Is art good for us? : beliefs about high culture in American life
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Is art good for us? : beliefs about high culture in American life
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, c2002
- : pbk
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-215) and index
Contents of Works
- Introduction : is art good for us?
- Exemplary voices : Tocqueville, Whitman, and Mumford
- Arts for renewal, revolution, conservation, and subversion
- Art as antidote : the mass culture debates
- Art as elixir : contemporary arts discourse
- Art as experience : John Dewey's aesthetics
- Conclusion : the value of expressive logic
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Are the arts good for us? This book questions our taken-for-granted assumptions about the transformational powers of high culture by critiquing an instrumental American heritage of beliefs about the arts. Jensen argues that faith in high culture's unproven ability to transform people and society allows social critics to keep faith with the idea of a democratic society while deploring popular culture. Employing perspectives from Tocqueville and Dewey, she argues that the arts are good, but they don't do good. Instead of expecting the arts to improve things (and blaming the media for ruining them) we need to recognize that it is up to us, not "the arts" to make the world a better place.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction: Is Art Good for Us? Chapter 2 Exemplary Voices: Tocqueville, Whitman, and Mumford Chapter 3 Arts for Renewal, Revolution, Conservation, and Subversion Chapter 4 Art as Antidote: The Mass Culture Debates Chapter 5 Art as Elixir: Contemporary Arts Discourse Chapter 6 Art as Experience: John Dewey's Aesthetics Chapter 7 Conclusion: The Value of Expressive Logic
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