Capital and Culture An Investigation into New Labour cultural policy and the European Capital of Culture 2008. Mark Connolly Presented in fulfilment o f the requirements for the degree o f Doctor o f Philosophy at the University of Wales, Cardiff. December 2007 UMI Number: U584278 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U584278 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Statements of Declaration This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed .. ...............(candidate) Date ........... STATEMENT 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD (insert MCh, MD, MPhil, PhD etc, as appropriate) Signed .. (candidate) Date M .U/L/.firk. STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sourcesurces are acknowledged by explicit references. Signed (candidate) Date ....?. 9. /. I A./.^. STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed . .. (candidate) Date ..9 : ....... Acknowledgments This study would not have been possible without the help of a lot of selfless people. I would like to thank the ESRC for their financial support; my supervisors, Gareth and Bella, for their academic support; and my friends and family for their emotional support. Thanks also to all my interviewees. I hope this study does justice to the time and support you all gave me. Rinne me mo dhicheal agus is cuma Horn. Mark Connolly Cardiff, 28th December 2007 Abstract This thesis is an investigation into the relationship between culture in New Labour policy and within the competition for the European Capital of Culture 2008. The study interrogates a policy paradigm which it identifies as a ‘creative city/urban planning’ approach to urban regeneration. It locates this approach within a wider New Labour ‘Third Way’ politics, in that it attempts to reconcile economic instrumentalism with a rhetorical commitment to a politics of the social. Based on elite interviews and documentary analysis, this thesis argues that this approach to urban regeneration draws on a misappropriation of the work of cultural theorist Raymond Williams. It demonstrates how this misappropriation results in an unbounded anthropological definition, whereby culture colonises all areas of economic and social life. Within this template, culture becomes a surrogate economic and social policy. This is illustrated in the case-study of Liverpool’s bidding for, winning of and plans for Capital of Culture 2008. This analysis shows how culture without parameters is usurped within both a neo-liberal economic agenda, and a policy template which recasts social inequality as a personal cultural deficit. Within Liverpool’s urban strategy, culture is conceived as a social and economic panacea. However, when culture comes to mean everything, it invariably means nothing. This thesis attempts to put Raymond Williams’ ‘vague and baggy monster’ back in its theoretical cage. CONTENTS Declaration ii Acknowledgements iii Abstract iv Table of Contents v Table of Figures v i i i Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 The Personal Journey 2 1.3 The European Capital of Culture 6 1.4 The Structure of the Thesis 7 Chapter Two: Putting Culture Back into its Place 2.1 Introduction 8 2.2 The Negative and Positive Tradition 11 2.3 Liberal Humanism 22 2.4 Challenges to Liberal Humanism 28 2.5 Bourdieu and the Cultural Arbitrary 45 2.6 Conclusion 50 Chapter Three: Neo Liberalism Culture and the City 3.1 Introduction 52 3.2 Neo Liberalism in Urban and Cultural Policy 53 3.3 Neo Liberalism Culture and the City 60 3.4 Criticisms Entrepreneurialism and Culture in Regeneration 63 3.5 Conclusion 70 Chapter Four: Glasgow City of Culture 1990 4.1 Introduction 71 4.2 Glasgow’s Bid for 1990 71 4.3 The Decision for Glasgow and Plans for 1990 83 4.4 Glasgow 1990: Critics and Controversies 86 4.5 The Legacy of Glasgow 1990 91 4.6 Conclusion 94 v Chapter Five: Methods and Strategies 5.1 Introduction 96 5.2 The Politics of Studying Culture 96 5.3 Discourse, Intertextuality and Policy 103 5.4 Research Questions 106 5.5 Research Strategies 110 5.5.1 Documents and Newspapers 112 5.5.2 Interviews 118 5.5.3 Ethics in Interviewing Elites 124 5.6 Analysis 125 5.7 Limitations of Research Design 130 Chapter Six: Cultural Policy and New Labour 6.1 Introduction 131 6.2 ‘Old’ Labour and New Cultural Policy 133 6.3 New Labour: A New Way? 138 6.4 Cui Bono?: New Labour and Instrumentalism in Cultural Policy 145 6.5 Economic Instrumentalism: New Labour and the Move to Creativity 150 6.5.1 New Labour and Creativity 153 6.5.2 Creative Cities 161 6.6 New Labour and Social Instrumentalism 171 6.7 Excursus: New Labour and Unresolved Tensions in Cultural Policy 179 6.8 Conclusion 181 Chapter Seven: Bidding for Capital of Culture 2008 7.1 Introduction 185 7.2 History of City/Capital of Culture and European and British Judging Criteria 186 7.3 The Competing Cities’ Responses: from twelve to six 197 7.4 Defining Culture 205 7.5 Economic and Social Instrumentalism 217 7.6 Creativity 224 7.7 Conclusion 232 Chapter Eight: From Liverpool to Livercool 8.1 Introduction 236 8.2 Early History of Liverpool 237 8.3 Early Class Politics and the ‘Scouse’ Identity 239 8.4 Economic Downturn and Social and Political Turmoil 246 8.5 The Militant Era 249 8.6 The ‘Whingeing’ Scouser 255 8.7 Urban Governance and Regeneration 257 8.8 Conclusion 262 vi Chapter Nine: The People’s Bid and Social Instrumentalism 9.1 Introduction 267 9.2 The History of the ‘People’s Bid' 268 9.3 Social and Economic Objectives and the Marketing of Liverpool 274 9.4 Replicating a Glasgow and Economic Forecasting 280 9.5 Infrastructural Development 288 9.6 Creative Communities 296 9.7 Social Instrumentalism 301 9.8 Conclusion 313 Chapter Ten: The Culture Company and COC08 Controversies 10.1 Introduction 316 10.2 COC08 Award 317 10.3 Urban governance within Liverpool 328 10.4 Economic Focus and the loss of ‘the People' 336 10.5 Controversies around COC'08 345 10.5.1 The Abandoning of Infrastructural Projects 345 10.5.2 The Breakdown o f ‘strong local governance' 350 10.5.3 Tension between Intrinsic Positions and Instrumentalist Imperatives 353 10.6 Conclusion 359 Chapter Eleven: Review and Conclusion 365 Bibliography 379 Appendix One List of Interviewees 412 vii List of Figures Figure Title page One: Raymond Williams’typologization of culture 39 Two: DEMOS and Comedia 137 Three: New Labour’s Cultural Planning/Creative City 183 Strategy Four: Local Newspaper reporting of the competition for COC08 221 Five: The Guggenheim in Bilbao 234 Six: Gondolas on Birmingham's Canals 234 Seven: Belfast Peace Lines 234 Eight: Assembly Building Cardiff 235 Nine: Cardiff's Millennium Centre 235 Ten: The Three Graces 264 Eleven: ‘The Truth’ 265 Twelve: Scotland Road 265 Thirteen: Dereliction in Norris Green 265 Fourteen: March of Militant 265 Fifteen: Yosser Hughes: a victim of neo-liberal ism 266 Sixteen: The Boswell Family: the rogueish Scouser 266 Seventeen: Calm Down: the excitable Scouser 266 Eighteen: Employment Breakdown in Liverpool by ERM definition 286 Nineteen: Employment Breakdown with tourism uncoupled from Creative 287 Industry Twenty: Breakdown of ERM definition of Creative Industry 287 Twenty One: Culture Company Cycle of Success 310 Twenty Two: The Ark and The Cloud 314 viii Twenty Three: The FACT Centre 314 Twenty Four: The Echo Arena 315 Twenty Five: The Public 315 Twenty Six: Peckham Library 315 Twenty Seven: ‘Oi Terry’ 326 Twenty Eight: ‘Chateau Latour’ 327 Twenty Nine: Gondola Across the Mersey 327 Thirty: Relationship Between the Culture Company and the Council 335 Thirty One: The Quiggins Store 36 1 Thirty Two: 08 Place 361 Thirty Three: The Branding of Liverpool 362 Thirty Four: Liverpool’s Ultimate Status Symbol 363 Thirty Five: Talk, talk, talk and wait for the cranes 363 Thirty Six: Liverpool Vision 364 Thirty Seven: Culture of Capital 364 ix Culture and Capital Chapter One: Introduction Chapter One: Introduction So mayhe we should conduct our discussions of education and citizenship, toleration and social peace, without the talk of cultures Long ago, in the midst of prehistory, our ancestors learned that it is sometimes good to let a field lie fa llo w ' Kwainc Anthony Appiah (1997) 1.1 Introduction Wittgenstein once said that sometimes a word needs to be taken out of language and given a semantic cleansing; if ever there was such a word then culture is it. This ‘vague and baggy monster’, as Raymond Williams1 called it, has driven many great minds to distraction, and famously- if apochryphally - Reichmarshal Goering's ever twitching index finger towards his holster. In a sense this study is an attempt to perform such a semantic cleansing in relation to culture in contemporary policy discourse.