Arts and culture in regional development in Scotland

Since the days of Adam Smith, there has been a tradition in Scotland of analysing economic problems within a distinctive 'Scottish Political Economy' approach, taking a holistic view of the world. This suggests that we cannot consider policy issues facing an area in economic isolation, but must incorporate social, historical, political and environmental factors into any analysis. In recent times, the socio-cultural dimensions of community have often been stressed as being essential to successful economies: the invisible factors in economic development are to be found in the history, social norms and culture values of the community as much as in current indicators of economic performance. There is a need to discuss and interpret the impact of arts and culture on economic development in broad terms. Here, an economic perspective is taken of the importance of culture in regional development, followed by an assessment of the concepts of culture and community and their role in current regional development strategy with special reference to Scotland.Attention is drawn to two main issues. First, it is crucial to situate economic development within our socio-cultural histories and to assess inter-sectoral linkages in these terms. Secondly, community and culture must be viewed as social processes rather than as objectified resources to be delineated and accessed at will.