Media, Communication, Culture

Book excerpt: Media, Communication, Culture offers a bold and comprehensive analysis of developments in the field amidst the effects of postmodernism and globalization. James Lull, one of the leading scholars in the discipline, draws from a wide range of social and cultural theory, including the work of John B. Thompson, Thomas Sowell, Nestor Garcia Canclini, Anthony Giddens and Samuel P. Huntington, to formulate a well balanced and highly original account of key contemporary developments worldwide. The first edition of Media, Communication, Culture became a well established introductory text. For this new edition coverage has been expanded from six to ten chapters, and has been thoroughly updated to include all new developments in the field. In his familiar and accessible style, Lull brings to life a diverse range of examples and mini case studies which will prove invaluable to the reader. These range from the hip-hop hybrids of New Zealand's Maori youth and the vastly divergent meaning of race and culture in Brazil and the United States to the global impact of McDonalds and Microsoft. Complex theoretical ideas such as globalization, symbolic power, popular culture, ideology, consciousness, hegemony, social rules, media audience, cultural territory, and superculture are explained in a clear and engaging way that challenges traditional understandings. By connecting major streams of theory to the latest trends in the global cultural mix, the book provides a fresh and unsurpassed introduction to media, communication and cultural studies. It will prove essential reading for undergraduates and above in the fields of media studies, communication studies, cultural studies and the sociology of culture.