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First ISA Forum of Sociology
Sociological Research and Public Debate
Barcelona, Spain
September 5 - 8, 2008


Research Committee on
Sociology of Communication, Knowledge and Culture RC14

Main theme
Sociological research and transformations in communication

 

Programme Coordinator
Christiana Constantopoulou, Panteion University, Greece chconsta@panteion.gr

“Modernity” seems to refer towards a sort of global cultural homogeneity (deriving from the dominance of a particular –“modern”- way of life that has multiple determinants: these include “capitalism” (set of productive and consumerism practices) but also urbanism, mass communications, a technical scientific rationalist dominant ideology, a system of nation-states; this dominance of modernity claims to be the “destination” of all cultural development (normally criticism has come against this conviction –inspired by “cultural imperialism”)

The mass media have been enormously internationalized culturally and structurally; it seems that media are more the primary messenger about (rather than agent of), globalized information. They function in accordance to globalization (describing the changes in international relationships particularly in economics and international trade but also in society and culture: it reverberates through the corridors of politics, commerce, industry, scholarship, communication, environmentalism and popular culture, meaning mainly a Global Cultural Homogeneity) and there is no doubt that mass communication inquiry has been deeply influenced.

The “impact” of globalization on the media has revived interest in the notion of cultural or media imperialism: the strong influence of American programming suggest that globalized media are subject to predominantly American influences in the same way that national film and television industries in earlier periods were subject to US ascendancy in international markets (advertising exemplifies striking inequities, particularly with respect to developing countries, with “one way flow” emphasizing western consumer culture).

One of the claims made for global media (especially television and the internet) is that they have the potential to spread democratic values and opportunities to empower and to encourage the participation of marginalised groups. But there is interference of the global “values” concerning the very meaning of “democratic participation”(one version of democracy); there are also examples which illustrate the difficulties of the nation-states to regulate or to control media given technological and institutional change. Media products are treated as commodities: their success of failure is determined by the market (and this view has come to be regarded by many as “common sense”).

It is often said that media have altered our world. All questions about case and effect as between technology and society are intensely practical, because until we have begun to answer them we really do not know whether we are talking about a technology or about the uses of a technology about a content of about a form: this is a matter of “social practice” ; cultural politics, social sites of production and social life of media technology seem to be of utmost interest for our questioning concerning “transformations in communication” and they constitute the base for RC14 sessions in Barcelona Sociological Forum.

Venue of RC14 sessions:

Faculty of Philosophy, Geography and History
University of Barcelona
Montalegre, 6
08001 Barcelona, Spain, map

Programme

A: RC14 thematic sessions

Session 1: New realities, new definitions: revisiting theories of communication

Saturday, September 6, 2008, 09:00-11:00
Chair: Federico D'Agostino, University of Rome 3, Italy, f.dagostino@uniroma3.it

Session 2: Communication technologies 

Part I: Identities
Saturday, September 6, 2008, 11:30-13:30
Chair: Christiana Constantopoulou, Panteion University, Greece chconsta@panteion.gr

Part II: Contemporary expressions
Saturday, September 6, 2008, 15:30-17:30
Chair: D. Barton, Lancaster University, UK,

Part III: Political  issues
Sunday, September 7, 2008, 09:00-11:00
Chair: Hermilio Santos, Brazil, hermilio@pucrs.br

Business Meeting

Saturday, September 6, 2008, 17:30

Session 3: Knowledge, media and art

 Part I: The media construction of reality
Sunday, September 7, 2008, 11:30-13:30
Chair: N. Kostenko  Institute of Sociology, Ukraine

Part II: The Media construction of knowledge
Sunday, September 7, 2008, 15:30-17:30
Chair: P. Lopes, Colgate University, USA, plopes@mail.colgate.edu

B: Sessions francophones
Réalisées avec la collaboration d'AISLF

Mutation de la communication médiatique: les transformations de l'espace public

Organisateurs: Christiana Constantopoulou, Université Panteion, Grèce, chconsta@panteion.gr et Francis Jauréguiberry, Université Pau, France francis.jaureguiberry@univ-pau.fr
Qu'en est-il de l'espace public aujourd'hui alors que le paysage médiatique est en pleine mutation ? On peut approcher cette question à au moins deux  niveaux :
1. L'usage des technologies de communication dans la réorganisation de l'espace-temps : Vaincre le temps et vaincre l'espace sont les mots d'ordre qui répondent aux glissements successivement provoqués par les développements techniques en matière de communication. Ceci implique un bouleversement au niveau des clivages connus entre l'espace privé et l'espace public. Un exemple (parmi plein d'autres) : la télé-réalité qui expose au grand public l'intimité des acteurs (pratique apparue aussi dans les divers sites internet). L' espace social et physique est symboliquement redéfini aussi selon le slogan :" on peut tout faire chez soi " (travailler, s'amuser, apprendre, débattreY) dans un univers où le virtuel joue un rôle majeur.
2. Le rôle des médias dans la transmission des idées citoyennes : Autrefois, c'était l'Église ou l'École qui diffusaient les idées civiles. Ensuite, la presse a commencé à y jouer un grand rôle. E. Park affirmait en 1940 : " les nouvelles sont une forme de connaissance " - forme ensuite devenue dominante dans nos sociétés. Aujourd'hui, la télévision et Internet sont devenus des lieux décisifs dans la construction et la circulation des discours publics (débats, controverses, interviewsY où le Parlement devient apparemment superflu). La modernité a marqué la naissance d'un nouvel espace public (plus symbolique que matériel). Ainsi, la sphère (connue comme) publique concerne aujourd'hui un monde d'écrans que l'on retrouve comme interfaces du téléviseur mais aussi, toujours davantage, de l'ordinateur connecté et du téléphone mobile.

Session 4: Espaces médiatiques

Saturday, September 6, 2008, 09:00-11:00
Président : Francis Jauréguiberry, Université Pau, France francis.jaureguiberry@univ-pau.fr

Session 5: Réalisations technologiques et espaces publics contemporains

Saturday, September 6, 2008, 11:30-13:30
Président : A. Paparizos Univ. Panteion apapariz@panteion.gr

Session 6: Cyberespaces

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 15:30-17:30
Président: Gaetan Tremblay, Université de Quebec, Canada, tremblay.gaetan@uqam.ca

C: Joint sessions

Session 7: Rationalization and resistance in the arts, culture, and communication

Part I
Saturday, September 6, 2008, 09:00-11:00

Part II
Saturday, September 6, 2008, 11:30-13:30

Part III
Saturday, September 6, 2008, 15:30-17:30

Part IV
Sunday, September 7, 2008, 09:00-11:00
Joint sessions of RC14 Sociology of Communication, Knowledge and Culture and RC37 Sociology of Arts
Organizer: Jeffrey A. Halley, University of Texas, USA, jeffrey.halley@utsa.edu
This session addresses the problem of rationalization, paramount for such theorists as Weber, Lukacs (in the notion of reification), Adorno and others of the Frankfurt School, and beyond. The process of rationalization has been very present in the last decades in various forms, such as the growth of mergers and acquisitions, patterns of globalization, the instrumentalization and commodification of art and culture, and the very acceleration of the pace of these trends. What has been the effect of this political economic and socio-cultural process on the arts, culture, communications, and knowledge? What forms of resistance have developed by culture workers, consumers, social collectivities, and others against these trends?

Session 8: Transformation in communication and work: the cultural construction and reconstruction of gender

Saturday, September 6, 2008, 18:00-20:00
Faculty of Philosophy, Geography and History, University of Barcelona
RC14 Sociology of Communication, Knowledge and Culture, RC30 Sociology of work, and RC32 Women in society
Co-Organizers: Christiana Constantopoulou, University Panteion, Greece, chconsta@panteion.gr, Margaret Abraham, Hofstra University, USA, margaret.abraham@hofstra.edu and Diane Gabrielle Tremblay, Tele-Université, Canada, tremblay.diane-gabrielle@teluq.uqam.ca
New communication technologies have led to several transformations in work (and 'leisure') with implications on existing notions of the public and private space and changing notions of gender.  Work at 'home', until recently associated with women, often precludes 'normal labor rules' such as security, standard hours of paid work, syndicalism and conviviality at the work place. These issues related to work at home are becoming of increasing concern to more and more people, particularly women and youth. 
The ongoing transformations in communication and work are reflected in the roles of institutions and the ideas disseminated by the press.  For instance, in the absence and inefficacy of social services, the mass media has become an important vehicle whereby issues of poverty, employment opportunities and 'special' appeals for help are addressed.  Today, TV acts as a 'social mediator', both locally and globally in culturally constructing and reconstructing the way we communicate, our attitudes to work (both at home and the workplace), and in shaping our notions of gender.