Media and Society: An Introduction

Media and Society: An Introduction, offers an interdisciplinary approach to media as means of social connection in everyday life and beyond.

Integrating theory and concrete analysis in case studies, exercises, and illustrative examples from around the world, Media and Society: An Introduction delivers a go-to reference work for learning about one of the essential social infrastructures of the twenty-first century. Standing on the shoulders of classic communication models, and covering legacies of research about media institutions, media texts, and media users, the chapters include both how-to sections on methods addressing current digital media forms and reflective segments that place TikTok, ChatGPT, and the emerging Internet of Things in the longer history of human communication.

As a comprehensive and up-to-date textbook on key conceptual, analytical, and normative issues facing students of media and communication today, this book is a practically applicable resource for teaching and learning about media, in the classroom, in self-study, and in different world regions. As such, it is a key resource for undergraduate students and professors in the fields of media, communication, and cultural studies.

Klaus Bruhn Jensen is Professor in the Department of Communication, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. His research and teaching emphasize communication theory, empirical research methodologies, and the history of media and communication. Recent publications include A Handbook of Media and Communication Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Methodologies (Routledge, 3rd edition, 2021), A Theory of Communication of Justice (Routledge, 2021), and Comparing Communication Systems: The Internets of China, Europe, and the United States (Routledge, 2023, coedited with Rasmus Helles).

Signe Sophus Lai is a Tenure Track Assistant Professor at the Center for Tracking and Society, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Her research and teaching are situated at the intersection between infrastructure studies, political economy of communication, and critical data studies, and is particularly focused on advancing new methods for empirical research on digital communication systems and infrastructural power. Recent publications include the monograph Gateways: Comparing Digital Communication Systems in Nordic Welfare States (2023, coauthored with Sofie Flensburg) as well as articles in New Media & Society, Mobile Media & Communication, Big Data & Society, and Feminist Media Studies.