Split across two sections on key theory and key issues, this introductory textbook encourages students to think critically about culture and society by engaging with the main theoretical debates which distinguish sociology’s contribution to cultural studies from the approach of other disciplines. The key issues section considers aspects of the key theory as applied to contemporary forms of mass cultural production and consumption including fashion, videogames, celebrities, social media, sp...

It's 2005 and everyone in Ryan’s school is playing Hito. But when popular girl Gabby vanishes without a trace, he must uncover the mystery behind the hit computer game to find her.However, Ryan has a secret. He was the last person to speak to her. After she name-called him in class, he sought revenge by threatening her on Hito. Instantly, he regretted it. When the police question him, he lies and denies any connection to Gabby or the game.Teaming up with hi...

Introduces key terms, research traditions, debates, and their histories, and offers a sense of the new frontiers and questions emerging in the field of media studiesKeywords for Media Studies introduces and aims to advance the field of critical media studies by tracing, defining, and problematizing its established and emergent terminology. The book historicizes thinking about media and society, whether that means noting a long history of “new media,” or tracing how...

Represent! offers insights into identity and sociocultural diversity in popular media culture, from Game of Thrones to hip hop. It addresses how popular media texts and practices deal with diversity in Western societies, how this evolved historically, and how it can be critically studied. Many people have an understanding of what 'woke' means, but are not familiar with the historical background of this term. Why are some romantic comedies heteronormative? Can pop music em...

Written by an academic and researcher with over twenty years' experience in teaching and convening Media Studies courses, Media Studies: A Complete Introduction is designed to give you everything you need to succeed, all in one place. It covers the key areas that students are expected to be confident in, outlining the basics in clear jargon-free English, and then providing added-value features like case studies, and even lists of questions you might be asked in your seminar or exa...

Media and Participation looks at participation as a structurally unstable concept and as the object of a political-ideological struggle that makes it oscillate between minimalist and maximalist versions. This struggle is analysed in theoretical reflections in five fields (democracy, arts, development, spatial planning and media) and in eight different cases of media practice. These case studies also show participation’s close connection to power, identity, organization, technology...

Meritocracy today involves the idea that whatever your social position at birth, society ought to offer enough opportunity and mobility for ‘talent’ to combine with ‘effort’ in order to ‘rise to the top’. This idea is one of the most prevalent social and cultural tropes of our time, as palpable in the speeches of politicians as in popular culture. In this book Jo Littler argues that meritocracy is the key cultural means of legitimation for contemporary neoliberal culture – and that whilst ...

Television Studies: The Key Concepts is the definitive reference guide to an area of rapidly expanding academic interest. Among those aspects of television studies covered in this comprehensive and up-to-date guide are:theoretical perspectives which have shaped the study of television - Marxism; semiology; feminismconcepts which have shaped the study of television - narrative; representation; biastelevision genres - soap opera; news; science ficti...

This is a lucid and lively introduction to key concepts and developments in media and media studies. The new edition, with updated case studies and a good range of online reading, is a valuable resource for both students and lecturers.- Chindu Sreedharan, Bournemouth University"Has expanded the possibilities of what a textbook can be. Incisive questions framed through accessible and detailed examples provide a platform for a wealth of different acti...

Politics, Society, and the Media is the first comprehensive political sociology of the media to be published in Canada. Paul Nesbitt-Larking draws upon a range of disciplines, including cultural and media studies, political economy, social theory, and political science to provide an analysis of the relationship between power and representation in Canada.The framework for the book presents a model of the mutual interaction between politics and the media. Attention is focuse...

In this new edition of his acclaimed book, Richard Giulianotti provides a critical sociological interpretation of modern sport. As global festivals such as the Olympic Games and football’s World Cup demonstrate, sport’s social, political, economic and cultural significance is becoming ever more apparent across the world.Ten years after its original publication, the text has been completely revised and updated to cover the most recent literature and to tackle the key contemporary is...

This updated, new edition of Introducing Cultural Studies provides a systematic and comprehensible introduction to the concepts, debates and latest research in the field. Reinforcing the interdisciplinary nature of Cultural Studies, the authors first guide the reader through cultural theory before branching out to examine different dimensions of culture in detail – including globalisation, the body, geography, fashion, and politics.Incorporating new scholarship and interna...