All Industries Are Cultural

Abstract 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.' Keywords: cultural industriescultural consumptioncritiquetheorymethod Acknowledgements This article is based on a draft that I originally wrote in English in 2004 when I was the Andrés Bello Visiting Professor at New York University. During that time, I was able to count on the valuable research assistance of Patricia Oscategui and Andrew Whitworth-Smith. My thoughts on the subject of this article were enriched by them as well as by discussions with my colleagues Toby Miller and George Yúdice. I am thankful to all of them. I am, however, solely responsible for the ideas expressed in this text.