Beyond Aesthetics: religio-political frames and the legitimation of art amid ideological contestation

Despite growing recognition that cultural legitimation is shaped by non-aesthetic values, we know little about how political and religious concerns enter cultural evaluation during periods of ideological conflict. This article examines critics’ efforts to legitimise art for conservative audiences in contemporary Turkey, where political Islam has sought to reshape cultural hierarchies. Drawing on a content analysis of cultural journalism between 2017 and 2020, marked by intensified efforts under President Erdoğan to promote a “homegrown and national” culture, we identify four religio-political frames through which critics assign cultural value: anti-establishment critique, religious morality, external/internal antagonism, and the politics of the artist. These frames show that the “cultural” in cultural legitimation is never purely aesthetic. The findings also challenge cultural sociology’s assumption that legitimating new cultural actors is inherently progressive, demonstrating instead how legitimation becomes “ideologized”, conferring worth on forms aligned with projects of political and cultural hegemony.