The Role of Today's Museum

The Role of Today?s Museum provides a thorough investigation of what museums do and why. Arguing that museums are multifunctional institutions, the book examines the consequences of this for the services that museums provide, the publics to whom they are provided and the providers themselves.

Adopting a wide perspective on understandings of the roles of museums and considering the different environments within which museums operate, Gray and McCall provide a new perspective on how transformations, as well as the gaps between intended policies and the actual work that is undertaken within museums, can be both identified and understood. By differentiating between social, economic and political visions and expectations of museums, the analysis in this book allows for a fuller understanding of what these organisations do and provide for their societies and the struggles and negotiations that surround their existence.

The Role of Today?s Museum takes a critical, interdisciplinary approach to studying museums and museum policy. As a result, the book will be of interest to academics and students engaged in the study of museums, cultural policy, social policy, cultural sociology, public policy and cultural and political economy. Highlighting the gaps that exist between policy ideals and museum practices, the book also provides valuable insights to policy-makers and practitioners.

Chapter 1: Introduction; Chapter 2: What do Museums do? What are Museums for?; Chapter 3: The Multifunctional Museum; Chapter 4: Museums, Policy, Practice and the ‘Struggle over Space’; Chapter 5: Museums and Societies; Chapter 6: Museums and Economies; Chapter 7: Museums and Politics; Chapter 8: Conclusion

Clive Gray is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies at the University of Warwick. He has previously published three books. He has published widely in public policy and administration, the politics of the arts and cultural policy, and on politics, management and policy-making in museums.

Vikki McCall is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Stirling with work focusing on bridging the gap between policy and practice. Dr McCall is Board Director for the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and Parkhead Housing Association, alongside being a member of the Social Policy Association Executive Committee and Editorial Board member of Social Policy & Society.