"Cultural intermediaries are the taste makers defining what counts as good taste and cool culture in today's marketplace. Working at the intersection of culture and economy, they perform critical operations in the production and promotion of consumption, constructing legitimacy and adding value through the qualification of goods. Too often, these are processes that remain invisible to the consumer's eye and in scholarly debates about creative industries. The Cultural Intermediaries Reader offers the first, comprehensive introduction to this exciting field of research, providing the conceptual and practical tools needed to analyse these market actors.

Introduction: Thinking with cultural intermediaries / Julian Matthews and Jennifer Smith Maguire -- Part 1. Conceptual and methodological foundations -- Bourdieu on cultural intermediaries / Jennifer Smith Maguire -- Cultural work and creative industries / Toby Miller -- Cultural intermediaries or market device? The case of advertising / Sean Nixon -- The problem of cultural intermediaries in the economy of qualities / Liz McFall -- Ethnographic research and cultural intermediaries / Giselinde Kuipers -- Part 2. Cultural intermediary case studies -- Advertising / Aidan Kelly -- Branding / Liz Moor -- Public relations practitioners / Caroline E.M. Hodges and Lee Edwards -- Arts promotion / Victoria Durrer and Dave O'Brien -- Fashion / Lise Skov -- Popular music / Charles Fairchild -- Lifestyle media / Tania Lewis -- Journalism / Julian Matthews -- Fitness / Jennifer Smith Maguire -- Clothing / Lynne Pettinger -- Book retail / David Wright -- Food and drink / Richard E. Ocejo.