Dave O'Brien
Biographic Data
| ID | 4551091 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Dave O'Brien |
| GIVEN NAMES | Dave |
| FAMILY NAME | O'Brien |
| SIGNATURE | BRIEN D O |
| AFFILIATIONS | City, University of London |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 57 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Who runs the arts in England? A social network analysis of arts boards
Recent research on cultural production has drawn attention to significant inequalities. This paper aims to unpack one possible explanation for these inequalities by focusing on the people with ultimate responsibility for arts institutions: the boards of directors. Using data from the UK's Companies House, it analyses the boards of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations. It then "hops" to the other organisations with whom arts org…
Cultural Consumption and Covid-19
How did cultural consumption change during the Covid-19 pandemic? Whilst the impact of the pandemic on cultural production has been given significant attention, work on consumption has seen less attention (Roberts 2020 on leisure time notwithstanding). This paper addresses this gap in the literature by presenting a comparative analysis of two, nationally representative, surveys of cultural activity in England. The analysis demonstrates that, when…
Culture is bad for you
Art and culture are supposed to bring society together. Culture is bad for you challenges the received wisdom that culture is good for us. It does this by demonstrating who makes who and consumes culture are marked by significant inequalities and social divisions.The book combines the first large-scale study of social mobility into cultural and creative jobs, hundreds of interviews with creative workers, and a detailed analysis of secondary datas…
Routledge Handbook of Global Cultural Policy
There was no golden age
Cultural and creative industries are currently narrated as one of the greatest forces for openness and social mobility that Britain has (Hancock 2016). However, there is little, if any, evidence to support this position. Recent research has suggested the creative and cultural occupations are dominated by those from professional or managerial backgrounds (O’Brien et al 2016, Oakley et al 2017), with cultural theorists arguing this reflects declini…
Routledge Handbook of Global Cultural Policy
On brutal culture
International audience
Learning to labour unequally
Inequality has become essential to understanding contemporary society and is at the forefront of media, political and practice discussions of the future of the arts, particularly in the UK. Whilst there is a wealth of work on traditional areas of inequality, such as those associated with income or gender, the relationship between culture, specifically cultural value, and inequality is comparatively under-researched.The article considers inequalit…
What price evidence? The ethics of office and the ethics of social science in British cultural policy
This paper considers the use of evidence for government decision-making using ethnographically informed data from the lived experiences of those involved in British cultural policy. It does this in order to engage and extend work that has sought to defend bureaucratic forms of activity. The paper offers an empirical case study of how the civil servants’ ethic of office [DuGay, P. (2008) ‘Max weber and the moral economy of office’, Journal of Cult…
After Urban Regeneration
Focusing on the history and theory of community in urban policy, and including a unique set of case studies that draw on artistic and cultural community work, After Urban Regeneration engages with debates on how urban policy has changed and continues to change following the financial crash of 2008.
After Urban Regeneration
Focusing on the history and theory of community in urban policy, and including a unique set of case studies that draw on artistic and cultural community work, this book engages with debates on how urban policy has changed and continues to change following the financial crash of 2008.
Cultural value
Making Culture, Changing Society
Making Culture, Changing Society is a genuinely fascinating text, with a remarkable agenda. The book makes a very useful contribution to a range of areas, moving recent work around the social life
Cultural Policy
Contemporary society is complex; governed and administered by a range of contradictory policies, practices and techniques. Nowhere are these contradictions more keenly felt than in cultural policy. This book uses insights from a range of disciplines to aid the reader in understanding contemporary cultural policy. Drawing on a range of case studies, including analysis of the reality of work in the creative industries, urban regeneration and curren…
The “scouse wedding” and other myths
This paper considers the development of a “Liverpool model” for culture-led urban regeneration, based on an analysis of the competition to become the UK's first City of Culture (UKCC) for 2013. The paper outlines New Labour's developing approach to culture-led regeneration, placing the UKCC in the context of the use of culture for various local development policies, particularly city branding and urban regeneration (Evans & Shaw, 2004; McGuigan, …
The Culture and Sport Evidence Programme
There is often a difficult balance in academic work between responding to immediate questions and taking a longer term perspective on any given issue. This is especially true of policy oriented work, which faces the temptation of pronouncing on headlines or else dismissing specific developments as mere distractions from historical trends. The corollary to this difficult balance comes with the question of evidence in government, which often has an…
Drowning the Deadweight in the Rhetoric of Economism
In light of the Coalition government's plans to ‘consider new and radical approaches to public service provision’, this paper discusses the decision making process within central government and argues central government's response to the crisis reflects ongoing trends in Whitehall. The paper explores these trends using sport policy, Free Swimming and the Educational Maintenance Allowance. These funding decisions show the continued power of the Tr…
Who is in charge? Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008 and the governance of cultural planning
Cultural planning has emerged as a key concern for town planners and policy-makers. However, although extensive attention has been given to critical and evaluative approaches of the impact of cultural planning, there is a comparative lack of research using theories of governance. This article contributes to the literature on cultural planning using the case study of Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008. The article illustrates how a range …
Intellectuals, culture and public policy in France
Intellectuals, culture and public policy in France: approaches from the Left, by Jeremy Ahearne, Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2010, 244 pp., £65.00 (hardback and paperback), ISBN 978-1-84
Learning to labour unequally
Inequality has become essential to understanding contemporary society and is at the forefront of media, political and practice discussions of the future of the arts, particularly in the UK. Whilst there is a wealth of work on traditional areas of inequality, such as those associated with income or gender, the relationship between culture, specifically cultural value, and inequality is comparatively under-researched.The article considers inequalit…
The “scouse wedding” and other myths
This paper considers the development of a “Liverpool model” for culture-led urban regeneration, based on an analysis of the competition to become the UK's first City of Culture (UKCC) for 2013. The paper outlines New Labour's developing approach to culture-led regeneration, placing the UKCC in the context of the use of culture for various local development policies, particularly city branding and urban regeneration (Evans & Shaw, 2004; McGuigan, …
Cultural Policy
Contemporary society is complex; governed and administered by a range of contradictory policies, practices and techniques. Nowhere are these contradictions more keenly felt than in cultural policy. This book uses insights from a range of disciplines to aid the reader in understanding contemporary cultural policy. Drawing on a range of case studies, including analysis of the reality of work in the creative industries, urban regeneration and curren…
Drowning the Deadweight in the Rhetoric of Economism
In light of the Coalition government's plans to ‘consider new and radical approaches to public service provision’, this paper discusses the decision making process within central government and argues central government's response to the crisis reflects ongoing trends in Whitehall. The paper explores these trends using sport policy, Free Swimming and the Educational Maintenance Allowance. These funding decisions show the continued power of the Tr…
Who runs the arts in England? A social network analysis of arts boards
Recent research on cultural production has drawn attention to significant inequalities. This paper aims to unpack one possible explanation for these inequalities by focusing on the people with ultimate responsibility for arts institutions: the boards of directors. Using data from the UK's Companies House, it analyses the boards of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations. It then "hops" to the other organisations with whom arts org…
What price evidence? The ethics of office and the ethics of social science in British cultural policy
This paper considers the use of evidence for government decision-making using ethnographically informed data from the lived experiences of those involved in British cultural policy. It does this in order to engage and extend work that has sought to defend bureaucratic forms of activity. The paper offers an empirical case study of how the civil servants’ ethic of office [DuGay, P. (2008) ‘Max weber and the moral economy of office’, Journal of Cult…
Cultural value
On brutal culture
International audience
The Culture and Sport Evidence Programme
There is often a difficult balance in academic work between responding to immediate questions and taking a longer term perspective on any given issue. This is especially true of policy oriented work, which faces the temptation of pronouncing on headlines or else dismissing specific developments as mere distractions from historical trends. The corollary to this difficult balance comes with the question of evidence in government, which often has an…
Who is in charge? Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008 and the governance of cultural planning
Cultural planning has emerged as a key concern for town planners and policy-makers. However, although extensive attention has been given to critical and evaluative approaches of the impact of cultural planning, there is a comparative lack of research using theories of governance. This article contributes to the literature on cultural planning using the case study of Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008. The article illustrates how a range …
Intellectuals, culture and public policy in France
Intellectuals, culture and public policy in France: approaches from the Left, by Jeremy Ahearne, Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2010, 244 pp., £65.00 (hardback and paperback), ISBN 978-1-84
The “scouse wedding” and other myths
This paper considers the development of a “Liverpool model” for culture-led urban regeneration, based on an analysis of the competition to become the UK's first City of Culture (UKCC) for 2013. The paper outlines New Labour's developing approach to culture-led regeneration, placing the UKCC in the context of the use of culture for various local development policies, particularly city branding and urban regeneration (Evans & Shaw, 2004; McGuigan, …
The Culture and Sport Evidence Programme
There is often a difficult balance in academic work between responding to immediate questions and taking a longer term perspective on any given issue. This is especially true of policy oriented work, which faces the temptation of pronouncing on headlines or else dismissing specific developments as mere distractions from historical trends. The corollary to this difficult balance comes with the question of evidence in government, which often has an…
Drowning the Deadweight in the Rhetoric of Economism
In light of the Coalition government's plans to ‘consider new and radical approaches to public service provision’, this paper discusses the decision making process within central government and argues central government's response to the crisis reflects ongoing trends in Whitehall. The paper explores these trends using sport policy, Free Swimming and the Educational Maintenance Allowance. These funding decisions show the continued power of the Tr…
Cultural Policy
Contemporary society is complex; governed and administered by a range of contradictory policies, practices and techniques. Nowhere are these contradictions more keenly felt than in cultural policy. This book uses insights from a range of disciplines to aid the reader in understanding contemporary cultural policy. Drawing on a range of case studies, including analysis of the reality of work in the creative industries, urban regeneration and curren…
After Urban Regeneration
Focusing on the history and theory of community in urban policy, and including a unique set of case studies that draw on artistic and cultural community work, After Urban Regeneration engages with debates on how urban policy has changed and continues to change following the financial crash of 2008.
After Urban Regeneration
Focusing on the history and theory of community in urban policy, and including a unique set of case studies that draw on artistic and cultural community work, this book engages with debates on how urban policy has changed and continues to change following the financial crash of 2008.
Cultural value
Making Culture, Changing Society
Making Culture, Changing Society is a genuinely fascinating text, with a remarkable agenda. The book makes a very useful contribution to a range of areas, moving recent work around the social life
Learning to labour unequally
Inequality has become essential to understanding contemporary society and is at the forefront of media, political and practice discussions of the future of the arts, particularly in the UK. Whilst there is a wealth of work on traditional areas of inequality, such as those associated with income or gender, the relationship between culture, specifically cultural value, and inequality is comparatively under-researched.The article considers inequalit…
What price evidence? The ethics of office and the ethics of social science in British cultural policy
This paper considers the use of evidence for government decision-making using ethnographically informed data from the lived experiences of those involved in British cultural policy. It does this in order to engage and extend work that has sought to defend bureaucratic forms of activity. The paper offers an empirical case study of how the civil servants’ ethic of office [DuGay, P. (2008) ‘Max weber and the moral economy of office’, Journal of Cult…
Routledge Handbook of Global Cultural Policy
On brutal culture
International audience
There was no golden age
Cultural and creative industries are currently narrated as one of the greatest forces for openness and social mobility that Britain has (Hancock 2016). However, there is little, if any, evidence to support this position. Recent research has suggested the creative and cultural occupations are dominated by those from professional or managerial backgrounds (O’Brien et al 2016, Oakley et al 2017), with cultural theorists arguing this reflects declini…
Routledge Handbook of Global Cultural Policy
Culture is bad for you
Art and culture are supposed to bring society together. Culture is bad for you challenges the received wisdom that culture is good for us. It does this by demonstrating who makes who and consumes culture are marked by significant inequalities and social divisions.The book combines the first large-scale study of social mobility into cultural and creative jobs, hundreds of interviews with creative workers, and a detailed analysis of secondary datas…
Cultural Consumption and Covid-19
How did cultural consumption change during the Covid-19 pandemic? Whilst the impact of the pandemic on cultural production has been given significant attention, work on consumption has seen less attention (Roberts 2020 on leisure time notwithstanding). This paper addresses this gap in the literature by presenting a comparative analysis of two, nationally representative, surveys of cultural activity in England. The analysis demonstrates that, when…
Who runs the arts in England? A social network analysis of arts boards
Recent research on cultural production has drawn attention to significant inequalities. This paper aims to unpack one possible explanation for these inequalities by focusing on the people with ultimate responsibility for arts institutions: the boards of directors. Using data from the UK's Companies House, it analyses the boards of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations. It then "hops" to the other organisations with whom arts org…
Sociology (17 works) · Political science (16 works) · Cultural Industries and Urban Development (13 works) · Law (12 works) · Social science (10 works) · Economics (8 works) · Public Administration (8 works) · Cultural policy (7 works) · Politics (6 works) · Social and Cultural Dynamics (6 works)