The Handbook of Political Economy of Communications

Over the last decade, political economy has grown rapidly as a specialist area of research and teaching within communications and media studies and is now established as a core element in university programmes around the world. The Handbook of Political Economy of Communications, edited by Janet Wasko, Graham Murdock and Helena Sousa) offers comprehensive, authoritative, up-to-date and accessible overview of key areas and debates, written many of the best known authors in the field. The Handbook combines overviews of core ideas with new case study materials and the best of contemporary research and includes 28 contributions drawn from the key markets of North and Latin America, Europe, Australasia, and the Far East. It has five enlightening parts: Legacies and Debates; Modalities of Power: Ownership, Advertising, Government; Conditions of Creativity: Industries, Production, Labor; Dynamics of Consumption: Choice, Mobilization, Control; Emerging Issues and Directions.
This Handbook is abundant package of scholarship and a timely reminder of the vitality of critical political economy, serving to keep the research tradition straight and wide under pressures of marketization and globalization. (Open access to the 1st chapter)