European cultural tradition and the new forms of production and circulation of knowledge

Abstract(s)

Not, perhaps, since the printing press's invention has European culture experienced so much upheaval. The very underpinnings of the notion of culture and of its modes of production, socialisation and appropriation are under attack. I am speaking, of course, of culture's integration in the creation of economic value. This integration process has accelerated since the beginning of the 1980s through, on one hand, the globalisation and increasing pervasion of finance in the economy, and on the other, the onslaught of so-called "new technologies". Many have raised their voices in defence of culture, intellectuals and artists. The strongest and most organised oppositon to culture's subordination to economics came together when commercial relations regarding audiovisual production were being renegotiated, and around the issue of "authors' rights" -- the very definition of which is open to discussion once new media are in the picture. Translated by Bram Dov.