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.

David Hesmondhalgh is Professor of Media and Music Industries in the Institute of Communcations Studies at the University of Leeds. His books include The Cultural Industries (2^nd edition, 2007), Media Production (2006) and Understanding Media: Inside Celebrity (with Jessica Evans, 2005).

Jason Toynbee is Senior Lecturer in Media Studies at the Open University. His books include Bob Marley: Herald of a Postcolonial World? (2007), Analysing Media Texts (with Marie Gillespie, 2006) and Making Popular Music (2000).