Theories about the construction of cultural value:
Veblen effect: “consumers attain their utility not only from the quality and
composition of a good, but also the price paid for it.”
Gatekeepers
Cultural commodification: over the last two decades artists have become more commercial
Place in product: it matters where a product/art comes from – i.e. Hollywood films.

“Social contexts are also where trends emerge and subcultures are translated into commodified goods. Street level and underground subcultures establish social contexts where their communities meet, and it only takes the bridge of one gatekeeper or entrepreneur into the mainstream cultural market to transform these symbolic communities into consumer products. Mainstream art/culture producers often view these subcultures as pioneers and tastemakers for a larger public and thus seek out the places where they emerge (nightclubs, music venues, bars, gallery openings and so forth) for inspiration for consumer goods.”

“Cultural goods are consumed and evaluated simultaneously in social realms.”

“The social [is] the most efficient mode of exchange and valorization of art/culture. Cultural producers and evaluators are aware of this effectiveness and thus actively cultivate the milieu. As such, the social is not the accidental byproduct (a “spillover”) of art/culture agglomeration but the raison d’etre of its existence.”

“Place matters to the value of culture because of the social production system so entrenched in the economic worth of art/culture. They cannot be separated.”

“If a good transforms from niche to mainstream, this often results in it trading its “symbolic” production for “large-scale” or economic production. This transformation in turn may allow it to gain economic legitimacy but at the expense of its symbolic value with original, niche consumers. The decrease of production, communication and distribution costs that may act as catalysts for greater (and more democratic) distribution of art/culture (Cowen, 1998) also, for better or worse, result in a more efficient transformation from symbolic to economic capital, or “subculture” to “sellout”.”

“Such constantly evolving social dynamics mean that art/culture’s value and the ways its value is measured is constantly in flux, as are the gatekeepers and consumers of its goods.”