ABSTRACT
There is a tradition in European museums, once strong and now growing strong again, that museums should be agents of social and political change. Every society has its myths—and deadly delusions—by which we must live. The collapse in the last few years of Marxism, one of the materialist ideologies of the 19th century, may be the defining moment in the intellectual as well as the political development of our own age. As publicly funded institutions, as providers of services to our communities, and as interpreters of cultures, we have to adjust to changed realities. The proposal that museums should have an active social and political role is not, of course, new; it was the reason for the foundation of so many of our museums in the 19th century. It must be acknowledged that, if one wished to implement an agenda of social and cultural change, museums and galleries are not the obvious place to start.
