Of special importance are the articles that deal with the link between the culture and the social:

• Following a historical approach, Belfiore/Bennett critically examine the commonly accepted views on the positive and negative impacts of the arts and highlight the problematic side of the simplistic "art is good for you" rhetoric (p.135-151).
• Kiwan shows how in France the synthesis of cultural policy and social concerns creates a number of tensions and pitfalls (p.153-167).
• Gray unravels the reasons for the instrumentalisation of national arts and cultural polices, linking it not only to the general commodification of public policy, but also to specific structural contexts and ideological perceptions (p.203-215).

Worth reading is Vestheim's paper on the relationship between cultural policy and democracy (p.217-236). He reflects on cultural democracy, democratic cultural policies and the power of religion in political developments, and discusses then five democracy dimensions of cultural policy. For Vestheim, cultural policy is by definition instrumental, as culture in policy-making terms has no intrinsic value. He differentiates three types of instrumentality that justify public intervention in culture: aesthetical and educational instrumentality, economic and social instrumentality, and, based on the democracy argument, political instrumentality.

To view the publisher's table of contents with abstracts, please click on this external link. A full text online version is available for users within the Council of Europe via Swetsline.