Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo, ON Department of Communication Studies CS350A Political Economy of Communication and Culture Fall 2012

Instructor: Greig de Peuter Time: Tues. and Thurs. 2:30-3:50pm Location: DAWB 2-101 Office: DAWB 2-138 Office hours: Tues. 4:00-5:00pm; and by appointment Phone: 519-884-1970 ext. 2501 E-mail: gdepeuter@wlu.ca Course description This course provides a theoretical and applied introduction to political economy as one of the intellectual traditions and analytical approaches animating the discipline of communication studies. The course surveys a range of media systems and sites of cultural production in relationship to processes and practices of capitalism, the state, and resistance. Investigating some of the ways in which political and economic power are materially organized, deployed, perpetuated, and contested, this course explores such questions as: Who owns the media? Does commercially driven new production foster or inhibit democratic debate? How do business pressures affect symbolic production? How, and with what aims, do corporations and governments seek to regulate informational flows and cultural creativity? What globespanning inequalities underlie the information and communication technologies we use on a daily basis? What are labour conditions like in the media and cultural industries? How are groups struggling to enhance media democracy, diversify cultural production, and democratize communication workplaces? The course is divided in two parts. The first part sets the intellectual and historical foundations for the second part of the course. It begins by outlining some of the main features of a political-economic perspective. It goes on to identify major shifts in the forms of capitalist production and state regulation taking place in the 20th and early 21st century. The second part of the course puts a political-economic approach to work in a number of applied case studies. Pairing key concepts and current examples, this part of the course surveys select topics in political economy, including, among others, the music industry, media ownership, working conditions in cultural industries, media imperialism, the global division of labour, and the creative city. By the end of the course, students will: (1) be conversant with a politicaleconomic perspective; (2) be equipped with a toolkit of political economy concepts; and (3) have applied a political-economic perspective in a case study. Evaluation Participation (self-evaluation) Mid-term take-home exam Case study Final take-home exam Required text Course Package. Available in the WLU Bookstore. 10% 30% 35% 25% Ongoing; submit self-evaluation on Nov. 29 Posted online on Oct. 9; due Oct. 16. Due Nov. 22. Posted Nov. 29; due Dec. 6 by 10am.

Lecture and readings schedule N.B.: Readings are in the CS350A Course Package, unless noted with an *. PART I FOUNDATIONS: PERSPECTIVE AND CONTEXT Sept. 11 Introduction to the Course No readings. Sept. 13 What do Political Economists Do? Key Features of a Political-Economic Perspective Vincent Mosco. 2009. What is Political Economy? Definitions and Characteristics. In Political Economy of Communication: Rethinking and Renewal. Second Edition. London: Sage, pp. 21-36. Sept. 18 | 20 From Fordism to Post-Fordism Martyn Lee. 1993. The Political Economy of Fordism and Decay and Rejuvenation. In Consumer Culture Reborn: The Cultural Politics of Consumption. London: Routledge, pp. 73-85 and 101-118. Sept. 25 | 27 The Rise and Crises of Neoliberalism Ronaldo Munck. 2005. Neoliberalism and Politics, and the Politics of Neoliberalism. In Neoliberalism: A Critical Reader, ed. Alfredo Saad-Filho and Deborah Johnston. London: Pluto, pp. 60-69. David Harvey. 2005. The Construction of Consent. In A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 39-63. Oct. 2 The Political Economy Perspective in Communication and Cultural Analysis Jonathan Hardy. 2010. The Contribution of Critical Political Economy. In Media and Society, 5th edition, ed. James Curran. London: Bloomsbury, pp. 186-209. PART II DOING POLITICAL ECONOMY: CONCEPTS AND CASE STUDIES Oct. 4 The Culture Industry Thesis and its Critics * Theodor Adorno. 1991 (orig. 1969). Culture Industry Reconsidered. In The Culture Industry. New York: Routledge, pp. 98-106. *Available online: www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/SWA/Culture_industry_reconsidered.shtml

Oct. 9 | 11 The Music Industry, Intellectual Property, and the Commons * Paschal Preston and Jim Rogers. 2011. Social Networks, Legal Innovations and the New Music Industry. info 13:6, pp. 8-19. *Available via Laurier Library, Electronic Journals. * James Boyle. 2008. I Got a Mashup. In The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, pp. 122-159. *Available online: www.yupnet.org/boyle/archives/130 Oct. 16 | 18 Gentrification and its Discontents * Jamie Peck. 2007. The Creativity Fix. Eurozine. *Available online: www.eurozine.com/pdf/2007-0628-peck-en.pdf * Deborah Leslie and John Paul Catungal. 2012. Social Justice and the Creative City: Class, Gender and Racial Inequalities. Geography Compass 6:3, pp. 111-122. *Available via Laurier Library, Electronic Journals. Oct. 23 | 25 Art Incorporated * Julian Stallabrass. 2004. Uses and Prices of Art. In Art Incorporated: The Story of Contemporary Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 100-149. *Available as an e-book via Laurier Library. * Andrea Fraser. 2011. L1%, Cest Moi. In Texte zur Kunst, August. *Available online: http://whitney.org/file_columns/0002/9848/andreafraser_1_2012whitneybiennial.pdf Oct. 30 | Nov. 1 Democratic Debate, Media Concentration, and Media Reform Ian Angus. 2001. What is Democratic Debate? In Emergent Publics: An Essay on Social Movements and Democracy. Winnipeg, MA: Arbeiter Ring Publishing, pp. 21-37. * Paula Chakravartty and Dan Schiller. 2010. Neoliberal Newspeak and Digital Capitalism in Crisis. International Journal of Communication 4, pp. 670-692. *Available online: http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/798/491 Nov. 6 | 8 Cultural Imperialism Contested * Jade Miller. 2012. Global Nollywood: The Nigerian Movie Industry and Alternative Global Networks in Production and Distribution. Global Media and Communication 8(2), pp. 117-133. *Available via Laurier Library, Electronic Journals.

Nov. 13 | 15 The Information Society and the Global Division of Labour * Jenny Chan and Ngai Pun. 2010. Suicide as Protest for the New Generation of Chinese Migrant Workers: Foxconn, Global Capital, and the State. The Asia-Pacific Journal, 37-2-10, September 13. *Available online: http://www.japanfocus.org/-Ngai-Pun/3408 Nov. 20 | 22 The Creative Economy, Flexible Labour, and Precarity David Hesmondhalgh and Sarah Baker. 2011. Toward a Political Economy of Labor in the Media Industries. In The Handbook of Political Economy of Communications, eds. Janet Wasko, Graham Murdock, and Helena Sousa. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, pp. 381-400. Nov. 27 Communicative Capitalism, Participatory Media, and Free Labour * Tiziana Terranova. 2003. Free Labour: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy. Electronic Book Review. *Available online at http://www.electronicbookreview.com/thread/technocapitalism/voluntary Nov. 29 Review class

CS350A - Notes Emails must be sent from your mylaurier account. Messages sent from other accounts will not be opened. Include CS350 in the subject line when e-mailing me. I will generally return emails within 48 hours, excluding weekends. This course places a strong emphasis on theoretical concepts. New concepts are introduced in each class, contributing to a cumulative political-economy vocabularly. If you miss a class in which new concepts have been introduced, odds are you will find it very difficult to comprehend subsequent lectures when these terms are used. Keeping up with the vocabulary used in lecture is your responsibility. If you are having difficulties with any aspect of the course material it is your responsibility to express your concerns and to approach me for assistance. Im more than happy to arrange a one-on-one meeting to work through the material with you. Lectures supplement the readings, and vice versa; lectures are not a substitute for the readings, and vice versa. With the exception of the final take-home exam, assignments are due at the beginning of class. There is a penalty of 5% per day on late assignments. For example, a paper evaluated at 80% will be given a mark of 75% if it is one day late, 70% if it is two days late, and so on. Assignments handed in on the day an assignment is due, but after the scheduled due time, will be considered one day late. Assignments submitted more than 10 days after the due date will not be accepted. You are responsible for retaining a copy of all your submitted work. Emailed assignments will not be accepted.

Notes 1. Students with disabilities or special needs are advised to contact Laurier's Accessible Learning Office for information regarding its services and resources. Students are encouraged to review the Calendar for information regarding all services available on campus. 2. Students are expected to be aware of and abide by University regulations and policies, as outlined in the current Undergraduate and Graduate Calendar. Students must reserve the examination period as stated in the Undergraduate Calendar under Academic Dates. If you are considering registering for a special examination or event, you should select a time outside the examination period. Consult with the Undergraduate Calendar for special circumstances for examination deferral. (Applicable to Undergraduate students only.) The penalties for plagiarism or any form of academic misconduct are severe and enforced at all times. The Student Code of Conduct and Discipline, and the procedures for investigating and determining appropriate disciplinary measures for breaches of the Code are given in the current Undergraduate and Graduate Calendar. Please note: submitting the same work to two different courses, or to different sections of the same course, is academic misconduct and will be addressed according to the procedures outlined in the Undergraduate and Graduate Calendar. Students who are repeating a course are not permitted to re-use essays or assignments from the previous course. Wilfrid Laurier University uses software that can check for plagiarism. Students may be required to submit their written work in electronic form and have it checked for plagiarism. 5. Students are to adhere to the Principles in the Use of Information Technology. and the Policy on the Classroom Use of Electronic Devices. These Principles and Policy, and resulting actions for breaches are stated in the current Undergraduate and Graduate Calendar. Please see the Policy on the Classroom Use of Electronic Devices. Students' names may be divulged in the classroom, both orally and in written form, to other members of the class. Students who are concerned about such disclosures should contact the course instructor to identify whether there are any possible alternatives to such disclosures. Additional information on the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act at Laurier is available at the Privacy Coordinator Office.

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