Media and Communication in and after the Global Capitalist Crisis:\u00a0 Renewal, Reform or Revolution?<\/p>\n
ESA RN18 Mid-Term Conference 2014<\/p>\n
University of Bucharest, Romania October 17-18, 2014<\/p>\n
Full Call Text and additional information: http:\/\/fuchs.uti.at\/wp-content\/RN18_2014.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n Call for Participation and Abstracts\u00a0 European Sociological Association, Research Network 18: Sociology of\u00a0 Communications and Media Research http:\/\/www.europeansociology.org\/research-networks\/rn18-sociology-of-communications-and-media-research.html<\/a><\/p>\n Submission deadline for abstracts: July 1st, 2014. Submission per e-mail\u00a0 to christian.fuchs@uti.at<\/a> Abstracts should be written in a word processor, have 250-500 words, and\u00a0 contain title, author name(s), email address(es), institutional\u00a0 affiliations, the suggested presentation\u2019s abstract.<\/p>\n The world has experienced a global crisis of capitalism that started in\u00a0 2008 and is continuing until now. It has been accompanied by a crisis of\u00a0 the state and a general crisis of legitimation of dominant ideologies\u00a0 such as neoliberalism. Responses to the crisis have been variegated and\u00a0 have included austerity measures of the state that have hit the weakest,\u00a0 an increased presence of progressive protests, revolutions and strikes\u00a0 that have made use of digital, social and traditional media in various\u00a0 ways, the rise of far-right movements and parties in many parts of\u00a0 Europe and other parts of the world, the Greek state\u2019s closing down of\u00a0 public service broadcaster ERT and increased commercial pressure on\u00a0 public service broadcasting in general, new debates about how to\u00a0 strengthen public service media, increased socio-economic and class\u00a0 inequality in many parts of the world and at a global level, precarious\u00a0 forms of work in general and in the media and cultural industries in\u00a0 particular, the emergence of new media reform movements, an extension\u00a0 and intensification of the crisis of newspapers and the print media, an\u00a0 increasing shift of advertising budgets to targeted ads on the Internet\u00a0 and along with this development the rise of commercial \u201csocial media\u201d\u00a0 platforms, Edward Snowden\u2019s revelations about the existence of a global\u00a0 surveillance-industrial complex that operates a communications\u00a0 surveillance system called \u201cPrism\u201d that involves the NSA and media\u00a0 companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo!, AOL, Skype, Apple\u00a0 and Paltalk; discussions about the power and freedom of the press in\u00a0 light of the Levenson inquiry, shifting geographies of the political and \u00a0media landscape that have to do with the economic rise of countries such\u00a0 as China and India.<\/p>\n Given this context, the main questions that ESA RN18\u2019s 2014 conference\u00a0 asks and to which it invites contributions are: How has the crisis\u00a0 affected the media and communication landscape in Europe and globally\u00a0 and what perspectives for the future of media and communications are\u00a0 there? What suggestions for media reforms are there? How feasible are\u00a0 they?\u00a0 What kind of media policies and reforms do we need today? Which\u00a0 ones should be avoided? Are we in this context likely to experience a\u00a0 renewal of neoliberalism or something different?<\/p>\n Plenary sessions:<\/p>\n 1) Keynote Talk: Prof. Peter Ludes (Jacobs University Bremen, Germany):\u00a0 Wanted: Critical Visual Theories!<\/p>\n 2) Special Session: Public Media and Alternative Journalism in Romania With Dr. Raluca Petre (\u2018Ovidius\u2019 University Constanta, Romania): On the\u00a0 Distinction between State and Public Media: Re-Centering Public Options;<\/p>\n Dr. Antonio Momoc (University of Bucharest, Romania): Alternative\u00a0 Media as Public Service Journalism; Costi Rogozanu (journalist and media activist, criticatac.ro) \u2013 Is\u00a0 Alternative Media an Alternative?<\/p>\n Call for Papers\u00a0 ESA RN18 welcomes submissions of abstracts for contributions. Questions\u00a0 that can for example be addressed include, but are not limited to the\u00a0 following ones:<\/p>\n * Media and capitalism: How have capitalism and the media changed in recent years? Are there\u00a0 perspectives beyond capitalism and capitalist media? How can we best use \u00a0critical\/Marxist political economy and other critical approaches for\u00a0 understanding the media and capitalism today? What is the role of media\u00a0 and communication technologies in the financialization, acceleration,\u00a0 and globalization of the capitalist economy? What are the conditions of\u00a0 working in the media, cultural and communication industries in the\u00a0 contemporary times? What is the role of Marx today for understanding\u00a0 crisis, change, capitalism, communication, and critique?<\/p>\n * Media reform and media policy in times of crisis: How do the media need to be reformed and changed in order to contribute\u00a0 to the emergence of a good society? Which media reform movements are there and what are\u00a0 their goals? What have been policy ideas of how to overcome the crisis\u00a0 and deal with contemporary changes in relation to European media and\u00a0 communication industries? What can we learn from recent discussions\u00a0 about the media\u2019s power and freedom, such as the Leveson inquiry? What\u00a0 are implications for media reforms?<\/p>\n * Media and the public sphere: How should the concept of the public sphere best be conceived today and\u00a0 how does it relate to the media? How has the public sphere changed\u00a0 during the crisis in Europe and globally? What has been the relation\u00a0 between public and commercial broadcasting during and after the crisis?\u00a0 How have public service media changed, which threats and opportunities\u00a0 does it face? How can\/should public service be renewed in the light of\u00a0 crisis, the Internet, and commercialisation? Can public service be\u00a0 extended from broadcasting to the online realm, digital and social\u00a0 media? What has been the role of public service media in Europe? How has\u00a0 this role transformed?<\/p>\n * Media and activism: How can media scholars best cooperate with activists in order to\u00a0 contribute to a better media system and a better society? What are major\u00a0 trends in media activism today and how do activists use and confront the\u00a0 media and how do commercial, public and alternative media relate to contemporary social movements? What have been important\u00a0 experiences of media activists and media reform organisations in the\u00a0 past couple of years? What are the opportunities, risks, limits and\u00a0 possibilities of media activism today? For answering these questions, we also invite contributions and\u00a0 submissions by media activists, who want to talk about and share their\u00a0 experiences.<\/p>\n * Media ownership: Who owns the media and ICTs? What are peculiar characteristics of\u00a0 knowledge and the media as property? What conflicts and contradictions\u00a0 are associated with it and how have they developed in times of crisis?\u00a0 How concentrated are the media and ICTs and how has this concentration\u00a0 changed since the start of the 2008 crisis? How has media and ICT\u00a0 ownership, convergence, de-convergence and concentration developed since\u00a0 the start of the 2008 crisis? What reforms of media and ICT ownership\u00a0 are needed in light of the crisis of capitalism and the crisis of\u00a0 intellectual property rights?<\/p>\n * Media and crisis: What have been the main consequences of the crisis for media and\u00a0 communication in various parts of the world and Europe from a\u00a0 comparative perspective? What role have the media played in the\u00a0 construction of the crisis? How have the media conveyed the social and\u00a0 economic crises of recent years to citizens and what are the\u00a0 consequences of this flow of ideas and explanations? What role can they\u00a0 play in overcoming the crisis? What is the relationship of the media and\u00a0 class during and after the crisis? What role have ideologies (such as\u00a0 racism, right-wing extremism, fascism, neoliberalism, anti-Semitism,\u00a0 etc) played in the media during the crisis and what can we learn from it\u00a0 for reforming the media? How have audiences interpreted media contents\u00a0 that focus on austerity, crisis, neoliberalism, protests, revolutions,\u00a0 or media reforms?<\/p>\n * The globalisation of the media and society: What are major trends in the globalisation of capitalism, society and\u00a0 the media? Given the globalisation of media and society, what are challenges for media and\u00a0 society today? What can we learn from non-Western media scholars and\u00a0 media cultures outside of Europe? Are concepts such as cultural\/media\u00a0 imperialism, transnational cultural domination or the new imperialism\u00a0 feasible today and if so, in which ways?<\/p>\n * Digital and social media: What is digital labour and how has class changed in the context of\u00a0 social and digital media? What is the connection of value creation,\u00a0 knowledge labour and digital labour? How do the global dimension and the\u00a0 global division of digital labour look like, especially in respect to\u00a0 China, India, Asia and Africa? How do new forms of exploitation and\u00a0 unremunerated labour (\u201cfree labour\u201d, \u201ccrowdsourcing\u201d) look like in the\u00a0 media sector (e.g. in the context of Internet platforms such as Facebook\u00a0 or Google)? What is the relationship of the commons and commodification\u00a0 on digital and social media? How do capital accumulation and targeted\u00a0 advertising work on social media and what are their implications for\u00a0 users and citizens? What are alternatives to capitalist digital and\u00a0 social media? How can alternative social and digital media best look\u00a0 like and be organized? What can in this context be the roles of the\u00a0 digital commons, civil society media and public service media? Which\u00a0 ideologies of the Internet and social media are there? How can we best\u00a0 understand the surveillance-industrial Internet complex operated by the\u00a0 NSA together with Internet corporations such as Google and Facebook and\u00a0 what are the implications of Edward Snowden\u2019s revelations? How do power\u00a0 and political economy work in the context of platforms such as Google,\u00a0 Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WikiLeaks, Wikipedia, Weibo, LinkedIn,\u00a0 Blogspot\/Blogger, WordPress, VK, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, etc?<\/p>\n * Media and Critical Social Theory: What can we learn and use from critical sociology and the sociology of\u00a0 critique when studying the media? What do critique and critical theory\u00a0 mean in contemporary times? What are critical sociology and the sociology of critique and what are \u00a0its roles for studying media and communication\u2019s role in society? Which\u00a0 social theories do we need today for adequately understanding media &\u00a0 society in a critical way? What is the role of political economy and\u00a0 Marx\u2019s theory for understanding media & society today?<\/p>\n * Communication and (Post-)Crisis: How has the crisis affected the communication landscape in Europe and\u00a0 globally and what perspectives for the future are there? How do the\u00a0 working conditions in communication industries look like after the \u00a0crisis? What are the challenges for communication industries in the near\u00a0 future in the context of the crisis and post-crisis? What is the role of\u00a0 post-crisis-communication industries in a globalised economy?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Media and Communication in and after the Global Capitalist Crisis:\u00a0 Renewal, Reform or Revolution? ESA RN18 Mid-Term Conference 2014 University of Bucharest, Romania October 17-18, 2014 Full Call Text and additional information: http:\/\/fuchs.uti.at\/wp-content\/RN18_2014.pdf Call for Participation and Abstracts\u00a0 European Sociological … Continue reading