The Cultural Industries

What are the 'cultural industries'? What role do they play in contemporary society? How are they changing? This book combines a political economy approach with the best aspects of cultural studies, sociology, communication studies and social theory to provide an overview of the key debates surrounding cultural production.

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′The first edition of The Cultural Industries moved us irrevocably past the tired debates between political economy and cultural studies approaches. This second edition takes on new and vital targets, for example claims that the Internet is replacing television in everyday media consumption.... In the process, Hesmondhalgh provides us with an essential toolkit for making critical sense of the digital media age, and our places within it′ - Nick Couldry, Goldsmiths College, University Of London



′This book sets a valuable standard for communication studies. Hesmondhalgh integrates cultural research with political economy, organizational sociology with public communication policy studies, global with comparative analysis, and intellectual property law with technology changes. I′ve successfully taught graduate and undergraduate courses in the USA and France using the first edition, and this one is better still′ - John D.H. Downing, Global Media Research Centre, Southern Illinois University





Praise for the first edition:


′This lucid, careful and sophisticated book orders the entire field, for the US as well as Europe, and at one stroke becomes the state of the art, the standard′ - Todd Gitlin, Columbia University, USA





This book is a powerful antidote to journalistic hype about change in the cultural industries. Significantly expanding, updating and revising an acclaimed first edition published in 2002, it





·analyses how, why and in what ways cultural production has changed since the 1980s


·guides the reader through existing approaches


·scrutinises facts and debates about the role of culture and creativity in modern societies


·provides new material on copyright, cultural policy, celebrity power, the digital distribution of music and many other issues





Like its predecessor, this exciting new edition of The Cultural Industries places transformation in the cultural industries in long-term political, economic and cultural context. In doing so, Hesmondhalgh offers a distinctive critical approach to cultural production, drawing on political economy perspectives, but also on cultural studies, sociology and social theory.