In a recent keynote speech in Bristol, Culture Secretary
Sajid Javid proclaimed that culture should be for everyone regardless of his or
her class or racial background. While Javid may have commented on the
“world-beating cultural scene” of Britain being key to the increase of
billionaires living London, his message firmly concentrated on making culture
accessible to everyone and shared throughout the country – opposed to fixating
on London.
The debate about culture being inherently associated with a
particular class has been well debated throughout media and cultural studies.
For instance the British cultural critic F. R. Leavis (1895 – 1978) firmly
believed that only the most intellectual held the cultural capital to truly
understand ‘real’ valuable culture.
Throughout his life Leavis focused on
traditional English literature, commonly regarding the likes of Joesph Conrad
and Jane Austin as key intellectual cultural critics. His views of popular
media tended to be severely negative, viewing it as a way of pleasing the
ignorance of the masses and allowing them to merely escape their mundane
lives – a similar view to this is reflected in Audley Huxley’s novel Brave New
World, as mentioned in a previous post.
The views of F. R. Leavis are very much of its time, with
many aspects of popular media now receiving higher accolades – think for
instance how prestigious the Oscars are observed as being. Moreover in many aspects of media within
recent history, the idea of coming from a lower-class background has added
value. An example of this can be found in many genres of music requiring the
artist to have a working class heritage as way of substantializing their
‘realness’. This is particularly notable within the early punk scene as wells the Manchester indie scene.
While it is likely that Leavis would have overlooked the
cultural value these types of music if he was alive to see them, later cultural
theorists – particularly the likes of Richard Hoggart, Stuart Hall and others
who became associated with the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies – have noted
how those from working class backgrounds have their own personal cultural
capital.
In many ways this begins to cause issues with the Culture
Secretary’s remark that culture should be for everyone, because to a degree
one’s class (and in some cases ethnicity) does play a major role in shaping them as
a cultural critique.
Bristol itself is quite notable for attempting to spread its
culture throughout the city – this can be observed in the rise of Bansky, many
of the art galleries having free entry and hosting events such as the giant
waterslide running down Park Street.