RT Article
T1 Artistic freedom or the hamper of equality?: exploring ethical dilemmas in the use of artistic freedom in a cultural organization in Sweden
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 181
IS 4
SP 811
OP 825
A1 Johansson, Janet Zhangyan
A1 Sol, Sofia Lindström
LA English
PB Springer Science + Business Media B. V
YR 2022
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1826775854
AB With this paper, from the perspective of ethics at the workplace, we problematize the taken-for-granted assumptions embedded in the use of artistic freedom in creative processes. Drawing on the notion of inequality regimes (e.g. Acker, 2006) and using empirical material from a performing arts organization in Sweden, we explore how the assumptions of artistic freedom facilitate and legitimize the emergence of inequality regimes in invisible and subtle manners. Our findings indicate that non-reflexive interpretations of the concept of artistic freedom result in ethical dilemmas that impact the organization's pursuits of equality work. The aesthetic ethics oriented around the notion of ‘art for the sake of art’ tends to camouflage the centralization of aesthetic authority in processes where formal hierarchical structures are missing. Consequently, asymmetrical power relations between the Directors, actors, and producers are legitimized. Ethics of quality of art and that of the social ideal of equality have been constructed as dichotomic notions indicating that aesthetic ethics of art can only be preserved at the expense of social objectives of equality. We argue that the current interpretative practices of ‘artistic freedom’ in some cultural organizations add little value of ethics to the freedom of expressing artistic opinions and in achieving the social ideal of equality but lead to the emergence of inequality regimes in the artistic work processes.
K1 Aesthetic authority
K1 Artistic freedom
K1 Diversity and inclusion
K1 Equality
K1 Inequality regime
K1 Aufsatz in Zeitschrift
DO 10.1007/s10551-021-04811-6