Articulating Neoliberalism in Critical Media and Communication Studies

Abstract

Looked at broadly, we can identify two distinct discourses about neoliberalism in communication and media studies and elsewhere. The first deploys the term to enact a familiar critical narrative where neoliberalism signifies a social order dominated by the logic of the market. This narrative has been given different articulations1 in communication and media research. Neoliberalism has functioned as a descriptive and explanatory category in analyses of topics such as infotainment (Thussu, 2007), media ownership (Herman & McChesney, 1997), multiculturalism (Lentin & Titley, 2011), reality television (Ouellette & Hay, 2008), political marketing (Savigny, 2008), political consultants (Sussman & Galizio, 2003), intellectual property rights (Hesmondhalgh, 2008) and the cultural politics of voice (Couldry, 2010). Others have examined the communicative dynamics of “free market” regimes without explicitly deploying the term “neoliberalism” (Aune, 2001). More generally, the role of media and communication practices in the ideological constitution of neoliberalism is taken for granted in the wider literature (see Birch & Mykhnenko, 2010; Harvey, 2005; Jessop, 2010).KeywordsPolitical EconomyCommunication StudyCreative IndustryReality TelevisionCritical MediumThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.