[ExI] Art might upset power structures in society/was Re: Music fails to chime with Islamic values

[Dan]

Further in this vein of the relationship of art to ideology and power, one might 
consider a recent double review by Jeff Riggenbach:
 
http://mises.org/daily/4236
 
While both books should be of interest to people here, but, for this discussion, 
skim down to his review of Lynn Hunt's _Inventing Human Rights_. She locates the 
rise of the concept of human rights as helped along by the rise of the modern 
novel. What's the pay off here? Again, it seems, an art form might have upset 
the balance of power in society. (And I don't know if Hunt mentions it in her 
book, which I've yet to read, but novels were looked down upon and even 
suppressed by elites. I doubt this was because they understood that novels might 
help to usher in a new age in thinking about human freedom and dignity, but it's 
likely some understood that novels and other forms of mass literacy were 
upsetting the balance of power in society.)
 
Regards,
 
Dan