SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION

CMNS 240-3

 

Yuezhi Zhao	Spring 2003
RCB 6149; 604-291-4916	Burnaby, Day
Email: yzhao@sfu.ca

 

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF COMMUNICATION

Prerequisites:

CMNS 130. Recommended: CMNS 230.

Overview:

This course provides an introduction to the political economy of communication and areas of macro communication and analysis. The course is organized in two parts. The first half explores the social historical and intellectual foundations for the development of the political economy of communication perspective in the twentieth century. In the second part, we will employ the political economy perspective to analyze the organization of communication systems and make sense of current transformations in a range of media and telecommunications industries in both national and global contexts. While the course focuses on broad social historical processes and macro-structural issues, it relates political economic analysis to our daily experiences and our roles as consumers and citizens in a media and commodity-saturated market society.

Course Requirements:

Tutorial Attendance and Participation: 10%
Tutorial Assignments: 20%
Mid-term Quiz (in class): 30%
Final Term Paper: 40%

Required Text:

Naomi Klein, No Logo, Knopf Canada, 2000.
In addition, students are asked to purchase a courseware package from the SFU Bookstore.

Lecture Topics:

Part I

Introduction to the Course
The Rise of Capitalism as a Global System
Technology, Markets, and States: A Historical Perspective
Communication and the Transformation of 20th Century Capitalism
Political Economy as a Framework for Analysis
The Marxist Perspective on Political Economy

Part II

The Commodification Process in Communication Industries
Changing Patterns of Ownership and Control in Communication Industries
Globalization, Digitalization, and Multimedia (Re)convergence
The Evolving Role of the State in the Allocation of Communicative Power
Class, Gender, and Race in the Constitution of Communication Industries and Markets
Consumers, Citizens, and Struggles for Democratic Communication

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distribution of grades. In addition, the School will follow policy T10.02 with respect to “Intellectual Honesty,” and “Academic Discipline” (see current calendar, General Regulations Section).