What, if anything, has political economy contributed to our understanding of cultural production?

What, if anything, has political economy contributed to our understanding of cultural production? The political economy perspective has made a prevalent contribution to our understanding of cultural production. From a political economist perspective, cultural practices in society are the product of economic relations, as emphasised by Marx, "The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life" (Marx quoted by Murdock and Golding in J. Curran et al 1977: 17). …

…has been criticised, because consumption practices are clearly not completely manipulated by strategies of the cultural industries, the fact remains that the economic dynamics of the capitalist system is also not completely independent from the consumption of cultural practices and patterns. The biggest flaw in the political economy perspective, however, is that it does not give enough consideration to the power of the individual to make a conscious choice over his/her own cultural experience.