The CP&C Research Group is concerned with the cultural economy of value. In the context of consumer economies increasingly driven by creative work, cultural goods and the immaterial, CP&C research examines how cultural values are accomplished through fields and practices of production and consumption—how they are produced and consumed, negotiated and contested, accomplished and promoted. CP&C is co-directed by Jennifer Smith Maguire and Julian Matthews. Check out our events.

CP&C research is multi-disciplinary and embraces a variety of methodologies. Its principal research streams examine:

• the cultural economy of value (e.g. authenticity, thrift, Britishness)
• studying production and consumption 'in the round'
• media and consumption spaces (e.g. lifestyle media; advertising; brands)
• cultural producers and cultural intermediaries
• consumers and consumer issues
• cultural policy and regulation.

Who We Are:

• Anna Claydon
• Roger Dickinson
• Barrie Gunter
• Peter Lunt
• Julian Matthews
• Jack Newsinger
• Jennifer Smith Maguire
• Elizabeth Van Couvering
• Farida Vis
• Natasha Whiteman
• Jennifer Cole (PhD Student; Graduate Research Assistant)
• Hyewon Choo (PhD Student)
• Ben Coles (Associate Member)
• Helen Goworek (Associate Member)

Current Projects:

Research projects currently running:

• packaging of landscapes in cultural artefacts (family photographs, tourism, television drama etc...) [Claydon]
• food and the media: production, representation, consumption [Dickinson]
• cultural policy and the creative industries [Newsinger]
• cultural subsidy and the cuts [Newsinger]
• wine cultural intermediaries and the construction of provenance [Smith Maguire]
• territorial brands: the case of champagne [Smith Maguire]
• consumer data and public understandings of flu pandemics [Vis]
• open allotment data, grow-your-own and social change [Vis]
• ethics of media consumption [Whiteman]
• lifestyle media and the production and consumption of the value of thrift: a case study of food magazines [Cole]
• the cultural production and consumption of the fit body in Korea [Choo]

Previous Projects:

Research projects recently completed:

• investigating infant formula advertising and retail presentation [Gunter, Dickinson & Matthews]
• research on infant formula advertising, contributing to a Food Standards Agency independent review of infant formula advertising regulations [Gunter, Dickinson & Matthews]
• the case of English film and the territorialization of cultural policy [Newsinger]
• examining the mismatch between the commercial fitness field and population health [Smith Maguire]
• conceptualizing cultural intermediaries [Smith Maguire and Matthews]

CP&C Events:

Find more research-related news and other items in News from the Department.

Cultural Production & Consumption Brown Bag Lunches

Next date: TBC

Location: Bankfield House (132 New Walk, Leicester, LE17JA), 3rd floor café area

Past talks:

• Jack Newsinger provided a critical primer on current debates around cultural policy, and cultural and creative industries, and introduced work he is doing with a local SME that works with disadvantaged or marginalized populations. (03.12)
• Natasha Whiteman reflected on her current research on disappearing sites of media consumption, audience (dis)connection and loss. (11.11)

Cultural Production & Consumption Annual Research Events

'Negotiating the Local at a Food Festival: A Collaborative Research Event' (Autumn 2012)

Building on the success of our 2011/12 'Thinking with Food' event, we're putting our ideas to work! The CP&C Research Event for  2012/13 will be a two-day hands-on project, using the collaborative approach of ‘swarm research’ to explore how notions of 'the local' are constructed and negotiated in the context of a local food festival. Event details and an invitation to participate will be available in summer, 2012. 

Past events:

'Thinking with Food: An Ideas Exchange' (28 September 2011) 

'Thinking with Food' was CP&C's first annual research event. Co-organized by Julian Matthews and Jennifer Smith Maguire, the event attracted participants from across the UK and EU, including academics, postgraduate students and practitioners involved with the study of food. Designed as an interactive event, the day included a mixture of sessions: formal research papers focused on food in the media and the mediation of food, and hands-on and reflective activities through which all participants had a chance to critically and creatively engage with, apply and develop the ideas and concepts related to the cultural production and consumption of food. In short: a busy and productive day! See the full write-up of the event, including programme and participant list.

Interested in Doing a PhD?

Members of the research group would be interested in supervising research that considers issues of cultural production and consumption. Please follow the links above to individual members' web pages for a list of potential topics.

Interested in getting involved as a member or associate member?
Please get in touch with Jennifer Smith Maguire (jbs7@le.ac.uk) or Julian Matthews (jpm29@le.ac.uk).