This highly original, thought-provoking book – written by a pioneer of communication studies – is the first to analyze the post 9/11 world in terms of global media and popular culture. Written in an engaging and candid manner by a leading expert in this field Argues that cross-cultural understanding can only be achieved by harnessing the power of global media, popular culture, information technology, and personal communications technologies Examines the global trend of using film, video, music, and TV “on-demand” as the framework through which we experience all cultural activity Draws inspiration from the work of a range of theorists, from Charles Darwin to Anthony Giddens Candidly interrogates the very latest developments in world affairs, especially the roles of fundamentalist religious ideology, media globalization, and individualism, whose complex relationships have yet to be explained by social scientists

Serial storytelling has the advantage of unlocking rather than simplifying the complexities of digital culture. With their worldbuilding potential, TV series open up new artistic horizons, particularly for the dystopian genre. Situated at the nexus of dystopia, complex TV, and a metamodern cultural logic, Dystopia on Demand: Technology, Digital Culture, and the Metamodern Quest in Complex Serial Dystopias offers readers novel insights into the dynamics of serial dystopias in the contemporary streaming landscape. Introducing the term 'complex serial dystopias' to describe series that allow audiences to engage with the dystopian premise from multiple angles, the book examines four Anglo-American series, including Black Mirror, Mr. Robot, Westworld, and Kiss Me First. The in-depth analyses trace the variety of ways in which these series offer critical reflections on the human-technology entanglement in digital culture.

The movie industry is changing rapidly, due in part to the adoption of digital technologies. Distributors now send films to theaters electronically. Consumers can purchase or rent movies instantly online and then watch them on their high-definition televisions, their laptops, or even their cell phones. Meanwhile, social media technologies allow independent filmmakers to raise money and sell their movies directly to the public. All of these changes contribute to an “on-demand culture,” a shift that is radically altering film culture and contributing to a much more personalized viewing experience. Chuck Tryon offers a compelling introduction to a world in which movies have become digital files. He navigates the complexities of digital delivery to show how new modes of access—online streaming services like YouTube or Netflix, digital downloads at iTunes, the popular Redbox DVD kiosks in grocery stores, and movie theaters offering digital projection of such 3-D movies as Avatar—are redefining how audiences obtain and consume motion picture entertainment. Tryon also tracks the reinvention of independent movies and film festivals by enterprising artists who have built their own fundraising and distribution models online. Unique in its focus on the effects of digital technologies on movie distribution, On-Demand Culture offers a corrective to address the rapid changes in the film industry now that movies are available at the click of a button.

For the past 30 years, Paget Henry has been one of the most articulate and creative voices in Caribbean scholarship, making seminal contributions to the study of Caribbean political economy, C.L.R. James studies, critical theory, phenomenology, and Africana philosophy. In the case of Afro-Caribbean philosophy, he inaugurated a new philosophical school of inquiry. Journeys in Caribbean Thought: The Paget Henry Reader outlines the trajectory of Henry’s scholarly career, beginning and ending with his most recent work on the distinctive character of Africana and Caribbean philosophy and political and intellectual leadership in his home of Antigua and Barbuda. In between, the book returns to Henry’s early consideration of the relationship of political economy to cultural flourishing or stagnation and how both should be studied, and to the problem with which Henry began his career, of peripheral development through a focus on Caribbean political economy and democratic socialism. Henry’s canonical work in Anglo-Caribbean thought draws upon a heavily creolized canon.

This comprehensive text explores the relationship between identity, subjectivity and digital communication, providing a strong starting point for understanding how fast-changing communication technologies, platforms, applications and practices have an impact on how we perceive ourselves, others, relationships and bodies. Drawing on critical studies of identity, behaviour and representation, Identity and Digital Communication demonstrates how identity is shaped and understood in the context of significant and ongoing shifts in online communication. Chapters cover a range of topics including advances in social networking, the development of deepfake videos, intimacies of everyday communication, the emergence of cultures based on algorithms, the authenticities of TikTok and online communication’s setting as a site for hostility and hate speech. Throughout the text, author Rob Cover shows how the formation and curation of self-identity is increasingly performed and engaged with through digital cultural practices, affirming that these practices must be understood if we are to make sense of identity in the 2020s and beyond. Featuring critical accounts, everyday examples and analysis of key platforms such as TikTok, this textbook is an essential primer for scholars and students in media studies, psychology, cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, computer science, as well as health practitioners, mental health advocates and community members.

Few applied disciplines are more sensitive to cross-cultural issues than marketing and consumer psychology. The chapters prepared for this volume reflect awareness of both similarities and differences within and across cultures. They include analyses of methodological issues, theoretical investigations of cultural and social values and their implications for marketing specialists, studies of gender- and sub-culture specific advertising, and investigations of advertising efforts in several different international markets. The scholars and advertising professionals who contributed these chapters will have much to say to consumer psychologists and marketing specialists alike.

From its first edition in 1979, Perspectives in Sociology has provided generations of undergraduates with a clear, reassuring introduction to the complications of sociological theory. This revised and updated edition features: a concise introduction to the major debates of the twentieth century, placing them in historical and philosophical context information on thinkers of the nineteenth and early twentieth century whose relevance to modern social thought is only now being recognized, e.g. Nietszche, Saussure, Simmel connections drawn between post-structuralist thinkers like Foucault and Derrida and the founding figures of sociology: Marx, Weber and Durkheim a completely rewritten chapter on the ‘Synthesisers’ - Bourdieu, Habermas and Giddens - and their attempts to generate a consensus from the apparently conflicting theories of their predecessors a new chapter reviewing the rise of British sociology, with particular reference to the political context and the changing role of ‘class’ in sociological thinking a new chapter describing the attempts of sociological theorists to explain current concerns, problems, and issues in the areas of gender, (homo)sexuality, and ethnicity in the context of the postcolonial world. While retaining its emphasis and wealth of information on the founding figures of sociology, this fifth edition now features a new easy-to-read format, (with particular attention paid to the linking and cross-referencing of chapters), and includes much new material on contemporary social theory with particular reference to its attempts to tackle current problems and issues in the areas of gender, sexuality, and ethnicity in the postcolonial context.