Richard Perry, I think you have an attitude problem. Museums can ALSO
be agents of social mobility and change, not just "reproduction." One's
response depends on many factors. I personally came from a working class
family that had no particular interest in museums--certainly not art
museums--but here I am working in a history museum and moonlighting as
an art historian. At least my parents had no prejudice or hostility
toward museums. I see museums as gateways to knowledge and feel that
they serve a democratizing function (if people approach them openly,
free of the mind-numbing prejudices which consider them "bastions" of
some alien culture). I'm curious--why would someone with a pessimistic,
deterministic, bigoted attitude about museums WANT to be on a museum
listserv?  --David Haberstich