This course will provide theoretical and methodological frameworks for
investigating the institutions that participate in, study, and
regulate the global
cultural economy:  movie studios, television networks, advertising
agencies, publishing houses, software design firms, government
agencies, advocacy groups, universities, etc.  We will examine the
issues traditionally covered in political economy of the media, such
as distribution of resources, patterns of corporate ownership and
control, the dynamic nature of markets and strategies for managing
them, modes of production and the division of labor, methods of
generating and using profits.  In addition, however, we will apply the
insights of cultural studies to these institutions and their practices
-- to account for centrality of language, representation, and meaning
to the conduct of these institutions.  This recognizes both that forms
of economic life are cultural phenomena and that the production and
circulation of cultural artifacts cannot be divorced from economic
processes and organizations.  Among the issues that we will discuss:
the effects of government deregulation, the implications of digital
technologies, media conglomerates and globalization, transnational
advertising and consumption, intellectual property, the
commodification of public expression, and the identities of audiences
and consumers.



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