Dichotomies in Media and Communication Theory
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Publishing:27th Feb '26
£39.99
This title is due to be published on 27th February, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This innovative textbook explores media and communication theory, and its intersections with social and political theory, through the prism of eight core dichotomies—communication/media, private/public, production/reception, material/symbolic, mainstream/alternative, abundance/scarcity, control/freedom, and virtual/real—revealing their complex interrelationships and significance in understanding contemporary media and communication landscapes.
Students will gain a nuanced understanding of media and communication theories by examining both sides of each dichotomy and their dynamic interplay. The book historicizes each concept pair, illustrates them with past and present examples, and demonstrates how competing paradigms often complement rather than contradict each other. This approach helps readers grasp theoretical complexity, recognize the democratic importance of media and communication, and develop critical thinking skills through engaging case studies and discussion questions in each chapter.
This textbook is designed for undergraduate and postgraduate students taking media and communication theory courses. Instructors teaching critical media and communication theory will find the dichotomy-based approach particularly valuable for helping students navigate complex theoretical debates and understand the field's intellectual development. It will also be useful supplementary reading for specific topics within broader media studies programs.
"Cammaerts’ analysis of concepts employed in the media and communications field succeeds masterfully in disrupting fruitless determinations in accounts of media history and impacts. This book reveals how coercive mediated power always operates in dialectical tension with emancipatory spaces of resistance, leading to sometimes unexpected outcomes and potentially to a better world.”
- Robin Mansell, Professor Emerita, LSE (United Kingdom)
“This book combines serious theory with the engaging force of an adventure narrative. Chapter after chapter, it hooks the reader with a riveting story from media history that leads into theoretical debates defining and mapping the field of Media and Communication Studies. Equally useful for beginners and seasoned researchers seeking to put their arguments in clear, accessible and compelling terms.”
– Maria Bakardjieva, co-author of Digital Media and the Dynamics of Civil Society, University of Calgary (Canada)
"For decades, the debate raged: is media and communication part of a field, a post-discipline, a coherent area of investigation? What we needed, was a map to the stars - the concepts and theories that define who we are, where we came from, and how we may move forward. This is exactly what Dichotomies offers, and Bart Cammaerts provides us with an invaluable service."
– Mark Deuze, author of Life in Media, University of Amsterdam (Netherlands)
“Cammaerts' book is a fresh and much-awaited analysis of the juxtapositions that structure the Communication and Media Studies field, but --more importantly-- it is a re-reading and re-structuring of communication and media theory as a whole, which makes it a great pedagogical tool. Through the lens of these eight dichotomies, we better understand the contradictions, positionalities and fluidities in media and communication studies, but also that these concepts necessarily work in conjuncture, as matrices, to capture complex contemporary realities.”
– Nico Carpentier, author of Democracy and Media in Europe, Charles University (Czech Republic)
"Written with style and clarity Cammaerts takes an original and critical approach to understanding key debates in the field of media and communication theory. Beautifully accessible, punctuated with incisive summaries and on-point discussion questions, this really is essential reading for all students. Put it on your reading list now!”
- Natalie Fenton, Professor, Goldsmiths, University of London (United Kingdom)
"Cammaerts’ analysis of concepts employed in the media and communications field succeeds masterfully in disrupting fruitless determinations in accounts of media history and impacts. This book reveals how coercive mediated power always operates in dialectical tension with emancipatory spaces of resistance, leading to sometimes unexpected outcomes and potentially to a better world.”
- Robin Mansell, Professor Emerita, LSE (United Kingdom)
“This book combines serious theory with the engaging force of an adventure narrative. Chapter after chapter, it hooks the reader with a riveting story from media history that leads into theoretical debates defining and mapping the field of Media and Communication Studies. Equally useful for beginners and seasoned researchers seeking to put their arguments in clear, accessible and compelling terms.”
– Maria Bakardjieva, co-author of Digital Media and the Dynamics of Civil Society, University of Calgary (Canada)
"For decades, the debate raged: is media and communication part of a field, a post-discipline, a coherent area of investigation? What we needed, was a map to the stars - the concepts and theories that define who we are, where we came from, and how we may move forward. This is exactly what Dichotomies offers, and Bart Cammaerts provides us with an invaluable service."
– Mark Deuze, author of Life in Media, University of Amsterdam (Netherlands)
“Cammaerts' book is a fresh and much-awaited analysis of the juxtapositions that structure the Communication and Media Studies field, but --more importantly-- it is a re-reading and re-structuring of communication and media theory as a whole, which makes it a great pedagogical tool. Through the lens of these eight dichotomies, we better understand the contradictions, positionalities and fluidities in media and communication studies, but also that these concepts necessarily work in conjuncture, as matrices, to capture complex contemporary realities.”
– Nico Carpentier, author of Democracy and Media in Europe, Charles University (Czech Republic)
"Written with style and clarity Cammaerts takes an original and critical approach to understanding key debates in the field of media and communication theory. Beautifully accessible, punctuated with incisive summaries and on-point discussion questions, this really is essential reading for all students. Put it on your reading list now!”
- Natalie Fenton, Professor, Goldsmiths, University of London (United Kingdom)
ISBN: 9781041089483
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
318 pages