RN23 - Sexuality

RN24 - Science and Technology

RN25 - Social Movements

RN26 - Sociology of Social Policy and Social Welfare

RN27 - Regional Network Southern European Societies

RN28 - Society and Sports

RN29 - Social Theory

RN30 - Youth & Generation

RN31 - Ethnic Relations, Racism and Antisemitism

RN32 - Political Sociology

RN33 - Women’s and Gender Studies

RN34 - Sociology of Religion

RN35 - Sociology of Migration

RN36 - Sociology of Transformations: East and West

RN37 - Urban Sociology

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RN18 - Sociology of Communications and Media Research

The Sociology of Communications and Media Research Network provides a platform for critical research and debate on questions of power, inequality, identity and social change in increasingly mediatized societies.

At the second conference of ESA in 1995, it was decided to establish a research network around media and communication, a very fast growing field in all countries, which had its own subject associations, both nationally and internationally, but which did not have an organised presence within the ESA. Peter Golding, then at Loughborough University in the UK, organised the necessary formalities and the Sociology of Communications and Media Research Network (Research Network 18) was approved by the ESA and met for the first time at the ESA conference at Essex University in 1997. Peter Golding acted as chair and convenor of the network for a period of over ten years.

The Network has met every year since its formation, both at the ESA biennial conferences and in intervening years. It has become one of the most active and thriving networks, and has always sought to ensure that the sociological investigation of media and communications is given full focus, distinguishing its work from that of large international associations which provide important forums for communications and media research, but do not have especially sociological concerns. It has also always sought to ensure opportunities for younger scholars, researchers and early career researchers to present their work. It offers opportunities to scholars from many countries to inject sociological thinking and research into debates. It provides a platform for critical research and debate on questions of power, inequality, identity and social change in increasingly mediatized societies. Key research areas include but are not limited to the Internet, digital and social media, alternative media, media and protest, journalism, media and capitalism, media work, ideology and media discourse, media and gender, global media, public sphere, political communication, theories of media and communication, media policy, media industries, ownership and power.

Former Chairs of RN18:

Peter Golding (1995-2008)
Roy Panagiotopoulou and Peter Ludes (2008-2011)
Christian Fuchs (2011-2015)
Romina Surugiu and Roy Panagiotopoulou (2015-2019)
Marisol Sandoval and Thomas Allmer (2019-2021)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/esarn18
Mailing list: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=ESA-RN18

2021-2023

Coordinators

Coordinator: Thomas Allmer, University of Klagenfurt, Austria, thomas.allmer[at]aau.at
Vice-Coordinators: Paško Bilić, Institute for Development and International Relations, Croatia, pasko[at]irmo.hr;
Tatiana Mazali, Politecnico di Torino, Italy, tatiana.mazali[at]polito.it
Honorary Chair: Peter Golding, Northumbria University, UK

Board Members

Paulo Alves, ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal
Eran Fisher, The Open University of Israel, Israel
Christian Fuchs, University of Westminster, UK
Magdalena Kania Lundholm, Dalarna University, Sweden
Yuqi Na, University of Westminster, UK
Raluca Petre, Ovidius University of Constanta, Romania
Marisol Sandoval, City University London, UK
Romina Surugiu, University of Bucharest, Romania
Adem Yesilyurt, Middle East Technical University, Turkey

Last updated on September 6th, 2021

Communication, Capitalism and Critique: Critical Media Sociology in the 21st Century

1-3 September 2022

Polytechnic of Turin, Italy

Information

The European Sociological Association (ESA) ‐ Research Network 18: Sociology of Communications and Media Research in cooperation with the:

*Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST) of the Polytechnic of Turin and the University of Turin
*Italian National Sociological Association (AIS) – Section: Cultural Processes and Institutions
*Italian Scientific Society of Sociology, Culture, Communication (SISCC)
*Antonio Gramsci Piedmont Institute Foundation

Invites applications for the:

COMMUNICATION, CAPITALISM AND CRITIQUE: CRITICAL MEDIA SOCIOLOGY IN THE 21ST CENTURY

ESA RN18 mid-term conference 2022

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Tiziana Terranova (University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’, Italy): The Technosocial Question: On the Entanglement of the Social and Digital Computational Networks

Peter Thomas (Brunel University London, UK): New Orders: Hegemony as a Method of Political Work

Donatella Della Ratta (John Cabot University, Rome, Italy): Twenty-Twenty Critical Theory Toolkit: Take the Red Pill and live happily in the age of algorithmic (in)humanity

CALL FOR PAPERS

We live in times of deepening economic, political, social, pandemic, ideological and ecological crises that are apparent in widespread precarious labour, the commodification of (almost) everything, the rise of new nationalism, populism and authoritarian forms of capitalism, and ecological destruction. The display of power and counter-power, domination and spaces of power struggles, and the commons and the commodification of the commons characterise modern society. Contradictions and antagonisms between the haves and the have-nots shape contemporary Europe and beyond. Media and communication are fields of conflict in this power struggle: they are power structures and sites of power struggles, able to support both the expansion and the commodification of the commons. RN 18 invites contributions to the sociological understanding of these processes at its conference in 2022.

This year’s conference will be in Torino, where the Italian intellectual and political activist Antonio Gramsci lived, and where he set up the weekly newspaper ‘L’Ordine Nuovo’ and acted as editor of the newspaper ‘Il Grido del Popolo’. Gramsci exerted huge influence on the study of culture and communication in society. The meeting will take a particular note of this and invites papers that address the question: What is the relevance of Gramsci and other approaches and thinkers inspired by Marx for the study of communication and society today?

ESA RN18 calls for contributions that shed new light on theoretical and analytical insights that help to shape critical media sociology in the 21st century, in particular, but not exclusively, addressed to any of the following:

1. Critical Media Sociology and Capitalism
2. Critical Media Sociology and Critical Theory
3. Critical Media Sociology and Critical Political Economy of Media, Information and Communication
4. Critical Media Sociology, Gramsci and Hegemony
5. Critical Media Sociology and Ideology Critique
6. Critical Media Sociology and Cultural and Communication Labour
7. Critical Media Sociology and Digital Labour
8. Critical Media Sociology, New Nationalism and Authoritarianism
9. Critical Media Sociology, Consumption and Production in Urban Processes
10. Critical Media Sociology, Patriarchy and Gender
11. Critical Media Sociology, Social Inequality, Identity and Subjectivities
12. Critical Media Sociology, COVID-19, Pandemic and Crisis
13. Critical Media Sociology, Ecology and Climate
14. Critical Media Sociology, Democracy and the Public Sphere
15. Critical Media Sociology and the Left
16. Critical Media Sociology, the Commons and Alternatives

While the conference wishes to encourage contributions to the questions indicated here, it seeks to provide an opportunity for the presentation of the best and most widely interesting work by sociologists of communications and media regardless of specific focus.

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION

Abstract submission deadline: 1 April 2022
Notification of selected abstracts: 15 May 2022
Conference dates: 1-3 September 2022

Abstracts should be sent to:

Conference Organising Committee, rn18esasubmission[at] gmail.com

Abstracts should be sent as an e-mail attachment (400-600 words including title, author name(s), email address(es), and institutional affiliation(s)). Please insert the words “ESA RN18 Submission” in the subject. Although we do not provide a template for the abstract submission, we expect abstracts that include a rationale, research question(s), theoretical and/or empirical methods applied, and potential results and implications. Each abstract will be independently reviewed by two members of the ESA RN18 Board based on the call for papers.

CONFERENCE FEES

*90 Euro for ESA RN18 members / 110 Euro for non ESA RN18 members (conference dinner included)
*60 Euro for ESA RN18 members / 80 Euro for non ESA RN18 members (without conference dinner)
*25 Euro for students (Bachelor and Master) (without conference dinner) / 55 Euro (conference dinner included)

The registration details, including the registration form, will be available on the conference website in spring 2022: https://rn18esa.wordpress.com

You can become a member of ESA RN18 by joining the ESA and subscribing to the network. The network needs material support, so we encourage you to join or renew your membership. The network subscription fee is only 10 Euro: https://www.europeansociology.org/membership/become-a-member

Participation support for 4 PhD students and/or independent researchers will be available. This will not cover all costs, but part of them (accommodation and full conference fee). Preference will be given to presentations that suit the overall conference topic.

If you want to apply for participation support, please send an extended abstract (600 - 800 words), biographical information (up to 250 words) and indicate this in your abstract submission by adding the sentence ‘I want to apply for participation support for PhD students / independent researchers’. The notifications about participation support will be sent out together with the notifications of acceptance or rejection of presentations. Additional information to prove your position as a PhD student or independent researcher will be requested.

CONFERENCE VENUE

The conference will be hosted by the Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning. The Department is located at the Castello del Valentino, Viale Mattioli 39, 10125 Turin, Italy (see: http://www.dist.polito.it/en).

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

The ESA RN18 organising committee is led by:

*Dr Thomas Allmer, Coordinator of ESA RN18, University of Klagenfurt, Austria
*Dr Paško Bilić, Vice-Coordinator of ESA RN18, Institute for Development and International Relations, Croatia
*Dr Tatiana Mazali, Vice-Coordinator of ESA RN18, Polytechnic of Turin, Italy

RN18 Biennial Report for 2019-2021
RN18 Biennial Report for 2017-2019
RN18 Biennial Report for 2015-2017