Workplace Culture in Mass Communication Industries (Routledge New Directions in PR & Communication Research)

Across communication industries, women face barriers and a Catch-22 situation at all organisational levels and suffer from cultural masculinities. Offering a systematic overview of women’s lived experiences, this book discusses major issues in contemporary communication industries, including public relations, journalism and advertising, to understand the barriers that still exist.

With a particular focus on office culture, the book concentrates on analysing the position and experiences of women working across communication industries and uses the theoretical framework of cultural masculinities to explore whether women’s organisational experiences and the lack of opportunities span across sectors. The author explores how cultural masculinities as well as discrimination, sexism and harassment can work against women’s interests and impede their career progression. The chapters provide a quality overview of existing theories as well as new insights to demonstrate how organisations operate and function in a way that systematically disadvantages women.

The book will be a valuable resource for academics and researchers in the fields of organisational studies, public relations, advertising and journalism, as well as postgraduate and doctoral students in these areas. The interdisciplinary nature will also appeal to those across gender and labour studies and human resource management.

Martina Topić is a behavioural sociologist and mass communication scholar. She is an associate professor in public relations leadership at the University of Alabama, College of Communication and Information Sciences, Department of Advertising and Public Relations, United States (2023–). Before joining the University of Alabama, she worked at Leeds Beckett University, UK (Leeds Business School), where she was a reader (2021–2023), senior lecturer in public relations (2017–2021), lecturer in public relations (2016–2017) and graduate teaching assistant (2014–2016). Before that, she worked as a research and teaching assistant at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Political Science (2007–2013). Before working in academia, Martina worked as a journalist and she founded several events companies where she managed public relations and events organisation.