The Demand for Disinterestedness: Disciplining Audiences in the Market for Contemporary Art

James Whitcomb Riley, PhD Candidate, MIT Sloan School of Management

Art worlds have strong norms that enjoin artists to avoid the naked pursuit of profit and instead affect an air of “disinterestedness” (Bourdieu 1993). But why might art dealers and collectors also face such norms? This paper draws on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork to answer why, and how, galleries enforce conformity to the art-world norm of disinterestedness among collectors. A key implication of this study is that although galleries frame norm enforcement as a moral imperative, disinterestedness ultimately supports a profitable business strategy.