Capitalization of Culture, Value of Culture, and the Development of Cultural Industries

The rise of creative industries in this century has aroused strong interest in the concept “cultural capital” in academia. Cultural capital can be understood as various forms of cultural resources that achieve significant appreciation in existing economic, political, and cultural structures through active and rapid reproduction, thereby influencing changes in existing economic, political, and cultural structures, including production relations with capitalist characteristics. The capitalization of culture negates the original ecological value of culture, denies human needs for culture, undermines the true value of cultural exchange and creation, and can easily lead to the formation of cultural hegemony. However, the process of cultural capitalization and the changes in cultural values within it indicate that the capitalization of culture is to some extent an inevitable historical development. The new cultural capital has demonstrated tremendous power in promoting the development of contemporary creative industries and producing cultural masterpieces. Of course, this first requires it to refuse to become a tool for economic capital and digital technology.