Cultural Intermediaries and the Construction of Legitimacy in the Shanghai Wine Market

• In Event: 365 - Section on Sociology of Culture Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 05. Culture and Markets

Abstract

Bourdieu’s concept of ‘cultural intermediaries’ has been a productive lens for research, situating these market actors at the intersection of culture and economy and linking them to the work of legitimation (both for themselves and for particular objects, practices and tastes). However, the concept’s application has been almost entirely restricted to Western contexts. This paper uses the concept to examine the how various market actors are constructing cultural legitimacy for fine wine in an emerging market, in which legitimacy cannot be taken for granted. Specifically, the paper draws from an exploratory, qualitative study with a small sample of wine writers, educators, sommeliers, retailers, and wine brand representatives at work in the Shanghai fine wine market. A thematic analysis of interviews identified three fronts on which these intermediaries construct legitimacy: for themselves as experts, for their own style of wine consumption, and via the delegitimation of the ‘typical’ Chinese style of wine consumption. A preliminary comparison of the findings with related previous research on wine markets in Australia and France considers what cultural intermediaries might reveal about the game of social distinction, and its means and stakes, in contemporary urban China.

Author

• Jennifer Smith Maguire, University of Leicester