Communications and Inequality: The Media and Citizenship in a Class Society

With growing numbers of billionaires at one end and startling numbers of food banks at the other, ’advanced’ industrial societies are becoming ever more unequal. Yet the evolution and widespread use of new digital media, and of a news-rich environment, bear the promise of unprecedentedly informed citizens and enriched democracy. Are both these trends possible? This book examines the evidence comprehensively, and argues that the link between communications and inequality has a profound and direct impact on the relationship between citizens and society. Drawing on key concepts in the sociological understanding of modern society, extensive explanation of the ’digital divide’, the role and character of the new ’tech giants’, and the powerful effects on society of the ’voice’ of vested interests, it offers a unique analysis of the dynamics and wider implications of communications inequality.

Peter Golding is Emeritus Professor at Northumbria University, UK. Until July 2015 he was Pro Vice-Chancellor at Northumbria University, and previously Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Loughborough University, where he was Head of Social Sciences from 1991-2006. He is Hon. President of the Media Research Network of the European Sociological Association, editor of the European Journal of Communication, and Hon. Sec. of the subject association for the field in the UK (MeCCSA). He chaired the Research Assessment Exercise for the field in the UK in 2008 and 2014. He has published widely on media sociology, the political economy of the media, and on communications and social policy.