Media Sociology (媒介社会学) - Book Chapter (in Chinese)

The Cambridge Handbook of Sociology. Volume 1, Core Areas in Sociology and the Development of the Discipline, 2017

The sociology of mass media examines the institutions, products, and audiences of broadcast, print, and, more recently, online media. Its origins can be traced back to traditions governing early American and European sociological thinking, which recognised the growth and influence of the media (the press, specifically) as important to the transforming or modernising of society (see Hardt 2001). Since then, however, media sociology has developed primarily outside of mainstream sociology, in departments of media, communication, and journalism (Pooley and Katz 2008). The displacement of media sociology from mainstream sociology has influenced the direction of its research. It has been able to engage creatively with media institutions, media culture, and media audiences. Nonetheless, its interdisciplinary home has encouraged media sociologists to often reappraise the contribution of their work and reassert its importance (e.g. Waisbord 2014; Schudson 2004; Manza and Brooks 2012). This chapter builds on this effort by describing the development of the subfield and introducing the themes explored in this subdiscipline, including the study of (1) media institutions, professions and practices; (2) content, representations, and social power in media; and (3) media influences, audiences and technology. It concludes with a reflection on some present developments in, and the general influence of, the sociology of mass media

There are no canonical definitions of “media sociology” that could capture the vast, boundless universe of media scholarship embedded in sociological thinking. At a simple level, media sociology can be defined as the study of “the media” embedded in sociological thought and questions. Media sociology interrogates the relevance of the media to understand important dimensions of society such as stratification, organizations, identity, autonomy, individualism, community, social influence, and power. It also draws from sociological theories and arguments to understand various aspects of the media—industries, institutions, audiences, content, policies, representations. Studying the media should help to understand key social developments, and studying society should contribute to understanding media processes and institutions. Media sociology is guided by the notion that a sociological understanding of the media helps us foreground important questions about how the media work and their impact on multiple aspects of social life and, in turn, that the study of “the media” illuminates key areas to understand significant trends and transformations in contemporary societies.

Polity Press, 2014 ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-7055-3 (hard), ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-7055-0 (paperback), 298 pp Journal of Communication 66 (2016) E1-E5

CREMD PUBLISHERS, 2014

Cultural and Critical Theories and Frameworks in Media and Mass Communication: A Reflection Paper on Media and Mass Culture Debates in Contemporary Times and Cultural and Critical Frameworks in Media and Communication Research

Fuel and Energy Abstracts

Scholars often examine mass media as operating within one of several specific theories. Studies examine press operations to determine the governing theory. This article proposes an approach in which mass media act to develop and disseminate informal cultural theories that govern institutions. These theories are derived from the primary culture within which mass media operate. Disagreements over the role and function of mass media, such as the renascent NWICO debate, revolve around cultural differences. With culture as a foundation, the press serves to define social components and institutions, even itself, and the relationships between them.This study suggests analyzing relationships asserted through mass media as monadic, dyadic or triadic, depending upon the number of components. Two basic relationship types are symmetrical and complementary. In symmetrical relationships, the components have equal status. In complementary relationships, one or more of the components have superior or inferior status. Conflict may occur when one or more of the components reject or ignore an asserted relationship type.Communication has two aspects: content and relationship. In the debate over press role and function across cultures and national boundaries, emphasis on content often ignores implicit relationship. In the absence of explicit relationship definition, culture defines the relationships in press content. Actual press freedom requires freedom from cultural restraints that can be difficult to recognize.► This article proposes an approach in which mass media act to develop and disseminate informal cultural theories that govern institutions. ► With culture as a foundation, the press serves to define social components and institutions, even itself, and the relationships between them. ► This study proposes analyzing relationships asserted through mass media by component number and basic type: monadic, dyadic or triadic, and symmetrical or complementary. ► In the debate over press role and function across cultures and national boundaries, emphasis on content often ignores implicit relationship.

Political Communication, 2004

In political communication research, news media tend to be studied more as a dependent than independent variable. That is, few studies link structural characteristics of media systems to the production of journalistic discourse about politics. One reason for this relative silence is the inadequacy of prevalent theories. Influential scholars in sociology and political communication such as Jrgen Habermas, Manuel Castells, and William Gamson provide only sketchy, institutionally underspecified accounts of media systems. Likewise, models in the sociology of news have tended to either aggregate societal level influences (chiefly political and economic) that are analytically and often empirically quite distinct or overemphasize micro-level influences (news routines, bureaucratic pressures). In between such micro- and macro-influences, the mezzo-level "journalistic field" represents an important shaping factor heretofore largely ignored. As path-dependent institutional logics, fields help ground cultural analysis; as interorganizational spatial environments varying in their level of concentration, they explain heretofore undertheorized aspects of news production. Drawing on the sociology of news and field theory (Bourdieu and American new institutionalism), this essay offers a series of hypotheses about how variable characteristics of media systems shape news discourse. Since variation at the system level is most clearly seen via cross-national comparative studies, international research is best positioned to build more generalizable theory about the production of journalistically mediated political discourse.

Theory is the foundation of knowledge production. Drawing on literature from the fields of media studies, communication, sociology, and management, this course aims to equip PhD students with skills to learn, use, and build media theories. The course has three major components: 1. We start with the foundational theorists and theories, broadly in social science and specifically in media and communication studies. We will examine whether and how these theorists and theories remain relevant in the digital age. We will discuss how digital media have challenged conventional modes of theorizing. 2. In the second part, we will draw on milestone studies to showcase how theories are applied, criticized, appropriated, revised, and reclaimed, crossing disciplinary and national boundaries. 3. In the third part, students are encouraged to engage with media theories through review and research. This course is one of the two RTF 395 courses on key theories of communication and media studies. This fall semester seminar focuses on foundational scholars and theories on communication contexts, processes, and audiences. The readings reflect the diverse theoretical streams and approaches in communication and media studies: historical, critical, and political economy approaches in social science, including the Chicago School, the Frankfurt School, the Columbia School, and the Toronto School. Students will be guided step-by-step to achieve the following goals: A1. Demonstrate a solid understanding of: a. Major theoretical approaches and their confluence in media studies, especially as applicable to recent advancements in digital media studies b. Modes and processes of theorizing media and society A2. Develop skills to apply major media theories to specific research topics A3. Recognize various opportunities, challenges, and implications of doing and communicating media theories in a rapidly changing digital media landscape