Aesthetic Welfare, Government, and Educational Policy

Abstract

Despite a multitude of claims about a significant growth in the size of the audience for art in the past decade,' there is considerable room for doubt about whether a more discerning audience has emerged. Jacques Barzun, for example, portrays the contemporary audience as consumers who blandly accept the excesses of the modern artist as merely interesting.2 On the other hand, many persons rarely venture beyond casual exposure to the old warhorses in music, theater, and dance. Some are induced to cultural participation merely by the opportunity of seeing star performers,3 while others use it as a means of defining their social positions.4 And contrary to many commentators, there is little evidence that a democratization of culture has occurred in recent years, since persons who attend cultural events still represent a very select segment of the population.5 It appears, then, that the aesthetic capability of present-day audiences leaves much to be desired.

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