Cultural institutions studies (a translation of the German term Kulturbetriebslehre) is an academic approach "which investigates activities in the cultural sector, conceived as historically evolved societal forms of organising the conception, production, distribution, propagation, interpretation, reception, conservation and maintenance of specific cultural goods". Research programme The cultural sector constitutes an interface between differing social spheres: social structures (classes, genders, ethnic groupings, etc.) interact with cultural formations (forms of expression, styles, values, habits of reception, etc.) and simultaneously overlap with economic interests and political aspects. Cultural Institutions Studies adopted the aim of overcoming mono disciplinary approaches and has therefore been conceived as amalgamation of cultural studies, social science, economics and political science. Consequently, this new approach investigates cultural goods, processes of meaning and value creation through cultural practices, financing structures, value added formation structures, processes of (de-)institutionalisation, organisational changes in the cultural sector, legal frameworks, cultural policy conceptions and instruments, etc. – each of those topics resulting from a synergetic confluence of forces, conditions, concrete intentions and local constellations. Research levels The German word "Kulturbetrieb" has two major shades of meaning: From a macro-sociological perspective, "Kulturbetrieb" is an abstract social science term denoting a sector (or "system", or "field", or "segment", etc.) of society, which, from the 18th century onwards, gradually developed together with modern bourgeois society, forming internally differentiated institutions. (The term "cultural industry" is deliberately not used in this context because this term is mainly embedded in an economic view of the field.) Secondly, "Kulturbetrieb" also denotes an enterprise or cultural organisation (e.g. an association, foundation, commercial company, limited company, etc.) which combines and uses human and financial resources to achieve certain aims in the most efficient way possible. At this micro-level, both organisations and individual actors are relevant. This implies that, to deal with and appreciate adequately both collective and individual action, the discipline Cultural Institutions Studies must not only be concerned with aspects of organisational theory but also with questions of social practices, social psychology, occupational sociology, theories of socialisation, gender as well as epistemology. Of central importance is the fact that the macro and the micro levels refer to and mutually influence each other. Research objects Cultural Institutions Studies investigate the formation of cultural goods and services as well as their transformation into commodities for trade or into cultural industry products. In the pursuit of cultural activities, besides actual production and distribution of cultural goods and