Summary
Contents
Subject index
The Second Edition of this book provides a comprehensive overview of the ways in which social theory has attempted to theorize the importance of the media in contemporary society. Understanding Media Cultures is now fully revised and takes account of the recent theoretical developments associated with New Media and Information Society, as well as the audience and the public sphere.
Chapter 1: Marxism and Mass Communication Research: Debates within Political Economy and Ideology
Marxism and Mass Communication Research: Debates within Political Economy and Ideology
Marxism, Political Economy and Ideology
Historically Marxism has offered an analysis of the media of mass communication that has sought to emphasise their role in the social reproduction of the status quo. Whereas liberalism has argued that the mass media have an essential role to play in the maintenance of free speech, Marxism has charged that unequal social relations have helped form ideological images and representations of society. In this sense, Marxism's strength has been to suggest that there is indeed a link between questions of ownership and the cultural content of media production. Marxists have rightly criticised ...
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