Media-State Relations and Social Media: Reimagining the Four Theories of the Press Through Neo-Gramscianism

This book updates scholarship related to media-state relations for the social media age. It presents a timely account of how states have engaged with the platforms that have spread around the world - and the challenges that this presents. Further, it is positioned at a novel intersection between the Communications and International Relations disciplines, so scholars and students of both fields will find value within it.

In particular, the book explores the Four Theories of the Press’s role as a seminal text within media-state relations scholarship. It reimagines the original models through a Neo-Gramscian lens. The four models contained within the book deepen the analytic power of the original and align these ideas with the complexity of social media. Importantly, this book presents original research findings on measuring and quantifying the social media-state relationship as theorised by establishing and validating the new Order Index.

Scholars and students of the fields discussed within will find value in the theoretical models and the quantitative instrument developed to measure these models. Of note is that the book contains the basis for using the Order Index in future research and highlights a new research future within this space.

Tyler W Wilson is an early career academic within Bond University’s Faculty of Society and Design. He teaches within the Communication and International Relations disciplines. His research interests focus on understanding the intersection of social media, society and the global system.

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