Classics in Media Theory

Stina Bengtsson is Professor of Media and Communication Studies at Södertörn University. Her research covers media audiences, practices and ethics, and how people coexist with media technologies in everyday life. She has published several books and articles in journals such as Communication Theory, Media, Culture and Society and Journalism.

This comprehensive collection introduces and contextualizes media studies' most influential texts and thinkers, from early 20th century mass communication to the first stages of digital culture in the 21st century.

Introduction Stina Bengtsson, Staffan Ericson & Fredrik Stiernstedt 1. Walter Benjamin (1936) "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" Linus Andersson 2. Herta Herzog (1941) 'On Borrowed Experience' Jonas Andersson Schwarz 3. Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno (1947) 'The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception' Sven-Olov Wallenstein 4. Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Robert K. Merton (1948) 'Mass Communication, Popular Taste and Organised Social Action' Sven Ross 5. Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver (1949) The Mathematical Theory of Communication Heike Graf 6. Erving Goffman (1959) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life Espen Ytreberg 7. Jürgen Habermas (1962) The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society Anne Kaun 8. Marshall McLuhan (1967) The Medium is the Massage Ingrid Forsler 9. Michel Foucault (1971) The Order of Discourse Annika Egan Sjölander 10. Jean Baudrillard (1971) 'Requiem for the Media' Göran Bolin 11. Stuart Hall (1973) 'Encoding and Decoding' Johan Fornäs 12. Raymond Williams (1974) Television: Technology and Cultural Form Staffan Ericson 13. James Carey (1975) "A Cultural Approach to Communication" Lars Lundgren 14. Laura Mulvey (1975) 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' Sofia Johansson 15. Dallas Smythe (1977) 'Communications: Blindspot of Western Marxism' Fredrik Stiernstedt 16. Gaye Tuchman (1978) Making News: A Study in the Construction of Reality Anna Roosvall 17. Pierre Bourdieu (1979) Distinction Johan Lindell 18. Elizabeth L. Eisenstein (1979) The Printing Press as an Agent of Change Marie Cronqvist & Kajsa Weber 19. Roland Barthes (1980) Camera Lucida Patrik Åker 20. Benedict Anderson (1983) Imagined Communities Per Ståhlberg 21. Frederic Jameson (1984) 'Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism' Anders Burman & Magnus Rodell 22. Janice Radway (1984) Reading the Romance Stina Bengtsson 23. Neil Postman (1985) Amusing Ourselves to Death Michael Forsman 24. Friedrich Kittler (1985) Discourse Networks 1800/1900 Otto Fischer 25. Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz (1992) Media Events: The Live Broadcasting of History Johanna Sumiala 26. N. Katherine Hayles (1999) How We Became Posthuman Jesper Olsson 27. John Durham Peters (1999) Speaking into the Air Johan Fredrikzon 28. Lev Manovich (2001) The Language of New Media Peter Jakobsson