The Arts, Culture and Exclusion: a Critical Examination of the Arts and Extent to Which They Legitimate Social Difference or Socially Integrate the Excluded

With specific reference to the cultural policy set out by New Labour in the UK, this research explores the individual and social function of the arts and the extent to which they are agents of inclusion. The arts, an important aspect even driver of culture can be perceived as exclusive with taste reflecting socio-economic concerns which contradicts this function. Such a paradox requires an investigation into the complex and sometimes contradictory relationship between cultural and social inclusion and exclusion, as well as the methods used of evaluating impact