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This book outlines and contributes to the foundations of Marxist-humanist communication theory. It analyses the role of communication in capitalist society.
Engaging with the works of critical thinkers such as Erich Fromm, E. P. Thompson, Raymond Williams, Henri Lefebvre, Georg Lukács, Lucien Goldmann, Günther Anders, M. N. Roy, Angela Davis, C. L. R. James, Rosa Luxemburg, Eve Mitchell, and Cedric J. Robinson, the book provides readings of works that inform our understanding of how to critically theorise communication in society. The topics covered include the relationship of capitalism, racism, and patriarchy; communication and alienation; the base/superstructure-problem; the question of how one should best define communication; the political economy of communication; ideology critique; the connection of communication and struggles for alternatives.
Written for a broad audience of students and scholars interested in contemporary critical theory, this book will be useful for courses in media and communication studies, cultural studies, Internet research, sociology, philosophy, political science, and economics.
This is the first of five Communication and Society volumes, each one outlining a particular aspect of the foundations of a critical theory of communication in society.
List of contents
1. Introduction ; 2. Erich Fromm and the Critical Theory of Communication ; 3. Revisiting the Althusser/E. P. Thompson-Controversy: Towards a Marxist Theory of Communication ; 4. Raymond Williams’s Communicative Materialism ; 5. Henri Lefebvre’s Theory of the Production of Space and the Critical Theory of Communication ; 6. Towards A Critical Theory of Communication with Georg Lukács’s and Lucien Goldmann ; 7. Günther Anders’s Critical Theory of Technology ; 8. Jean-Paul Sartre as Critical Theorist of Communication. An Engagement with "Critique of Dialectical Reason" ; 9. M. N. Roy, Socialist Humanism, and the Critical Analysis of Communication ; 10. Capitalism, Racism, Patriarchy ; 11. Conclusion
About the author
Christian Fuchs is a critical theorist of communication and society. He is co-editor of the journal tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. He is author of many publications, including the books Social Media: A Critical Introduction (3rd edition 2021), Communication and Capitalism: A Critical Theory (2020), Marxism: Karl Marx’s Fifteen Key Concepts for Cultural & Communication Studies (2020), Nationalism on the Internet: Critical Theory and Ideology in the Age of Social Media and Fake News (2020), Rereading Marx in the Age of Digital Capitalism (2019), Digital Demagogue: Authoritarian Capitalism in the Age of Trump and Twitter (2016), Digital Labour and Karl Marx (2014), Internet and Society (2008).
Summary
This book outlines and contributes to the foundations of Marxist-humanist communication theory. It analyses the role of communication in capitalist society.
