Studies of race and media are dominated by textual approaches that explore the politics of representation. But there is little understanding of how and why representations of race in the media take the shape that they do. How, one might ask, is race created by cultural industries? In this important new book, Anamik Saha encourages readers to focus on the production of representations of racial and ethnic minorities in film, television, music and the arts. His interdisciplinary approach combines critical media studies and media industries research with postcolonial studies and critical race perspectives to reveal how political economic forces and legacies of empire shape industrial cultural production and, in turn, media discourses around race. Race and the Cultural Industries is required reading for students and scholars of media and cultural studies, as well as anyone interested in why historical representations of 'the Other' persist in the media and how they are to be challenged.
`This is both a smashing textbook and also an impressive contribution to thinking in a range of subjects. This book should influence the way we construct the undergraduate curriculum as well as rethink the polarizaton between political economy and cultural studies′- Frank Webster, City University `A wonderfully clear, insightful and original synthesis of work on the cultural industries, representing the perspectives of the new generation of researchers′ - James Curran, Goldsmiths College, University of London `The Cultural Industries is an indispensable guide to the main forces at work in the production of media today. 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, New York University `David Hesmondhalgh offers us a valuable resource and a timely provocation... [A] very well organised and clearly written introduction to this increasingly important area of study. Students and teachers wanting a comprehensive and accessible guide to what we know and where we might be heading will welcome it with open arms... His book deserves to be required reading on every media and cultural studies course′ - Graham Murdock, University of Loughborough ′ The arguments within [this book] provide both a timely overview of current scholarship and offer a unique multidisciplinary approach to the topic in a clear and concise manner′ - TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies What are the ′cultural industries′? What role do they play in contemporary society? How are they changing? The Cultural Industries 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. The book: -Considers both the entertainment and the information sectors -Combines analysis of the contemporary scene with a long-range historical perspective -Draws on an range of examples from North America, the United Kingdom, Europe and elsewhere. Hesmondhalgh′s clearly written, thoroughly argued overview of political-economic, organizational, technological and cultural change represents an important intervention in research on cultural production, but at the same time provides students with an accessible, indispensable introduction to the area.
Culture will keep you fit and healthy. Culture will bring communities together. Culture will improve your education. This is the message from governments and arts organisations across the country; however, this book explains why we need to be cautious about culture. Offering a powerful call to transform the cultural and creative industries, Culture is bad for you examines the intersections between race, class, and gender in the mechanisms of exclusion in cultural occupations. Exclusion from culture begins at an early age, the authors argue, and despite claims by cultural institutions and businesses to hire talented and hardworking individuals, women, people of colour, and those from working class backgrounds are systematically disbarred. While the inequalities that characterise both workforce and audience remain unaddressed, the positive contribution culture makes to society can never be fully realised.
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.
How do media ‘make’ race? How do legacies of empire shape our understandings of race and media? How does racism structure the media industries? Is the internet an inherently white space? Understanding the relationship between race, culture and media has never been more important. From the demonisation of Muslims to rampant new forms of racism on digital platforms, media are central to understanding how race is both constructed and experienced in everyday life. Yet media are key to resisting racism, too. While they can silence and stereotype us, they can also enable us to cut across difference, to contest and mobilise, and to create genuine community. Race, Culture and Media is a critical, impassioned and accessible exploration of this complex relationship. Anamik Saha outlines the theories, concepts and research you need to know in order to make sense of race, culture and media today - challenging you to move beyond simplistic notions of ‘diversity’ to really engage with issues of both power and participation. It is essential reading for students and researchers across media, communication and cultural studies. Dr Anamik Saha is Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he convenes the MA Race, Media and Social Justice.
Creative Justice examines issues of inequality and injustice in the cultural industries and cultural workplace. It first aims to ‘do justice’ to the kinds of objects and texts produced by artists, musicians, designersand other kinds of symbol-makers – by appreciating them as meaningful goods with objective qualities. It also shows how cultural work itself has objective quality as a rewarding and socially-engaging practice, and not just a means to an economic end. But this book is also about injustice – made evident in the workings of arts education and cultural policy, and through the inequities and degradations of cultural work. In worlds where low pay and wage inequality are endemic, and where access to the best cultural academies, jobs and positions is becoming more strongly determined by social background, what chance do ordinary people have of obtaining their own ‘creative justice’? Aimed at students and scholars across a range of disciplines including Sociology, Media and Communication, Cultural Studies, Critical Management Studies,and Human Geography, Creative Justice examines the evidence for – and proposes some solutions to - the problem of obtaining fairer and more equalitarian systems of arts and cultural work.
An undisputed classic, the Fourth Edition of this bestselling media studies text offers an unparalleled analysis of the cultural industries. Bringing together a huge range of research, theory and key concepts, David Hesmondhalgh provides an accessible yet critical exploration of cultural production and consumption in the global media landscape. This new edition: Analyses the influence of IT and tech companies like Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook on the cultural industries. Discusses the impact of digital technologies on industries such as music, TV, newspapers, books and digital games. Explores the effects of digitalisation on culture, discussing critical issues like participation, power, commercialism, surveillance, and labour. Examines the changing conceptions of audiences, and the increasing influence of market research, audience tracking and advertising. As one of the most read, most studied and most cited books in the field, this Fourth Edition is an essential resource for students and researchers of media and communication studies, the cultural and creative industries, cultural studies and the sociology of the media.
Analyzing the lack of diversity among opera executives, this book examines the careers of executive opera managers of color in the U.S. By interrogating the impact of race on arts managers’ careers, the author contemplates how opera might attract and retain more racially diverse arts managers to ensure its future. With a focus on the U.S., research is contextualized via qualitative data to explore, enhance, and institutionalize access, diversity, equity, and inclusion (ADEI) in the opera industry. In a revealing series of expert-conducted interviews, the author poses illuminating questions, such as: what if an inability to recruit and retain diverse executives is the primary source of opera’s challenges? if more racially diverse opera executives existed, would the art form persist in struggling to find its place in contemporary society? from where will the next generation of diverse opera managers emerge? As the magnitude of the global diversity problem grows within the creative and cultural industries, this book serves as a guide for Arts Management practitioners and students who may view their class, different ability, ethnicity, gender, race, or sexual orientation as a liability in their pursuit of executive careers.
This book fills a significant gap in the critical conversation on race in media by extending interrogations of racial colorblindness in American television to the industrial practices that shape what we see on screen. Specifically, it frames the practice of colorblind casting as a potent lens for examining the interdependence of 21st century post-racial politics and popular culture. Applying a ‘production as culture’ approach to a series of casting case studies from American primetime dramatic television, including ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and The CW’s The Vampire Diaries, Kristen Warner complicates our understanding of the cultural processes that inform casting and expounds the aesthetic and pragmatic industrial viewpoints that perpetuate limiting or downright exclusionary hiring norms. She also examines the material effects of actors of color who knowingly participate in this system and justify their limited roles as a consequence of employment, and finally speculates on what alternatives, if any, are available to correct these practices. Warner’s insights are a valuable addition to scholarship in media industry studies, critical race theory, ethnic studies, and audience reception, and will also appeal to those with a general interest in race in popular culture.
This book examines the role of community filmmaking in society and its connection with issues of cultural diversity, innovation, policy and practice in various places. Deploying a range of examples from Europe, North America, Australia and Hong Kong, the chapters show that film emerging from outside the mainstream film industries and within community contexts can lead to innovation in terms of both content and processes and a better representation of the cultural diversity of a range of communities and places. The book aims to situate the community filmmaker as the central node in the complex network of relationships between diverse communities, funding bodies, policy and the film industries.
