Culture is bad for you, Orian Brook
Culture is bad for you, Orian Brook
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Culture is bad for you
Inequality in the cultural and creative industries

Author: Orian Brook, Dave O'Brien, Mark Taylor

Narrator: Nneka Okoye, Christina Orman, Stephen Perring

Unabridged: 7 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/16/2021


Synopsis

Culture will keep you fit and healthy. Culture will bring communities together. Culture will improve your education. This is the message from governments and arts organisations across the country; however, this book explains why we need to be cautious about culture. Offering a powerful call to transform the cultural and creative industries, Culture is bad for you examines the intersections between race, class, and gender in the mechanisms of exclusion in cultural occupations. Exclusion from culture begins at an early age, the authors argue, and despite claims by cultural institutions and businesses to hire talented and hardworking individuals, women, people of colour, and those from working class backgrounds are systematically disbarred. While the inequalities that characterise both workforce and audience remain unaddressed, the positive contribution culture makes to society can never be fully realised.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Heather on March 22, 2021

Dry (as in, very academic), so not for a relaxing read, but an essential resource for those interested in or working on access and equality in the creative sectors.......more

Goodreads review by stephanie on February 08, 2024

Citando el título: la cultura es mala y no es algo de lo que podamos abanderarnos. Dentro de esta encontramos una gran cantidad de desigualdad con respecto a muchas áreas, sobre todo cómo se sostiene en base a los discursos elaborados por los individuos que la componen y los altos cargos que no son......more

Goodreads review by Pudsey on April 18, 2023

An important read and resource or everyone working in the creative sector, particularly those working on access and equality. It was only published at last year, and it is a good contribution to public debate, not just academic discussion. It is written in very clear manner, and they take the trouble......more

Goodreads review by Rob on July 26, 2024

This reads more like a government report than a book for the casual reader. Perhaps more suited to those in the industry rather than an interested civilian. Unsurprisingly, it finds that’s middle class white people have more success in “creative industries”/the arts. I enjoyed the parts which explore......more

Goodreads review by Zoe on February 04, 2025

A manifesto for programme over product, for the dismantling of precarious work conditions and barriers to entry in the British creative sector. Academic in nature, but still remarkably digestible. A reality check for the priviledged and a guidebook for a more sustainable, fair and ultimately interes......more