This study examined the role of communications professionals as cultural intermediaries within the UK cancer charity sector. It aimed to reposition politics within cultural and economic spheres in order to explore how these forces collectively shape the strategies and practices of communications professionals.
A qualitative method was employed by conducting 20 in-depth, semi-structured interviews to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences, perspectives and insights of various communications professionals in UK cancer charities.
The results showed that cultural intermediation has become increasingly complex in a cancer charity sector affected by changes in government leadership, increased competition and budget cuts. This evolution in communications practices has had an impact on relations with government and on the politicisation of cultural intermediaries’ strategies. Further, the infusion of neoliberalism and commercialisation underlines the central role of cultural intermediaries in navigating market relations and acting as neoliberal subjects.
Politics has been analytically excluded to the detriment of culture and economics in the external forces shaping the work of communications professionals as cultural intermediaries. This study seeks to reposition politics alongside other spheres of life in the analysis of cultural intermediation by utilizing concepts such as political economy, cultural intermediation and neoliberal subjects. It specifically focuses on the cancer charity sector, which has received less scholarly attention in the literature on cultural intermediaries.
