scholarly journals Hybrids in the Age of Post-Truth

Author(s):  
Irina Perianova

The article discusses the hallmarks and markers of hybrid discourse in social sciences, media and communication, in education and in politics. Linguistic hybridity was studied in detail by Maria Georgieva in her papers and chapters on globetalk where she provides excellent examples of lexico-semantic and lexico-grammatical mixes. In the age of ‘post-truth’ hybrids are often associated with the instrumental use of disinformation or the ‘weaponisation’ of information. This paper highlights some groups of hybrids from a socio-pragmatic perspective.

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margreth Lünenborg ◽  
Tanja Maier

This editorial delivers an introduction to the thematic <em>Media and Communication </em>issue on “The Turn to Affect and Emotion in Media Studies”. The social and cultural formation of affect and emotion has been of central interest to social science-based emotion research as well as to affect studies, which are mainly grounded in cultural studies. Media and communication scholars, in turn, have especially focused on how emotion and affect are produced by media, the way they are communicated through media, and the forms of emotion audiences develop during the use of media. Distinguishing theoretical lines of emotion theory in social sciences and diverse traditions of affect theory, we reflect on the need to engage more deeply with affect and emotion as driving forces in contemporary media and society. This thematic issue aims to add to ongoing affect studies research and to existing emotion research within media studies. A special emphasis will be placed on exploring structures of difference and power produced in and by media in relation to affect and emotion.


Author(s):  
Horst Holzer

This paper presents the English translation of one of Horst Holzer’s works on communication and society. Holzer elaborates foundations of a critical sociology of communication(s) that studies the relationship of communication and society based on the approach of critical political economy. He shows that such an approach relates communication and production, communication and capitalism; communication, ideology and fetishism; and situates communication in the context of social struggles for alternatives to capitalist social forms. The paper is followed by a postface in which Christian Fuchs contemplates why Holzer’s approach has been largely “forgotten” in the German social sciences and media and communication studies, in turn stressing the continued relevance of Holzer’s theory today.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Mercea

The flurry of protests since the turn of the decade has sustained a growth area in the social sciences. The diversity of approaches to the various facets and concerns raised by the collective action of aggrieved groups the world over impresses through multidisciplinarity and the wealth of insights it has generated. This introduction to a special issue of the international journal Information, Communication and Society is an invitation to recover conceptual instruments—such as the ecological trope—that have fallen out of fashion in media and communication studies. We account for their fall from grace and explicate the rationale for seeking to reinsert them into the empirical terrain of interlocking media, communication practices and protest which we aim to both capture with theory and adopt as a starting point for further analytical innovation.


Author(s):  
Goran Bolin

A classic epistemological problem in the social sciences is how to analyse and understand social change. In media and communication studies, for example, the concept of mediatisation has sparked off such a debate, since one of the main criticisms against the approach is that researchers rather take change for granted without being able to empirically establish if and how change has occurred. In this article is suggested a model for analysing social change through an analysis of how generational identity as “we-sense” is produced in narratives about media use. The empirical basis for the discussion is picked from a recently finished project on media generations in Sweden and Estonia, building on foremost qualitative material. The article concludes with accounting for the merits of using a generational perspective for analysing social change.Cómo analizar y comprender el cambio social es un problema epistemológico clásico en ciencias sociales. Sin embargo, en los estudios de comunicación, por ejemplo, el concepto de mediatización ha precipitado el debate, de manera que una de las principales críticas que se dirigen a los estudios realizados desde este concepto tienden a dar por sentado el cambio, sin llegar a establecer empíricamente si tal cambio ha ocurrido o cómo se ha producido. En este artículo, se sugiere un modelo para analizar el cambio social a través de un análisis de cómo la identidad generacional -entendida como “sentido compartido” (we-sense)- se produce en las narrativas sobre el uso de los medios de comunicación. La base empírica para la discusión deriva de un proyecto recientemente finalizado sobre las generaciones de medios de comunicación en Suecia y Estonia, fundamentado principalmente en material cualitativo. En artículo concluye resaltando el valor que tiene el uso de una perspectiva generacional para analizar el cambio social.


Author(s):  
Horst Holzer

This paper presents the English translation of one of Horst Holzer’s works on communication and society. Holzer elaborates foundations of a critical sociology of communication(s) that studies the relationship of communication and society based on the approach of critical political economy. He shows that such an approach relates communication and production, communication and capitalism; communication, ideology and fetishism; and situates communication in the context of social struggles for alternatives to capitalist social forms. The paper is followed by a postface in which Christian Fuchs contemplates why Holzer’s approach has been largely “forgotten” in the German social sciences and media and communication studies, in turn stressing the continued relevance of Holzer’s theory today.


Publizistik ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 503-515
Author(s):  
P. Golding

Abstract This article outlines the growth and character of media and communication studies in the UK. It sets out the history and development of the field, and explains its twin origins in both humanities and social sciences contexts. The article also presents some descriptive data about the scale and nature of teaching and research in the field in UK higher education, and explains the evolution of relevant subject associations. The public, political and professional reception of and responsse to the field are described, and the continuing debates about its value and salience examined.


2018 ◽  
Vol 114 (7/8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Neo Molotja ◽  
Gerard Ralphs

Expenditure on research and experimental development in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in South Africa has almost doubled over the past decade. However, fine-grained analysis of patterns of Research and Development expenditure in SSH research fields over the period 2005/2006–2014/2015 reveals a number of critical issues for both institutional planning and national policymaking. We demonstrate that most SSH Research and Development expenditure in the 10-year reference period was targeted predominantly within just a few research fields: finance, economics, education, accounting and political science and public policy. By contrast, investment in SSH research fields such as architecture and habitat, media and communication studies, psychology, and transportation studies was strikingly low in the same period, with some research fields, such as dance or tourism, appearing to be at risk of decline. Using these Research and Development data as a proxy, we argue, principally, that institutional Research and Development planners and national policymakers need to find a greater balance between current priorities and future needs, if SSH Research and Development is to be ‘leveraged’ for larger socio-economic impacts, as is being envisaged in a new draft White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation. Significance: • Research and Development expenditure in the social sciences and humanities between 2005 and 2014 was concentrated in just a few research fields, such as finance, economics and education. By contrast, Research and Development expenditure was comparatively low in research fields such as media and communication studies, technology management, architecture and habitat, and dance. • In an era of rapid global technological change, but also deepening local societal challenges, South Africa’s national and institutional policymakers face strategic Research and Development choices. This article contributes to national debate about the status and perceived role(s) of the social sciences and humanities in this context.


2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-64
Author(s):  
Karin van Es ◽  
Mirko Tobias Schäfer ◽  
Maranke Wieringa

As ever more data becomes available to work with, the use of digital tools within the humanities and social sciences is becoming increasingly common. These digital tools are often imported from other institutional contexts and were originally developed for other purposes. They may harbour concepts and techniques that stand in tension with traditions in the humanities and social sciences. Moreover, there are many easy-to-use tools for the collection, processing and analysis of data that require no knowledge of their limitations. Problematically, these tools are often assigned such values as reliability and transparency when in fact they are active mediators caught up in the epistemic process. In this paper, we highlight the need for a critical, reflexive attitude toward the tools we use in digital methods. It is a plea for what we call “tool criticism” and an attempt to think through what this mode of criticism would entail in practice for the academic field. The need for tool criticism is contextualised in view of the emerging ideological and methodological critique toward digital methods. Touching on the so-called science wars we explore knowledge as a construction and consider the importance of accounting for knowledge claims. These considerations open up an assessment of the accountability measures that are being discussed and developed in our field by individuals and institutions alike. In conclusion, we underscore the urgency of this endeavour and its vital role for media and communication scholars.


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