[ARCHIVE] Call for Papers: Media Sociology Preconference 2014

Call for Papers: Media Sociology Preconference 2014

Venue: Mills College (Oakland, CA)

Date: August 15, 2014

We invite submissions for a second preconference on media sociology to be held at Mills College (Oakland, CA) on Friday, August 15, 2014. (This is one day before the start of the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in San Francisco.) To encourage the widest possible range of submissions, we have no pre­-specified theme again this year and invite both theoretical and empirical papers on any topic related to media sociology. Submissions from graduate students and junior scholars are particularly welcome.

Media sociology has long been a highly diverse field spanning many topics, methodologies, and units of analysis. It encompasses all forms of mass-mediated communication and expression, including news media, entertainment media, as well as new and digital media. Outstanding research exists within the different subfields both within and beyond the discipline of sociology. Our aim is to create dialogue among these disparate yet complementary traditions.

This preconference is also linked to a campaign to form a Media Sociology section of the ASA that is theoretically and methodologically agnostic and aims to support sociological work related to any and all media. A petition supported by signatures from over 200 current members was submitted to the ASA Council in November 2013, and we are optimistic that Media Sociology will become a Section-in-Formation in 2015.

Papers may be on a variety of topics including, but not limited to:

-production processes and/or media workers

-political economy (including the role of the state and markets)

-media and the public sphere

-media content

-the Internet, social media, cellular phones, or other technology

-the digital divide

-new uses of media

-media globalization or diaspora

-media effects of media consumption

-identity, the self, and media

Invited Speakers

Last year’s inaugural preconference, held at NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge and Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, was very well-attended and featured an invited keynote by Dhiraj Murthy (Goldsmiths, University of London) and a plenary panel addressing the theme, “Mapping the Field of Media Sociology” with additional participants Rodney Benson (NYU), Andrea Press (University of Virginia), Michael Schudson (Columbia University), and Eleanor Townsley (Mount Holyoke College).

This year’s keynote speaker will be Clayton Childress (University of Toronto – Scarborough). A special plenary session on “Media Sociology as a Vocation” will feature a panel discussion on careers in media sociology. We will announce further invited speakers in due course.

UPDATE: Confirmed plenary panelists include Laura Grindstaff (UC Davis), Paul Hirsch (Northwestern University), Ronald Jacobs (University at Albany, SUNY), Paul Lopes (Colgate University), and Guobin Yang (University of Pennsylvania).

Submissions

Submissions should include:

-Separate cover sheet with: title, name and affiliation, and email address of author(s).

-Abstract of 150-300 words that discusses the problem, research, methods and relevance.

-Also include at least three descriptive keywords. Note: DO NOT put identifying information in the body of the abstract; only on cover sheet.

-Use Microsoft Office or PDF format.

Send abstracts to casey.brienza.1@city.ac.uk. Please write “Media Sociology Preconference” in the subject line.

Abstract deadline is March 31, 2014.

Notification of acceptance will occur sometime in mid-­April.

Contact Casey Brienza (casey.brienza.1@city.ac.uk) or Matthias Revers (mrevers@albany.edu) for more information about the preconference.