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The Cultural Industries
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The Cultural Industries

Fourth Edition


December 2018 | 568 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
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.

 
PART ONE: INTRODUCING THE CULTURAL INDUSTRIES
 
Chapter 1 Change and Continuity, Power and Creativity
 
Chapter 2 The Cultural Industries Approach: Distinctive Features of Culture-Producing Businesses
 
PART TWO: ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORKS
 
Chapter 3 Theories of Culture, Theories of Cultural Production
 
Chapter 4 Cultural Industries in the Twentieth Century: The Key Features
 
Chapter 5 Why the Cultural Industries Began to Change in the 1980s
 
PART THREE: POLICY CHANGE
 
Chapter 6 Policy Change in Media and Telecommunications: Marketisation and Copyright
 
Chapter 7 Cultural Policy: Creative Cities, Creative Industries, Creative Economies
 
PART FOUR: CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN THE CULTURAL INDUSTRIES, 1990-2017
 
Chapter 8 Ownership (1): Concentration, Conglomeration and Corporate Power, 1980-2010
 
Chapter 9 Ownership (2): Concentration, Conglomeration and Corporate Power, 2010 onwards
 
Chapter 10 How the Claims of Digital Optimists were Contradicted by the Rise of Digital Culture
 
Chapter 11 The Effects of Digital Networks on Individual Industries
 
Chapter 12 Creativity, Commerce and Organisation
 
Chapter 13 Working Conditions and Inequalities in the Cultural Industries
 
Chapter 14 Internationalisation: Neither Globalisation nor Cultural Imperialism
 
Chapter 15 Texts: Diversity, Quality and Social Justice
 
Chapter 16 Conclusions: A New Era in Cultural Production?
 
Glossary

Hesmondhalgh has done all students of media and communication a great service by updating this book, which offers a necessary and comprehensive map of the world of cultural industries. It is an indispensable resource for researchers and students across the world.

José van Dijck
Utrecht University

Hesmondhalgh has done the impossible - a phenomenal new edition that grapples with some of the biggest issues, major transformations and important continuities in the cultural industries to date. From political economics of neoliberalism to organisational business strategies; from sociocultural change through to technological impact this book digs deep into the relationship  between power, culture and production and shows us yet again why culture and the cultural industries really do matter. It's a tour de force written with style and packed with substance - a book that every media studies student and scholar should read at least once! 

Natalie Fenton
Goldsmiths, University of London

The Cultural Industries is one of those rare books that is accessible to students and essential for scholars. Hesmondhalgh integrates an analysis of both the changes and continuities within cultural industries in a way that is far too rare in scholarship in this field.

Philip M Napoli
Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy

A masterful text that lays out the intellectual foundation for the contemporary study and understanding of cultural industries. Thoroughly updated, this edition maintains its original framework and reflects the expanding boundaries of its subject matter to consider both new digital industries and the extension of existing media industries into internet distribution.

Amanda D Lotz
University of Michigan

The publication of the 4th edition of The Cultural Industries reminds us just how important this book has been over the last decade and a half. In a period of great turbulence and far reaching transformations, we have had an almost 'real-time' charting of these industries across a vast literature, from frothily optimistic to dour doom-mongering. This edition brings us up to date, with important additions on 'digital' disruption and on the rise of China. As always, Hesmondhalgh shows us the long term continuities in the industries and, more importantly, what is at stake in the production and circulation of the meanings by which we make sense of the world.

Justin O'Connor
Monash University

The book is essential for understanding the media and creative industries better. Any course and study program in the area can benefit from a reflective appreciation of the subject for which the book offers a sublime comprehensive overview.

Dr Sven-Ove Horst
Department of Media & Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam
November 11, 2020

I found the book difficult to use. I would not recommend it for this reason. For my purposes it was too difficult to find the relevant sections.

Dr Clare Hindley
Language and Communication, IUBH School of Business and Management
November 3, 2020

The fourth edition of this classic book certainly provides various essential readings for students of media and communication. I'm particularly interested in the way the book tackles questions around participation, surveillance, power and labour. While, the whole book provides a fascinating and rather comprehensive perspective on the cultural industries, I will only be using sections from this text, as first-year students will only focus on certain aspects of cultural production and consumption.

Dr Chiara Minestrelli
my department is not listed, University of the Arts London
October 6, 2019

The Cultural Industries offers a prime basis for a course such as Cultural Studies, with up-to-date chapters on the consequences of the digital networks. It can be both read extensively or used instrumentally thanks to the very complete index.

Professor Mathieu de Wasseige
Language, H.E.G./I.H.E.C.S.
May 21, 2020

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