Cultural populism is condescension to the population by self-appointed philosopher-kings who, however, are rather weak on philosophy (they are rather better at divine right). They believe that the average man is not capable of appreciating high culture, and that therefore high culture should be lowered to meet his capacities. Our current cultural policies are therefore a cross between infantilisation and psychotherapy: infantilisation to ensure that nothing is beyond the grasp of anyone, and psychotherapy to make everyone feel good about himself. The virtue of a museum, therefore, is to be measured by the numbers who enter it, and by the degree to which those who enter it represent the population demographically. This is to assume that the population, while not up to very much, is nevertheless the best possible. Education is not learning, it is affirmation of everyone’s intrinsic worth.
Furedi’s prose, particularly in the first half of the book, sometimes exhibits the vices of his discipline, sociology. Isms and isations litter a page: one might call this the ismisation of prose, or alternatively isationism. But this should not put readers off; his little book deals, for the most part, bracingly and astringently with a vitally important question.
Comments
There are currently no comments for this article.