Abstract
PurposeCultural intermediaries define the standards many consumers use when evaluating cultural products. Yet, little research has focused on whether cultural intermediaries may systematically differ from each other with regard to the standards they emphasize. The purpose of this paper is to build on Bourdieu’s theory of cultural production to examine how the type of subfield reviewed and/or the cultural intermediary’s expertise (or “field-specific cultural capital”) affect the standards an intermediary uses.Design/methodology/approachThis paper employed a computer-aided content analysis of the full corpus of “Rolling Stone” music album reviews (1967-2014).FindingsCritics with lower field-specific cultural capital reflect the same logic as the subfield they are critiquing. Critics with higher field-specific cultural capital reflect the opposite logic.Research limitations/implicationsBourdieu was ambivalent about whether cultural intermediaries will reflect the logic of a subfield. Results show that the answer depends on the intermediary’s field-specific cultural capital. The results also reinforce previous findings that individuals with high field-specific cultural capital are more likely to break with the logic of a field.Practical implicationsNot all intermediaries are created equal. Producers and consumers who rely on cultural intermediaries should understand the intermediary’s critical analysis within the context of his/her experience.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies to examine how a cultural intermediary’s field-specific cultural capital impacts his or her work. The findings are based on a large review sample and include reviewers’ analyses as they developed from having lower to higher field-specific cultural capital.
Highlights
When determining the value of a product or service, consumers do not rely only on their personal judgment or on information about the producer
Following similar analyses by Genevsky and Knutson (2015), as well as Ludwig et al (2013), we used ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to determine whether the interaction between field autonomy and reviewer’s field-specific cultural capital predicted the kind of authenticity discussed in the review
We counted the number of reviews published in Rolling Stone for a particular genre in a particular year
Summary
When determining the value of a product or service, consumers do not rely only on their personal judgment or on information about the producer. Consumers frequently consult information from people who are experts in the product or service category Scholars refer to these experts as “cultural intermediaries” – a term that includes theater critics (Shrum, 1991), advertising agencies (Gurrieri et al, 2016), bartenders (Ocejo, 2012), food marketers (Jamal, 2003), television programming buyers (Kuipers, 2012), fashion models (Lonergan et al, 2018), restaurant guides (Lane, 2019), personal trainers (Maguire, 2008), fundraisers (Banks, 2019), book publishers (Childress, 2012) and music critics (Glynn and Lounsbury, 2005). What drives a cultural intermediary’s appraisals? Do intermediaries tend to apply standards that are similar to the standards used in the domains they are critiquing or do they apply different standards? This is an important practical question for companies and producers that rely on the cultural intermediaries’ evaluations and an interesting theoretical question for those interested in theories of cultural production (Bourdieu,1971/1985, 1993)
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