The argument of this paper is that, in the age of globalization, culture, in the generic/anthropological sense, is produced, and varies by group, subject, and time. In the United States today the leaders of the state produce a specific kind of culture, here called regime culture, which reinforces the power of the existing regime. It features patriotism, values financial success, espouses a narrow definition of family values, promotes a culture of fear limiting civil liberties, reinterprets the past, legitimates the status quo, and tolerates racism. The handling of the International Freedom Center at the World Trade Center site is a striking example. Culture, in the humanist/arts sense, has been increasingly used to press culture in a specific direction, here called instrumentalized culture. It is promoted as a contributor to economic development, as fostering the growth of an economically productive creative class. In the process, its critical and transcendent potential has been eviscerated. While such instrumentalization may help artists in the short run, it also poses a danger to the ultimate social role of the arts. The policies generated around the concept of a Creative Class, and the use of the arts as a tool of economic development, are striking examples. Globalization accentuates each of these tendencies.