The concept of culture in policies and cultural management
Culture has developed a conception according to the time space that it has occupied, with its various nuances;However, it is one of the most complex terms of defining, since its meaning and extension foresees a variety of perspectives that allow through human behavior (being able to group customs, art, gastronomy, worldview, innovation, abstractions, etc.) Generate valid approaches.
It is common that in our environment the concept of culture to a whole is concerned, possibly as ethnological inheritance according to what was described by Edward Burnett Tylor in 1871, in his work Primitive Culture, ligating the concept to human nature itself, reaching inThe present an empty, simple and even unknown perception of its definition.
The difference described between cultures and culture is relevant. This is intended to establish efforts to forge a specific value of a certain culture that has its own identity and style, with great prevalence in its current state and thus avoid addressing “everything” defined as a culture (Coelho, 2019), whereloses the notion of the true objective of cultural policies and management.
The personal reference of culture and habitus is prevailing in our essay. For our case, culture is the set of characteristics and supremacy of the manifestations of the human being that have been formalized from their symbolic representations that determine ideal aspects of seeing and conceiving the world. On the other hand, habitus is referred to as the repetition of long -term provisions and actions and that can be transferred to a structure other than its generator, or generate a new dominant structure that represents a given manifestation.
The abuse of the word culture as a synonym for human expression, has caused the perception of this term, to be the equivalent for almost every individual as a "all". This produces a clear restriction in the operation of cultural policies (Coelho, 2019), added to incipient public efforts to forge efficient policies in the cultural field, with clear, realizable and above all objectives, which promote culture in their own senseand specific. This has unfortunately one of the main inadequate uses by political power and in many societies it has distorted its real meaning.
This pre -established power, whether by political structures as a political, ideological, economic or temporary regime, can configure conditions that expand the horizon and ratio of action of culture as a generator of symbolic production and manifestation, with actions and prevalence in structural maintenanceand renewal initiatives in cultural policy.
Therefore it is necessary for society to understand the true meaning of culture. Many attempts have been made in this regard, among which one of the greatest contribution to the proper understanding has been described as:
"Declaration of Mexico about cultural policies"
In its broader sense, culture can be considered as the set of distinctive, spiritual and material, intellectual and affective features that characterize a society or a social group. She encompasses, in addition to the arts and letters, the ways of life, the fundamental rights to the human being, the value systems, the traditions and the beliefs. (…) Culture gives man the ability to reflect on himself. It is she who makes us specifically human, rational, critical and ethically committed. Through it we discern the values and carry out options. Through it man expresses himself, becomes aware of himself, recognizes himself as an unfinished project, calls into question his own realizations, tirelessly seeks new meanings, and creates works that transcend him. (UNESCO, 1982)
Culture as an approach to the construction of policies and configuration of cultural management can mark various meanings, therefore, its conception will mark the degree of success in decision -making at the organizational level, whether government or private, with an implementationadequate and ideal to the context in which they are carried out.
It is important to note that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights expresses in its article 27 that ‘every person has the right to take part freely in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and participate in the scientific progress and in the benefits that ofHe is. Therefore, all forms of political organization or similar regime must guarantee the necessary mechanisms to achieve this objective, undeniable and inalienable precept of democracy in current times.
Cultural diversity cannot be isolated from its genesis as an essential characteristic of humanity, as common heritage for the benefit and enjoyment of all, to nurture the bases and be the engine of sustainable development of communities, to be the central axis of strengtheningHuman and fundamental rights, even being able to mark guidelines and guidelines for promotion international cooperation where unity in diversity is possible, in a globalized context.
The correct cultural policies are those where the element generating conditions for an optimal development of symbolic representations and manifestations (be it the government or a private entity), recognizes culture as a strategic factor of national and international development policies, forstrengthen cultural identities and cultural communities can maintain their essence.
In the general sense of the abstraction of certain cultural cultures or traits, the education and training of each individual is fundamental to the extent that it contributes to the free and full development of each cultural identity, so that with the guaranteed fundamental freedoms some cultures can be relatedwith others and the relationship cost is lower or almost non -existent in relation to benefit.
Cultural policies and their management models have not evolved according to the rhythm of current demands, where risks and challenges are not considered or perceived to protect cultural manifestations and productions as sustainable development policies and the creation of clear and efficient rules ofThe cultural industry.
It is evident that normative instruments in many cases are still obsolete, so they lack coherence to current needs. The creation or proposal of new normative elements in some contexts and realities escape to the true end of culture and are considered inopportune.
A clear example is Ecuador (as in most Latin American countries) where culture and their generation, promotion and preservation are residual in relation to other social sectors and the main promoter is the public sector because the private sector is still very weak andsensitive to current socio -economic factors, despite having great cultural wealth.
Sample of this unfortunate scenario in 2018 only allocated 0.11% of the General State Budget (Ministry of Culture and Heritage, 2019), being even less than the contribution of culture in correspondence to the contribution to GDP thatreached 1.93% in the same year (Ministry of Culture and Heritage, 2019).
An adequate understanding of culture for the promotion of policies that translate into effective management models that truly produce formal and informal institutions that promote the cultural spectrum of cultures and their diversity, which intend to influence everyday life and solve the isolation ofCulture production is what is needed to give the importance and respect that culture and cultures deserve in its real sense.
Therefore, the approach to cultural policies and cultural management must be carried out as a motivation that generates a true impact on receptivity in its different dimensions, whether these policies, social, communicative, economic and even technological, in order tomeet cultural offers and demands to guarantee the range of diversity, which strengthens and enhancing the existing heritage in the sake of maintenance and development of symbolic representations, with propitious initiatives that forge plausible results.
Bibliography
- Coelho, t. (2019). The concept of culture in cultural policy. Barcelona: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.
- Ministry of Culture and Heritage. (2019). Accountability Report of the year 2018. Quito: Planning and Monitoring Directorate.
- Ministry of Culture and Heritage. (October 2019). Ministry of Culture and Heritage. Obtained from https: // www.Culture and heritage.Gob.EC/Ecuador-Creativo-Planca-Alcanzar-El-3-Del-Pib-De-La-Economia-Nacional-Para-2021/
- UNESCO. (1982). Declaration of Mexico about cultural policies. World Cultural Policies Conference. Mexico.
- Bustos Peñarreta Tulio Camilo
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