Overview

This innovative textbook explores media and communication theory, and its intersections with social and political theory, through the prism of eight core dichotomies – communication/media, private/public, production/reception, material/symbolic, mainstream/alternative, abundance/scarcity, control/freedom, and virtual/real – revealing their complex interrelationships and significance in understanding contemporary media and communication landscapes. Students will gain a nuanced understanding of media and communication theories by examining both sides of each dichotomy and their dynamic interplay. The book historicizes each concept pair, illustrates them with past and present examples, and demonstrates how competing paradigms often complement rather than contradict each other. This approach helps readers grasp theoretical complexity, recognize the democratic importance of media and communication, and develop critical thinking skills through engaging case studies and discussion questions in each chapter. This textbook is designed for undergraduate and postgraduate students taking media and communication theory courses. Instructors teaching critical media and communication theory will find the dichotomy-based approach particularly valuable for helping students navigate complex theoretical debates and understand the field's intellectual development. It will also be useful supplementary reading for specific topics within broader media studies programs.

Full Product Details

9781041089483

Table of Contents

Reviews

“This book combines serious theory with the engaging force of an adventure narrative. Chapter after chapter, it hooks the reader with a riveting story from media history that leads into theoretical debates defining and mapping the field of Media and Communication Studies. Equally useful for beginners and seasoned researchers seeking to put their arguments in clear, accessible and compelling terms.” – Maria Bakardjieva, co-author of Digital Media and the Dynamics of Civil Society, University of Calgary (Canada) ""For decades, the debate raged: is media and communication part of a field, a post-discipline, a coherent area of investigation? What we needed, was a map to the stars - the concepts and theories that define who we are, where we came from, and how we may move forward. This is exactly what Dichotomies offers, and Bart Cammaerts provides us with an invaluable service."" – Mark Deuze, author of Life in Media, University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) “Cammaerts' book is a fresh and much-awaited analysis of the juxtapositions that structure the CMS field, but --more importantly-- it is a re-reading and re-structuring of communication and media theory as a whole, which makes it a great pedagogical tool. Through the lens of these eight dichotomies, we better understand the contradictions, positionalities and fluidities in media and communication studies, but also that these concepts necessarily work in conjuncture, as matrices, to capture complex contemporary realities.” – Nico Carpentier, author of Democracy and Media in Europe, Charles University (Czech Republic) “This book combines serious theory with the engaging force of an adventure narrative. Chapter after chapter, it hooks the reader with a riveting story from media history that leads into theoretical debates defining and mapping the field of Media and Communication Studies. Equally useful for beginners and seasoned researchers seeking to put their arguments in clear, accessible and compelling terms.” – Maria Bakardjieva, co-author of Digital Media and the Dynamics of Civil Society, University of Calgary (Canada) ""For decades, the debate raged: is media and communication part of a field, a post-discipline, a coherent area of investigation? What we needed, was a map to the stars - the concepts and theories that define who we are, where we came from, and how we may move forward. This is exactly what Dichotomies offers, and Bart Cammaerts provides us with an invaluable service."" – Mark Deuze, author of Life in Media, University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) “Cammaerts' book is a fresh and much-awaited analysis of the juxtapositions that structure the CMS field, but --more importantly-- it is a re-reading and re-structuring of communication and media theory as a whole, which makes it a great pedagogical tool. Through the lens of these eight dichotomies, we better understand the contradictions, positionalities and fluidities in media and communication studies, but also that these concepts necessarily work in conjuncture, as matrices, to capture complex contemporary realities.” – Nico Carpentier, author of Democracy and Media in Europe, Charles University (Czech Republic)

Author Information

Bart Cammaerts is Professor of Politics and Communication at the Media and Communications Department of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK. His research focuses on the relationship between media, communication, power, resistance, and social change. He publishes widely and his books include: The Circulation of Anti-Austerity Protest (2018), Youth Participation in Democratic Life (co-authored, 2015), and Mediation and Protest Movements (co-edited, 2013).

Tab Content 6

Countries Available