Summary
Contents
Subject index
This book covers the key concepts central to understanding recent developments in media and communications studies. Wide-ranging in scope and accessible in style it sets out a useful, clear map of the important theories, methods, and debates.
The entries critically explore the limits of a key concept as much as the traditions that define it. They include clear definitions, are introduced within the wider context of the field and each one is fully cross-referenced, is clearly illustrated with relevant examples, and provides a guide to further reading and an index.
This book is an essential resource for students in media and communications and for those studying sociology, cultural sociology, cultural studies, and sociology of media.
Identity
Identity
Related concepts: embodiment, ideology, image.
The question of identity in communications and media studies is delimited by several conflicting theoretical approaches, in relation to which the status of the individual/subject can be problematized.
Moreover, the place of identity in relation to media varies according to the social and architectural aspects of media. For example, with broadcast communications, questions of language and ideology come to the fore, while, with network communications, the concepts of anonymity, a ‘second self’ or avatar arise.
For the process model of communication, the nature of identity in communication processes is relatively untheorized. Just as this model separates information content from the means of its carriage, the status of the sender and receiver is largely irrelevant, be they human, animal or machine. The external ...
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