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Cultural Identity Politics in the (Post-)Transitional Societies
economic arrangements for cultural workers or intelligentsia in general and their
fi elds of production will show that they have an impact on “cultural identities”, for
which this social stratum is the most responsible. Finally, this examination may help
us to understand what we experience every day – why the prevailing ideology today
is “competitiveness” and why the arts and sciences oppose it with a relatively modest
critique on globalization.
Th e socio-economic position of the artist in the sociology of culture
In the tradition of sociology of culture our contribution complies with research into
socio-economic relationships in the arts. According to research by Pierre Bourdieu or
Natalie Heinich, we will investigate the argument about the economic independence of
artists from private and public donors due to the expansion of cultural industries and
copyright regulations. Th ese two economic conditions, according to Natalie Heinich,
made room for a unique artist and public fi gure such as Émile Zola in the 19th century,
though this was rather exceptional among the numerous loft -living artists, les bohèmes
(Heinich, 2005). Th e “aesthetic welfare state” aft er the Second World War endorsed,
as Pierre Bourdieu would put it, the “autonomous principle of hierarchization” in the
arts in competition with the economic principle of hierarchization (Bourdieu, 1993).
In later times the aesthetic welfare state was brought to its end and culture was driven
into the heart of the economy for a new cycle of capitalist expansion. Alongside this
process the integration of artists into art production has changed. In the examination
of this question we will focus on book publishing since it off ers the simplest example
among various art practices. It will, hopefully, also help to clarify the puzzling debate on
contemporary “cognitive capitalism”.
Means of production in book publishing
If we examine the whole labour process (book production) from the point of view
of its results (books), we see that two kinds of means of production were used: (1) the
instruments and (2) the subject of labour as well as (3) labour as productive labour.
We will pass from the easiest to the more diffi cult points, so we will start with the
instruments.
(1) Instruments
When we speak about instruments in book production, we mean computers for
authors, editors or designers, printing machines, means of transport and so on. Our
fi rst observation would be that less and less human labour is needed to produce a book
and the modes of its distribution are faster. Th e instruments are the materialization of
past labour which have been needed for its creation and manufacturing. At the same
time instruments are also the result of multiform innovative contributions from all
humankind, the fruits of general scientifi c development. Past labour is, for this reason,
also called “dead labour” or “general intellect” and, as such, a joint property of humankind,
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