Sociopolitical sources of creative cultural capital in U.S. counties

ABSTRACT

This article examines the social, political, and demographic sources of variation in creative cultural capital in over 3,100 U.S. counties. The analysis presented here focuses on institutionalized forms of creative activity, as reflected by employment in museums, libraries, and the visual and performing arts sectors. Study results indicate that community-level variables account for a statistically significant portion of variation in creative cultural capital. Cultural industries are likely to thrive in communities that rely on different forms of social and religious capital and the presence of certain types of political culture legacy. Mean education level tends to increase creative cultural capital, whereas income inequality and Internet connectivity tend to depress it. These effects, however, vary by metropolitan, micropolitan, and rural geographical settings. Clearly, there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to the goal of enhancing creative cultural capital at the local community level.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the three anonymous reviewers and journal editors for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article. We also thank the Western States Arts Federation for providing access to the Creative Vitality Data.

Notes

1. In fact, private libraries that charge admission fees are almost nonexistent today, and commercial museums constitute a very small proportion of the museum population.

2. Metropolitan, micropolitan, and rural categories are based on statistical areas established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. A metro area contains a core urban area of 50,000 or more population, and a micro area contains an urban core of at least 10,000 (but less than 50,000) population. All U.S. counties that are not part of a Metropolitan Statistical Area are considered rural. Micropolitan counties are considered nonnetropolitan or rural along with all counties that are not classified as either metro or micro. Each metropolitan and micropolitan area consists of one or more counties and includes the counties containing the core area as well as any adjacent counties that have a high degree of social and economic integration with the core county. For more details, see Brown et al. (2004).

3. The composite CVI is a continuous variable constructed so that the national average score is 1.0; therefore, all U.S. counties and states can be compared to each other and the national average by the amount they are different from that average.

4. Although the social capital data used in this study precede the 2010 CVI data, this does not limit our ability to combine these data because social capital theories stipulate that social networks are a product of the cumulative effects of social capital levels present across significant periods of time (Bourdieu, 1986; Ostrom, 2000). Thus, the social capital measures derived from the work of Rupasingha et al. (2006) are a reflection of durable and relatively stable social capital levels present in U.S. counties.

5. The racial and ethnic diversity index was calculated by using the following formula: Diversity = 1 − (Latino population)² − (Black population)² − (White population)² − (Asian population)² − (Native American population)² − (Other population)². The proportions of ethnic groups in a given county were used to calculate the index (Hero, 1998); in addition to the ethnic populations included in Hero’s original formula, we added Native American and other. See also Rushton (2008) and Blau (1977) regarding the calculation and use of the diversity index.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alisa V. Moldavanova

Alisa V. Moldavanova is an Assistant Professor of Public Administration in the Political Science Department at Wayne State University. Her research areas include public and nonprofit management, organization theory, collaboration and interorganizational relationships, and ethics and sustainability studies. Her previous publications investigate sustainability in the context of arts and culture organizations, as well as the theoretical foundations of sustainable public administration.

John C. Pierce

John C. Pierce is Faculty Research Associate and Lecturer in the School of Public Affairs and Administration at the University of Kansas. Pierce has authored, co-authored, or co-edited nearly 20 books and monographs, including studies of cultural forces in environmental policy: Prospects for Alternative Energy Development in the U.S. West (Springer, 2017); Critical Masses: Citizen Responses to the Environmental Consequences of Nuclear Weapons Production in the United States and Russia (MIT Press: 1999); Political Communication and Environmental Interest Groups: The United States and Canada (Praeger: 1992); Public Knowledge and Environmental Politics in Japan and the United States (with others, Westview: 1989); Water Politics, Democracy and the Technical Information Quandary (Associated Faculty Press: 1986); and Water Politics and Public Involvement (Ann Arbor Science: 1976). Pierce also has authored or co-authored more than 150 articles, edited book chapters, and personal essays, including numerous research pieces in leading scholarly journals.

Nicholas P. Lovrich

Nicholas P. Lovrich holds the rank of Regents Professor Emeritus in the School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs and the honor of being a Claudius O. and Mary W. Johnson Distinguished Professorship in Political Science at Washington State University. He is an affiliate faculty member of the School of Public Policy at Oregon State University and is a Visiting Researcher at the University of Utah. He taught Political Science (Public Administration & Public Policy) at DePauw University (Greencastle, Indiana), in the School Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver, and at Metropolitan State College of Denver prior to joining the faculty at Washington State University. He holds a BA from Stanford University (1966) and PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles (1971). Lovrich is the author or co-author/co-editor of 13 books and more than 175 peer-reviewed articles and edited book chapters.