SOCIAL SCIENCE / Media Studies

This book examines the evolution of digital platform economies through the lens of online gaming with a unique economic sociology perspective.

Paying particular attention to Valve’s ‘Steam’ platform, the book examines the architecture of this online videogame marketplace and the way it enables new markets and economic transactions.

Discussing the political understandings of trust and mistrust in the context of data, AI and technology at large, this book defines a process of trustification used by governments, corporations, researchers and the media to legitimise exploitation and the increasing of inequalities.

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Drawing on empirical data from US and UK as well as the unique example of Nordic countries where there is a high level of confidence in state and media institutions, this book shows how platforms and algorithms are transforming media, journalism and audiences’ civic practices.

The 2017 persecution of the Rohingyas resulted in around a million Rohingyas fleeing to Bangladesh, India and Malaysia. This book investigates the complex challenges of managing the large-scale refugee exodus in Bangladesh and how best to resolve these challenges in the future.

This book advances a new view of information and surveillance practices, as well as their related agencies, politics, and powers. Drawing on case studies, the author crafts a new methodology of studying information life cycles which will help us navigate information regimes today.

This stimulating analysis from Hannes Gerhardt shows how technology-led and commons-oriented strategies can create fairer economies and societies. Setting out the role of various digital tools with concrete examples of their value, it is a constructive and optimistic guide to overcoming anti-capitalist barriers.

Robyn Muir provides an examination of the worldwide Disney Princess commercial and cultural phenomenon in its key representations: films, merchandising and marketing, and park experiences. The book provides a lens through which to view and understand how this franchise has contributed to the depiction of femininity within popular culture.

New Zealand’s decriminalisation of sex work, and its unusual success in combatting COVID-19, have both attracted international media interest. This accessibly written book uses the lens of news media coverage to consider the pandemic’s impacts on both sex workers and public perceptions of the industry.

Putting the spotlight on neoliberalism as a pervasive tool that dictates wellness as a moral obligation, this book critically analyses how users navigate relationships between self-tracking technologies, social media and health management.

Drawing on case studies, this book examines how politicians, academics and journalists gave meaning to data during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lawson sheds light on the distinct nature of the pandemic that led to the increased politicization of data and how it permanently changed the way we view health and society more broadly.

Drawing on empirical research and mediated stories of migration and asylum seeking from the Global North, this book unpacks how emotions and affect are key conceptual lenses for understanding contemporary processes and discourses around migration.

Bringing together leading scholars, this international collection examines different dimensions of ageing and ageism in a range of media and how older adults use and interact with the media.