Media and Culture
Inspired by and carrying on the groundbreaking work of the Glasgow University Media Group, we see the media as a site of power in which news and news production is part of a broader ideological and material struggle. In doing so, the group has sought to understand the struggles which construct news and public belief in areas such as strikes, climate change, (inter)national politics and the welfare state. The Group has not only shaped, and continues to shape, the way the media is understood and critiqued, but has also developed innovative methods for the study of media.
We add to this another historically strong focus of Glasgow Sociology, culture. Along with work on consumption and gambling as sites of inequality, recently this has included an expanded focus on the digital. The Social and Digital Change research group, led by colleagues in the subject area, seeks to understand the changes wrought by the expansion of digital technology. In doing so, these themes of media and digital culture often speak to each other, for example in discussions concerning digital and social media.