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 forms of
organization.  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.