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A Study on the Autonomy of the Art in the Social Function - Focusing on the Concept of the Public Sphere

Suck-Hwan Jun 1

1강원대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

It is a very important task to look at how independent the art can be from politics or economic power in the study of modern society. That is because the criteria of ‘yes or no’ that the art can move autonomously within the domain of social functioning can be an objective criterion on measuring the level of culture of one particular country. Therefore, it is a very convincing argument that ‘the art is a form of expression of human freedom’ and ‘autonomy of art’ reflects ‘the binding state of individuals in an unfree society’. Under this premise, art becomes the core of culture in a nation and a society, and at the same time it becomes a total measure of society. Accordingly economic wealth is a realistic indicator of the present state, but art reveals the future prospects of one particular society through the ‘utopian purpose setting’. But what is the social condition that art can have its own power, not just a maid of politics or economic power? In this study, we explore the conditions of the autonomy of the art through the explanation of the concept and its origin of the public sphere. The development of the concept of the public sphere is deeply related to the emergence and transformation of the western civil society. Social scientists have first formed a critical sphere from readers who periodically buy printed material, including newspapers, and the principle mediated there is called ‘publicity’. The basis of the formation process is the establishment of a ‘literary public sphere’ that can contain literary criticism. The task of measuring the activation of ‘the literary public sphere’, even in contemporary society, is very important in that it establishes criteria for measuring the degree of internal development of the social public sphere in terms of political and economical aspect. The need for this study begins with this premise.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.