The sociality of cultural industries: Hong Kong's cultural policy and film industry

• Main Author: KONG, Lily
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2006
• Subjects: film industry; risk; trust; social networks; cultural policy; Hong Kong; Asian Studies; Sociology of Culture
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2201; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/3458/viewcontent/The_sociality_of_cultural_industries.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

In this article, I explore the sociality of cultural industries by analyzing the film industry in Hong Kong. In particular, the social networks and relationships at multiple scales – across national boundaries, within local settings and on production sets – are examined, revealing their critical role in contributing to the health of the film industry. The risks faced at various steps of the production, marketing and distribution process are ameliorated by trust relations, built up through time between social actors in spontaneous ways. While Hong Kong cultural policy in part seeks to create the social and spatial contexts within which social networks may develop, most cultural workers are doubtful about the efficacy of policy in influencing often intangible, inchoate relationships.