Media and Cultural Industries
Week 2


Sample Quiz
1)Present one reason why the cultural industries matter?
2) The author uses the term “symbol creators” instead of “artists”; Why?
3) The author distinguishes between Core and Neighboring Cultural industries: What separates them
in their definition according to the author
4)Name two terms the author discusses as alternatives to Cultural Industries

Terms:
–Streaming Services
–Texts
–Mediated Communication
–Power
–Symbolic creativity/symbolic creators
–Circulation
–Legacy media
–Autonomy

Considerations:
–Why do definitions matter?
–Why do the cultural industries matter?
–Why does studying the cultural industries matter?
–What does utilizing a critical perspective mean?

Why do the Cultural Industries Matter?
–The Cultural Industries make and circulate products that shape knowledge and understanding
–Media influence
–Media power/interests
–Representing the world
–who we (think) we are
–how we know others
–Norms and Values (democracy, justice, human rights, etc.)
–Studying the Cultural Industries help us to understand how texts take the form they do and how
these texts have come to play such a central role in contemporary societies
–They are Complex, Ambivalent, and Contested

Why do the Cultural Industries Matter?
–The Cultural Industries manage cultural production and labour
-Creativity (Cultural Production is centered on symbol making)
-Symbolic creativity/symbol creators (incorporates the work of those involved in the production and
sharing of knowledge)(inclusive) vs. Genius/Artist
-Shape what texts communicate
-Ambivalent (inequalities)
-How does production relate to human experience of culture and knowledge

Why do the Cultural Industries Matter?
–The Cultural Industries have a key role in economic life
-Significant sources of wealth and employment in many economies
-How is the economy related to culture and society
-Brands
-Digitalization

Matters of Definition
–Cultural Industries: those institutions that are most directly involved in the production of
social meaning
–Text = a matter of degree between functional and communicative aspect of a  sign
–Cultural Industries = profit making (as well as state/non-profit)
–Cultural Industries: industries based on the industrial production and circulation of primarily or
highly informational and aesthetic-expressive products (texts) and that are centrally-reliant on
the work of symbols creators

Core Cultural Industries
–Deal Primarily with the industrial production and circulation of Texts
-Peripheral Cultural Industries are of lesser social and cultural influence/less involved in
reproduction of texts (e.g. theater)
–TV and Radio
–Film
–Music
–Print and Electronic publishing
–Video and Computer Games
–Advertising, Marketing, and Public Relations
–Web Design

Neighboring Cultural Industries
-Consumer electronics/cultural industry hardware (vehicles)
-Information technology (engineers)
-Telecommunications (infrastructure)
-Fashion (hybrid industry)
-Sport (competitive)
-Design (functional)
-Social Media (platforms; commodification of ordinary sociality and communication)

Alternative Terms
–Media Industries (what is media)
–Information Industries (too inclusive?)
–Entertainment Industries (too specific – legacy media)
–Creative Industries (policy orientations)
–
–Cultural Industries invokes a certain tradition of thinking about this term