A similar distinction is made by Jim McGuigan in his book Culture and the Public Sphere (1996). He differentiates between critical intellectuals and practical intellectuals which is roughly parallel to Gramsci's concepts of traditional and organic intellectuals. According to McGuigan, critical intellectuals are academic workers while practical intellectuals are cultural workers.

Theodor Adorno remarks: “whoever speaks of culture speaks of administration as well, whether this is his intention or not... ‘culture' betrays from the outset the administrative views, the task of which, looking down from on the high, is to assemble, distribute, evaluate and organize...” Here we get another aspect of culture, not frequently foregrounded in semiological approaches: that Cultural Studies has as its pragmatic aim the bringing about of change in society.