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Overview
'This is a necessary and very original book that really does address the lack of attention to media in previous discussions about globalization'
- James Lull, San Jose State University
There is practically no globalization without media and communications. Yet this relationship is so obvious it is often overlooked. Rantanen challenges conventional ways of thinking about globalization and shows it cannot be understood without studying the role of the media.
This book offers:
- a clear and accessible overview of globalization and the pivotal role of the media
- an introduction to the concepts and theories of globalization
- empirical data on the production and consumption of media
- a methodology for relating individual, local experiences to the global picture
Rantanen has made this complex and huge subject very accessible by using personal histories and pictures to engage the reader.
It will be invaluable to students in international media, cultural studies, communications and international relations.
Synopsis
Finding communication, cultural, and globalization studies to be methodologically lacking for the study of the connections between globalization and media, the author proposes using "global mediagraphy" for the purpose. Conceptually similar to ethnography, his "global mediagraphy" is influenced by Appadurai's theory of scapes (ethnoscape, mediascape, technoscape, financescape, and ideoscape) for defining globalization except that it proceeds from the individual level. He analyzes the lives of three different families from around the world from 1890 to 2003, developing the idea that "individuals, through their individual media activities, which become social practices, contribute to globalization." Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR