ABSTRACT
The principal theme of this chapter is the shift, but not radical transformation,
that has occurred in the values espoused by the conservation movement over
the relatively recent past. In recent years, there has been an emphasis on the
social purpose and function of conservation, which has been largely absent from
British debate since the 1970s. In part, this has concerned the use of heritage
for socially instrumental purposes paralleling the economic focus developed
in the 1980s. In part, it is recognition of the socially constructed nature of
heritage and the consequent implication that perhaps conservation experts
should not have a monopoly over conservation values. It is argued that these
shifts are partly self-generated within the conservation sector and partly, in the
English case at least, a response to external political pressures. However, it is
highly debateable how much this represents a fundamental broadening-out
and new-found institutional reflexiveness on behalf of the heritage sector or
conservation community, and how much a tactical shift in standard and
authorised conceptions of conservation as part of a process of sustaining expert
hegemonies.
