Culture and Power: A Media, Culture & Society Reader (Media Culture & Society series)

This is a much-needed and timely follow-up to an earlier reader by the well-respected British communications journal, Media, Culture & Society. This reader is much needed and timely for several reasons. It re-establishes the politico-economic dimension in the study of the relation between culture and power. Another and probably even more significant reason why this reader is much needed is that it capsualises the most damaging criticisms of postmodernist theory and its curious obfuscation, if not total denial, of the structuralist concern with the role of domination in the study of culture. This volume is certainly correct in making explicit its full-toned apprehension about the dubious postmodernist pretensions to valid social inquiry. show more This comprehensive reader of integrated critical media research will surely become an invaluable asset for all those scholars and students of media studies struggling to place power relations back at the center of the debate about the nature and dynamics of the culture-society relationship."

On the cutting edge of media studies, Culture and Power presents a solid introduction to the current issues and debates central to media studies. The chapters derive from major articles published in Media, Culture & Society from 1985-1991. The book divides into three parts. The first part outlines and surveys some key theoretical developments in media studies, including the increased use of feminist and cultural studies approaches to the media and the development of the postmodernism debate. The second part addresses the pivotal area of recent research around the audience; the last section addresses the public sphere as a whole. This broad-ranging volume will be an invaluable text in communication, cultural studies, and sociology. show less