Welcome to Cultural Economy in the Kitchen, the podcast from the Journal of Cultural Economy (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/rjce20?creative=&keyword=&matchtype=&network=x&device=c&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=&cid=23338384924&agid=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23329276539&gbraid=0AAAAADAVp8ELGLhVQf6KZtN8boX5KILWS&gclid=CjwKCAiA95fLBhBPEiwATXUsxIABGR_UDtdHk0jP4AZUO_WbjnCqva9W16Q-DhvFkvh_uxjbf25x-RoC098QAvD_BwE) editorial collective, hosted by Professor Philip Roscoe (The University of St Andrews Business School) and Dr Addie McGowan (The University of Salford Business School). Addie and Philip are joined by a galaxy of (academic) stars, members of the editorial collective, authors, reviewers and comment writers, all stirring the pot of cultural economy. We serve up fresh insights into the culturalization of the economic, the economisation of culture, and everything deliciously in-between. Expect cutting-edge scholarship with flair, sparkle, and the occasional culinary metaphor — as we discover what’s cooking in their kitchens, both metaphorically and literally.
What do marketers actually do? In the final episode of Season 1 of Cultural Economy in the Kitchen, Addie McGowan and Philip Roscoe journey into the strange world of marketing, a place of persuasion, data, and corporate storytelling. Accompanied by Kevin Mellet and Robert Cluley, they explore marketing as a sprawling social practice built from signs, statistics, management tools, ethnographic hunches, PowerPoint decks, and carefully managed uncertainty. Kevin maps the sociology of marketing as a field shaped by knowledge production, moralisation, and the organisation of markets themselves. Robert takes listeners inside the day-to-day labour of marketing professionals, revealing how data becomes drama and numbers become narrative. Together, they unpack marketing not as a glossy surface but as one of capitalism’s great backstage operations: part science, part art, part speculative fiction. From Cultural Economy in the Kitchen, the academic journal podcast from the Journal of Cultural Economy editorial collective.
26 Jun 2026
Climate crisis, market opportunity?
In this episode of Cultural Economy in the Kitchen, Philip Roscoe and Addie McGowan explore the climate driven convergence of crisis, finance, and technological optimism. They are joined by Dr Robert Dorschel, Professor Daniel Beunza, and Dr Matthias Taeger, to examine how climate change has been transformed into a market opportunity and a new financial logic. Robert unpacks the rise of green tech firms and the discursive work through which private companies position themselves as the natural saviours of the planet. These firms promise techno-fixes while reproducing the assumptions that created ecological crisis in the first place. Matthias and Daniel trace the emergence of “climate risk” as a powerful market device, from stranded assets to disclosure frameworks and financial scenario modelling. We find out how markets are being reorganized around climate futures, and wonder if this means a new kind of politics or simply business as usual. The academic journal podcast from the Journal of Cultural Economy editorial collective.
12 Jun 2026
Cruel optimism and the elusive academic good life
Addie McGowan and Philip Roscoe shine the Cultural Economy in the Kitchen lamp on the university itself, exploring the changing cultures of academic work in an age of metrics, precarity, and exhaustion. Joined by Dr Thais Franca and Dr Ming-Te Peng, the conversation traces how neoliberal reforms have reshaped academic life across different national contexts. In the post-COVID pessimism in Portuguese universities Thais unpacks the “cruel optimism” of contemporary academia, where aspirations for meaningful intellectual life collide with insecurity, overwork, and shrinking futures. Ming-Te examines the relentless performance assessment regimes of Taiwanese higher education. We hear how rankings, evaluations, and bibliometric systems cultivate the entrepreneurial academic self, transforming scholars self-disciplined, metricized producers. The conversation wonders whether universities can still remain spaces for critical thought, collegiality, and resistance amid the grinding machinery of marketisation. From Cultural Economy in the Kitchen, the academic journal podcast from the Journal of Cultural Economy editorial collective.
29 May 2026
Artisan ambiguities and the price of ethical production
Craft promises authenticity, care, and resistance to the anonymous churn of mass production. But what happens when ethical making becomes a luxury few can afford? Or when it's not possible to disentangle craft from commerce, if indeed it ever was? In this episode of Cultural Economy in the Kitchen, Philip Roscoe and Addie McGowan explore the ambiguities of craft with Dr Steve Marotta and Dr Ola Berta. From Portland maker workshops to the woven mats, and necklaces of the Marshall Islands, the conversation traces how handmade goods carry histories of colonialism, migration, nostalgia, and survival. Ola Berta reveals how weaving practices move between culture and commerce across rural atolls and diaspora communities, while Steve Marotta examines the moral economies of ethical production in post-industrial America. Together, the guests show craft not as an escape from capitalism, but as a fragile and inventive way of living within it. From Cultural Economy in the Kitchen, the academic journal podcast from the Journal of Cultural Economy editorial collective.
15 May 2026
Platinum tickets and secret concerts: how platforms rewired live music
What does it mean to buy a concert ticket in an age of algorithms and platforms? In this episode of Cultural Economy in the Kitchen Philip Roscoe and Addie McGowan explore the hidden architectures of the concert economy with Dr Victor Pires and Dr Loïc Riom. Victor unpacks Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing as a powerful market device, where algorithms shape demand, organise time, and offer a platinum take on the age-old ploy of scalping. Loïc turns to Sofar Sounds, showing how secret concerts and the promise of “exposure” try to remake what it means to perform and be paid. Together, they reveal how platforms do far more than sell tickets or organise gigs. They actively compose the economic reality of live music, redistributing risk, value, and possibility across artists, audiences, and intermediaries. Yet their real play may not be the business of music at all. Cultural Economy in the Kitchen, the academic journal podcast from the Journal of Cultural Economy editorial collective.
1 May 2026
In mistrust we trust
What happens to trust when it goes digital? Could mistrust be more important? In this episode of Cultural Economy in the Kitchen, Philip Roscoe and Addie McGowan are joined by Kristoffer Albris, James Maguire, and Matt Spencer to explore the strange, shifting world of digital (mis)trust. From platforms and crypto to cyber security certification, mistrust emerges not as a failure but as a force that shapes systems, infrastructures, and decisions. Along the way: stories that undermine expertise, certificates no one quite believes, and the surprising idea that security might depend less on control than on care. In a digital world of scams, AI, and uncertainty, what does it mean to trust at all - and how does mistrust help that happen? The academic journal podcast from the Journal of Cultural Economy editorial collective.
16 Apr 2026
Debt everywhere, debt everlasting: the rise of permanent obligation
From student loans to buy-now-pay-later, we are always already indebted. Debt has become an engine of everyday life, reshaping how we study, shop, work, and imagine our futures. In this episode of Cultural Economy in the Kitchen, Philip Roscoe and Addie McGowan ask what it means to live in a world where indebtedness has become a permanent condition. Addie and Philip explore the cultural economies of debt with Tamar Nir, Jessa Loomis, and Daniel Cockayne. Tamar reveals how student loans entangle individuals in state‑designed market relations, reshaping obligations and responsibilities. Jessa and Daniel unpack the rise of buy‑now‑pay‑later platforms, showing how fintech, social media, and gendered consumption cultures deepen everyday reliance on borrowing. Together, the guests reveal how debt structures social life, from higher education to household spending, in a world where it is no longer an exception but the norm. The academic journal podcast from the Journal of Cultural Economy editorial collective.
3 Apr 2026
Sampling wealth, streaming poverty: the soundtrack of global capitalism
Music hasn’t escaped the grip of capital. In this episode of Cultural Economy in the Kitchen, Philip Roscoe and Addie McGowan unpack the collision of sound and finance with guests Paul Rekret and Elizabeth (Betsy) Carter. Paul takes us back to the glossy excess of late‑90s Bad Boy Records, where hip‑hop’s “sensuous abstraction” of wealth mirrored the industry’s own slide into financialised logic, weaving wealth into sound itself through aggressive sampling and a new “player” aesthetic. Thirty years later, musicians are broke. Betsy uncovers the brutal economics of today’s streaming era, where platforms chase data, labels hoard catalogues, and musicians scrape by. Listen as the conversation exposes a music economy that is both dazzling and extractive.
20 Mar 2026
Empire’s ghostly afterlives: from financial markets to creative industries
What do ghosts, empires, and financial capital have in common? In this episode of Cultural Economy in the Kitchen, Philip Roscoe and Addie McGowan speak with Clea Bourne, Paul Gilbert, and Eleanor Newbigin to explore how colonial legacies haunt contemporary financial systems and cultural policy. Clea and Paul unpack the “ghostly infrastructures” underpinning global finance, revealing how willed forgetfulness obscures the colonial histories embedded in today’s markets. Eleanor then turns to UK–India cultural and creative industries, showing how development narratives, soft power, and neoliberal agendas continue to reproduce hierarchy and extractive logics. Together, the conversation confronts the lingering spectres shaping political and economic life today.
6 Mar 2026
The calculated child: The emotional-economic logics of parenting
What happens when parenting becomes an economic project? In this episode of Cultural Economy in the Kitchen, Philip Roscoe and Addie McGowan chat with sociologists Nina Bandelj and Joe Deville about how parenting is shaped by markets, metrics, and digital platforms. Nina discusses parental investment, emotional economies, and the pressures they create on parents trying to do the best for their kids. Through his study of childhood avoidant eating, Joe reflects on digitally mediated parenting. He explores how platform searches, expert advice, and biopedagogies mediate family mealtimes and shape parental decision‑making. Together, they reveal how contemporary parenthood is negotiated through data, devices, and cultural expectations—and how families navigate, resist, and reinterpret these forces. Academic journal podcast from the Journal of Cultural Economy editorial collective.
20 Feb 2026
When the planet hits the balance sheet
Climate crisis meets capital in Cultural Economy in the Kitchen: Professor Philip Roscoe and Dr Addie McGowan explore what happens when climate change collides with the world of finance. They speak with Dr Stine Engen and Professor Kristin Asdal about how climate issues are transformed into calculable financial risks through everyday tools, documents, and risk‑work in the financial sector. The conversation then turns to Dr Justin Leifso, whose work on the carbon-tax backlash in Alberta uncovers the emotional undercurrents of neoliberalism, resentment, and anti-elitism. Together, the discussions offer a vivid portrait of finance’s entanglements with planetary futures. The academic journal podcast from the Journal of Cultural Economy editorial collective.
6 Feb 2026
Digital Eating
In this episode of Cultural Economy in the Kitchen, hosts Dr Addie McGowan and Professor Philip Roscoe explore the emerging world of digital food. Joined by Dr Tanja Schneider and Dr Jeremy Brice, editors of a JCE special issue on 'digital eating', they unpack how apps, platforms and data are reshaping what eating means as a cultural and social practice. From digital veganism to food safety, expertise, and the tension between care and choice, the conversation reveals how everyday food habits are shaped by digital infrastructures and what the digital becomes when it gets messy with food.Together, the guests consider surprises, tensions and the future of eating in a platformised world. The academic journal podcast from the Journal of Cultural Economy editorial collective.
23 Jan 2026
Crypto imaginaries, crypto escapes
In this episode of Cultural Economy in the Kitchen, the podcast from the Journal of Cultural Economy (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/rjce20), hosts Dr. Addie McGowan and Professor Philip Roscoe explore the fascinating world of crypto imaginaries—how cryptocurrencies embody - quite literally, encode - cultural, political, and economic visions of the future. Joining them are Dr. Lana Swartz, Dr. Andreu Belsunces, and Dr. Kobe De Keere, who unpack the neoliberal roots of crypto, its technical design principles, its role as a ‘social and cultural shapeshifter’, and the promises broken along the way’. From anarchist beginnings to techno-utopian dreams and Russia’s crisis-driven adoption, this conversation reveals how crypto is more than money. Is it a financial revolution, a neoliberal fantasy made material, or just a way out? Tune in to hear more!
9 Jan 2026
The Design episode! Cultural economies of design
In this episode, we dive into the fascinating world of design and explore how it shapes contemporary economic life. Ulises Navarro Aguiar and Karl Palmas explain how businesses use design not just to create products, but to imagine and speculate about uncertain futures. Later, Koray Caliskan takes us inside the world of digital platforms, showing how design underpins their power and influence. From startups experimenting with strategy to platforms acting as “exploratoriums,” we uncover how design drives innovation—and speculation—in today’s economy. Join us for a thought-provoking conversation about creativity, uncertainty, and the forces shaping our digital lives.
19 Dec 2025
The scent of Musk: Power, charisma and paranoia in Silicon Valley
We dive into the cultural economies of the tech bros, from Peter Thiel to Elon Musk. Hosts Dr. Addie McGowan and Professor Philip Roscoe welcome Dr. Carla Ibled and Dr. Dominik Zelinski to talk about their popular Journal of Cultural Economy articles. Carla explores the founder as hero and victim, drawing on Freud and Lacan to reveal Silicon Valley’s messianic fantasies. Dominik examines Musk’s charismatic leadership through Weber’s lens, tracing Dogecoin hype, online ethnography, and the tension between charisma and routine. Together, they ask: what do these tech myths mean for our political and economic futures?
5 Dec 2025
From Walkman to Poly-Crisis: What is cultural economy?
Welcome to the first episode of Cultural Economy in the Kitchen, the new podcast from the Journal of Cultural Economy. Hosts Professor Philip Roscoe and Dr Addie McGowan dive into the origins and evolution of cultural economy with Professor Liz McFall and Dr Toby Bennett. From early workshops and the Walkman to today’s poly-crises, they explore what cultural economy means now and why it matters. Professor Simone Polillo discusses his work with Egor Makarov on economic emergencies, blending Schmitt and Foucault to rethink crises. Stay tuned for lively conversation, social theory, and a dash of kitchen humor!
21 Nov 2025
Coming soon, to a kitchen near you
It's coming soon, to a kitchen near you: the new Cultural Economy in the Kitchen podcast from the Journal of Cultural Economy editorial collecteive. With Dr Addie McGowan and Professor Philip Roscoe. Don't forget to subscribe!
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