Contestation in aesthetic fields: Legitimation and legitimacy struggles in outsider art

Legitimation is often theorized as a form of consensus and implicitly treated an end-state that obtains after the unfolding process. Conflict disagreement are recognized part legitimation processes; however, scholarship emphasizes consensus-building over contestation. Moreover, legitimacy processes always ongoing never final, such contestation can persist even in legitimated fields. We bring together Baumann's (2007) general theory artistic field theories (Bourdieu, 1993; Fligstein & McAdam, 2012) order to develop approach accounts for conflict much processes. use historical case study build on struggles aesthetic Specifically, we examine Outsider art, defined work by artists who produce outside established art worlds come from disadvantaged social worlds. Artist William Edmondson serves exemplar ground our discussion focus resources, opportunity spaces, legitimating discourses (Baumann, 2007) time, multilevel multifaceted In this way, calls attention hypothesize more common fields where judgement criteria ambiguous, multiple players have stake, and/or resources changing.