Social innovations in the cultural field: an essay

Purpose: This study seeks to shed light on how social innovations are constructed in the cultural field by probing the phenomenon in relation to the enactment of an opera company in the Småland region in southern Sweden. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on an ethnographically inspired study, and is written in the form of an essay to capitalize on the genre’s tentative and reflective epistemology. Findings: The study illustrates how a specific social innovation in the cultural field is both a product and producer of social innovations, and how social innovation processes could be understood as assemblages of social innovations enacted using organizing contexts and idealistic infrastructures. In opposition to the idea that social innovations are solutions to social problems, it is proposed that solutions to social problems might represent the unintended consequence of deploying various social innovations. It is also suggested that social innovation processes in the cultural field is non-linear and irrational in character. Research/practical implications: The discourse on social innovation is largely based on a calculative engineering logic. This logic stands in sharp contrast to creative and artistic logics, and could hamper social innovation initiatives in the cultural sector. There is therefore a need for a differentiated understanding of social innovation in both theory and practice – an understanding that acknowledges social innovation as a construction dependent on specific contexts, processes, and people. Originality/value: The essay allows the reader to reflect on how social innovations are constructed in different contexts.