Low-End Markets for Art and Cultural Goods: Understanding the Economic, Cultural and Social Dynamics of Low-Value Goods

This open access book offers the first comprehensive, interdisciplinary examination of the art market’s entry segment – where objects of modest monetary value circulate yet hold significant cultural, social, and economic meaning. The volume reframes the “low-end” market as a dynamic ecosystem shaped by heterogeneity, shifting categories, and alternative logics of value creation. Contributors explore how everyday cultural goods, from antiques and decorative arts to prints, collectibles, and vernacular objects, challenge conventional hierarchies of taste and prestige. Through case studies spanning flea markets, auction platforms, galleries, and digital marketplaces, the book interrogates mechanisms of trust, scarcity, branding, and symbolic capital in contexts where traditional markers of authenticity and consecration are absent or contested. Drawing on cultural economics, art history, sociology, anthropology, and heritage studies, among others, the chapters discuss the impact of informal economies, digitization, and sustainability imperatives on art markets and consumer behavior. By documenting these overlooked segments, the volume addresses survival bias in art market research and opens new pathways for understanding cultural value beyond elite consumption. This book will be an essential volume for scholars working in cultural economics, art market studies, economic sociology, and creative industries more broadly.