European inventory of
societal values of culture

Mato - All Industries are cultural

Mato, D. (2009). All Industries are cultural - A critique of the idea of ‘cultural industries’ and new possibilities for research. Cultural Studies, 23(1): 70-87.

While the conceptual categories of cultural industries and cultural consumption have been useful tools that have yielded valuable insights in a number of studies, they, nevertheless, pose certain problems. This text argues how their usage, in fact, obstructs certain research possibilities. Highlighting the ‘cultural’ character of certain specific industries and forms of consumption can also limit, if not impede altogether, the possibilities of analyzing other industries and forms of consumption from a cultural perspective. Doing away with such categories may open new possibilities for analysis and research. The main focus of this text is the category of ‘cultural industries’ though it also refers in passing to the complementary category of ‘cultural consumption.’