crosby's literature blatantly appropriated the affective life of club cultures, their collectively produced social and cultural capital, exchanging that value for an accumulation of economic capital. The culture of 'Madchester' was transformative in durable ways: attitudes towards ethnicity, sexuality and wider cultures of inclusivity demonstrated and embodied hope for a progressive future.
