The Privatization of Culture

In Privatizing Culture, Chin-tao Wu examines the escalating "corporatization" of art since the 1980s. Art, falling under the control of global corporations, is reduced to a tool used in these corporations' promotion, expansion, and power strategies. Chin-tao Wu investigates the social, legal, and organizational processes underlying this reduction. She provides examples and recounts case studies. She prompts us to consider the extent to which corporate culture can erode the autonomy, critical, and political power of art. Privatizing Culture is a contemporary contribution to the sociology of art and the tradition of cultural criticism. "A wonderful book. Please buy it." -Louise Bourgeois-