Sociología de la comunicación

¿Por qué triunfan Avatar, Shakira, Spielberg, Mujeres desesperadas, Slumdog Millionaire, Disney, Michael Jackson o MTV? ¿Cómo se fabrican los best sellers, los discos superventas y los grandes éxitos de taquilla? ¿A qué se debe el predominio de la cultura estadounidense y por qué está ausente Europa de esta gigantesca batalla cultural a escala mundial?

Para responder a estas preguntas, el sociólogo y periodista Frédéric Martel ha llevado a cabo una ambiciosa investigación de más de cinco años por treinta países, entrevistando a mil doscientas personas en todas las capitales del entertainment, de Hollywood a Bollywood, de Tokio a Miami, del cuartel general de Al Yazira en Qatar a la sede del gigante Televisa en México. Y su conclusión es inquietante: la nueva guerra mundial por los contenidos ha comenzado.

En el corazón de esta lucha: la cultura mainstream, originalmente diseñada y comercializada por potentes industrias del entretenimiento en Estados Unidos que extienden su influencia hasta el último rincón del planeta gracias a productos cuyas estrategias de creación y difusión resultan fascinantes. A la vez, nuevos países emergen con sus medios de comunicación y sus propias diversiones masivas. Internet multiplica su poder. Todo se acelera. En India, en Brasil o en Arabia Saudí se compite por dominar la web y ganar la batalla de la influencia cultural. Se quiere controlar las palabras, las imágenes y los sueños.

Este libro cuenta esta guerra global de la cultura. Y explica lo que hace falta hacer para gustar a todo el mundo… en todo el mundo.

Participation has become fashionable again, but at the same time it has always played a crucial role in our contemporary societies, and it has been omnipresent in a surprisingly large number of societal fields. In the case of the media sphere, the present-day media conjuncture is now considered to be the most participatory ever, but media participation has had a long and intense history. To deal with these paradoxes, this book looks at participation as a structurally unstable concept and as the object of a political-ideological struggle that makes it oscillate between minimalist and maximalist versions. This struggle is analysed in theoretical reflections in five fields (democracy, arts, development, spatial planning and media) and in eight different cases of media practice. These case studies also show participation’s close connection to power, identity, organization, technology and quality.

‘Communication and Citizenship: Rethinking Crisis and Change’ was the general theme of the 2110 IAMCR Conference that was hosted by the Communication and Society Research Centre, University of Minho, Portugal,
18-22 July. This book comprehends Plenary Addresses on the general theme hoping that their publication will keep the debate alive. In a time of profound economic and social crisis, the scientific community is expected to shed light on contemporary deadlocks and uncertainties. These texts are part of the indispensable continuous critique.

O livro, organizado por Alexandre Barbalho, Bruno Fuser e Denise Cogo, reúne artigos de professores/pesquisadores brasileiros sobre a influência da comunicação na formação da cidadania contemporânea. Com uma escrita agradável e impactante, os autores relacionam o conceito clássico de cidadania com a comunicação popular, alternativa e comunitária e refletem sobre a importância das redes sociais na sociedade globalizada. Seu lançamento em Fortaleza acontecerá no dia 17 de junho, às 19h, na Livraria Cultura localizada na Av. Dom Luís, 1010.

Quali sono i meccanismi e le dinamiche che governano la comunicazione politica contemporanea? Che rapporto c'è tra quest'ultima e la comunicazione elettorale? Si tratta solo di una tecnica di propaganda per costruire il consenso? Il libro affronta in maniera chiara e semplice i temi più importanti della comunicazione politica: dalla sua definizione agli elementi che la compongono, dall'analisi del media management al ruolo degli spin doctor, fino al marketing elettorale e alle nuove forme di comunicazione politica nel web 2.1.

In cooperation with the hosts of the World Summit on Media for Children and Youth in 2110, Karlstad, Sweden, The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media organized a Research Forum with different sessions in the summit programme. The aim was to provide a space for an exchange of knowledge and a dialogue between the different groups of delegates at the summit and for researchers to reach out to interested parties in and outside the research community. Under the overriding theme of the introductory Plenary Session "New Questions, New Insights, New Approaches", The Clearinghouse Research Forum had four more sessions with panels on different themes:

• Children, Media, Consumption and Health
• Media Ethics and Social Responsibility
• Communication for Social Change
• Media Literacy and Education

The current Yearbook is based on the twenty-five presentations given by a range of the most outstanding scholars from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America. For this book, they reworked their contributions to provide slightly extended articles.

Les séries américaines plongent les publics dans des univers médiatiques qui déforment la démocratie réelle et qui font l'éloge de héros abandonnés, de personnages en crise, ballottés au gré de conflits psychologiques ou physiques que leur impose leur quotidien précaire. Les spectateurs s'exposent dès lors aux messages explicites et implicites contenus dans ces récits. Comment la fiction contribue-t-elle alors à façonner l'opinion?

En este libro se presenta el estado de la investigación y práctica en comunicación y salud en la Argentina contemporánea. Constituye un esfuerzo pionero interesado en mostrar la diversidad y complejidad del encuentro de disciplinas y teorías interesadas en procesos de comunicación e información sobre salud y enfermedad. Como conversación entre profesionales de la comunicación, la salud pública y el periodismo, el campo ofrece una variedad de preguntas y desafíos centrales para entender cómo la sociedad argentina define y discute la salud. A través del análisis de la salud en los medios, las instituciones médicas, las campañas y los programas y políticas de salud pública, los capítulos seleccionados ofrecen un análisis riguroso que sirve tanto para el debate conceptual como para el diseño estratégico de programas. Se consideran experiencias de la comunicación en temas específicos de salud (gripe, VIH/sida, dengue, tabaquismo, cáncer) y cuestiones conceptuales generales (comunicación interpersonal, cobertura periodística, campañas de medios). El libro es un recurso fundamental de estudio y consulta para identificar líneas de investigación, evaluar experiencias y resultados de programas recientes, y continuar profundizando la colaboración de la salud pública y la comunicación. Los análisis presentados ofrecen lecciones para entender cómo la comunicación contribuye a mejorar las condiciones de salud de la población y fortalecer a los servicios de salud.

The Gender and Media Reader is an essential text for those interested in gender and media studies, its main topics, debates, and theoretical approaches. The primary objective of this collection is to expand readers’ knowledge of how gender operates within media culture through engagement with foundational writings as well as more contemporary research in this field. Taking a multiperspectival approach that considers gender broadly and examines media texts alongside their production and consumption, The Gender and Media Reader enables readers’ critical thinking about how gender is constructed, contested, and subverted in different sites within media culture. Along with the main introduction, individual section introductions facilitate readers’ understanding of the development of gender and media studies by contextualizing the various topics, debates, and theoretical approaches that have shaped it, as well as by highlighting current trends.

To speak of participation today raises a series of questions on how the presence and use of new media affect modes of social participation. From a variety of theoretical, empirical and methodological perspectives, the contributions in this volume explore participation in different social realms – from everyday life, interpersonal relationships, work and leisure activities to collective and political action. This collection demonstrates that participation is a localised notion, assuming a multitude of shapes under a variety of technological, political, socio-economic, linguistic and cultural conditions.