Analysing cultural policy: incorrigbly plural or ontologically incompatible?

Approaches to the study of cultural policy are currently tied to particular disciplines. This can lead to a failure to appreciate the real differences between these disciplines in terms of what they are investigating, and how they go about these investigations. The differences that exist at ontological, epistemological and methodological levels between differing disciplines mean that it is not possible to simply adopt what each discipline is saying about cultural policy at face value. Without greater theoretical and methodological understanding of the tools that are available for the analysis of cultural policy it is unlikely that a more sophisticated approach to analysis will be generated. The consequences of this for both the analysis of cultural policy and future directions of analysis in the field are discussed.