Igor Loinjak: POWER AS THE FOUNDATION OF CULTURAL CAPITAL AND A PREREQUISITE IN CREATING THE VALUE OF AN ARTWORK
Professional Paper
Igor Loinjak, Faculty of Philosophy in Osijek
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59014/MHJV1841
Keywords:
Bourdieu, art criticism, cultural capital, power, artwork
Abstract
In his studious analysis of art in the context of its status and social function, French
sociologist Pierre Bourdieu analyzed the problem of the distribution of power within
the area that he refers to as the “field of art”. The habitus of the protagonists active
in this field plays a decisive role in it, determining the perception of the value of
artwork. The interests maintaining the field dynamics are essential elements of any
field, making the field a battleground in which various interests battle for domination,
nevertheless presupposing a consensus between the participants in the battle
and their roles. Bourdieu, like Weber, believes that any social action is based on the
interests of social protagonists, because no one will engage in something that has no
material or ideal value and does not include a certain motive or profit, which does
not necessarily have to be economic. Furthermore, aesthetic conflicts in the field of
art often have a political dimension and are merely an embellished form of the battle
fought in order to impose the dominant vision of the social reality on others. The
field is an imaginary space where the real social power is generated. It is superior to
the concept of institution, because institutions imply consensual relations within
the society, while the field also includes phenomena that are not institutionalized
or defined by firm boundaries at the given moment. The objective of this study is to
analyze the role of critics and other protagonists in the field of art in the process of
shaping values in visual arts, and to show the importance of power in the formation
of symbolic capital in a broader cultural context. For the purposes of this research,
the author will use the methodology that Bourdieu applies to literature in his book
The Rules of Art, whose main theses help us better understand the economic, symbolic
and cultural relationships in the fields of visual arts, with an emphasis on the
situation in Croatia after the war.
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