Studying museum policy: the evolution of conceptual approaches

The study is intended to outline the line of evolution of scientific views on the essence of museum policy in the system of relations between the state, museum and society, as well as to identify the grounds that determine the significance of the problem of these relations for modern science about museums. The material for scientific research was works in the field of theory and methodology of museological research, characterizing various aspects of the interaction between government, museum and society, as well as the history of the relationship between the elements of this triad. The main methodological tools were hermeneutic and historical-philosophical approaches. The elitist and societal models of museum policy are considered, and the importance of developing an integrated approach to its study is emphasized. The concept of the “disciplining museum” (Tony Bennett) is analyzed and its connection with Foucaultian ideas is traced. Concepts related to museum representations of other (e.g., non-European) societies and cultures are explored. The successive approaches to understanding the main social role of the museum are characterized (museum as a center of representation, “museum-archive”, “museum-statement”). A gradual decrease in government pressure on the museum is noted, and other current trends characteristic of the ideas of the “new museology” are traced. Attention is paid to the concepts of post-critical museology, which involve a spatial expansion of the scope of the museum’s activities. The concepts of rhythm analysis by Henri Lefebvre and the actor-network theory of Bruno Latour are considered in relation to the system of relations between the museum and the state and society, while subjectivity and actorhood are understood as the main conditions for the implementation of museum policy in modern conditions. The foundations have been identified that determine the significance of the problem of the relationship between the state, museum and society in the discourse of modern museological research. It has been determined that scientific views on museum policy have evolved from rigid concepts of leadership and subordination (“civilizing” Victorian museum, ideas about the museum as an institution disseminating the values of power elites, Bennett’s “disciplining” museum) through an understanding of the museum as an institution in which the relations between power and the museum are mediated by the cultures represented in it - towards understanding the space of museum policy as a field for the activities of many actors (visitors, museum community, patrons, etc.) with limited subjectivity.