The Media and Social Theory

Media studies needs richer and livelier intellectual resources. This book brings together major and emerging international media analysts to consider key processes of media change, using a number of critical perspectives. Case studies range from reality television to professional journalism, from blogging to control of copyright, from social networking sites to indigenous media, in Europe, North America, Asia and elsewhere. Among the theoretical approaches and issues addressed are:



critical realism
post-structuralist approaches to media and culture
Pierre Bourdieu and field theory
public sphere theory – including post-Habermasian versions
actor network theory
Marxist and post-Marxist theories, including contemporary critical theory
theories of democracy, antagonism and difference.


This volume is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers of cultural studies, media studies and social theory.