The language of business and the business of language: Exploring hegemonic linguistic performativity in the UK museum sector

TY - JOUR

T1 - The language of business and the business of language

T2 - Exploring hegemonic linguistic performativity in the UK museum sector

AU - Aroles, Jeremy

AU - Hassard, John

AU - Hyde, Paula

N1 - Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This investigation was supported by two research awards from the Alliance Manchester Business School. © The Author(s) 2021.

PY - 2021/11/3

Y1 - 2021/11/3

N2 - Austerity measures and neoliberal policies have deeply affected the UK cultural sector. In particular they have been central to cementing the idea that contemporary cultural institutions should henceforth be regarded as commercial operations. As the language of business and management (B&M language) increasingly frames how organisations of the cultural sector are described, this paper defines the main discursive practices motivating this performative repositioning. Drawing theoretically from the concept of performativity, and building empirically on in-depth interviews with senior staff across the UK museum sector, we argue that the incursion of B&M language has reshaped the ‘reality’ of the sector by materialising new relations. Signally, we advance a concept of performative hegemonic language to describe a range of manifestations of linguistic re-labelling in the world of the museum. Our paper illustrates what happens when an organisation starts to classify activities through B&M language, considering the implications of framing this etymology as transcendent to its cultural counterpart. Relabelling, we contend, re-orients meaning, and this translates into the ascent of what we call the ‘neoliberal museum’. Overall, our paper unpacks the linguistic-material processes underpinning the ideological transformations affecting the cultural sector.

AB - Austerity measures and neoliberal policies have deeply affected the UK cultural sector. In particular they have been central to cementing the idea that contemporary cultural institutions should henceforth be regarded as commercial operations. As the language of business and management (B&M language) increasingly frames how organisations of the cultural sector are described, this paper defines the main discursive practices motivating this performative repositioning. Drawing theoretically from the concept of performativity, and building empirically on in-depth interviews with senior staff across the UK museum sector, we argue that the incursion of B&M language has reshaped the ‘reality’ of the sector by materialising new relations. Signally, we advance a concept of performative hegemonic language to describe a range of manifestations of linguistic re-labelling in the world of the museum. Our paper illustrates what happens when an organisation starts to classify activities through B&M language, considering the implications of framing this etymology as transcendent to its cultural counterpart. Relabelling, we contend, re-orients meaning, and this translates into the ascent of what we call the ‘neoliberal museum’. Overall, our paper unpacks the linguistic-material processes underpinning the ideological transformations affecting the cultural sector.

KW - Hegemony

KW - JL Austin

KW - museums

KW - neoliberalism

KW - organising

KW - performativity

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118512244&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/13505084211057258

DO - 10.1177/13505084211057258

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85118512244

SN - 1350-5084

JO - Organization

JF - Organization

ER -