The Political Economy of

Communications
Core Concerns and Issues
KHAIRUL RIZUAN AZIZAN
2003218434
Political Economy
The study of the social relations particularly the power
relations, that mutually constitute the production,
distribution, and consumption of resources, and
communication resources.

Political economy is the study of control and survival in

social life.
Philosophical Foundation
The political economy of
communication is grounded in a
Commodification
realist, inclusive, constitutive, and (Exchange Value)
critical epistemology (provides a
framework for understanding how we Spatialization
know things. (Space)

Structuration
(Constituting structures with social enerygy)
Three substantive map of political
economy
Commodifying Content, Audiences, Labor
Commodifying: The process of transforming goods and services
which are valued for their use.

• Commodification applies to audiences as well as to content.

• Commodification beyond content and consider the
commodification of
media labor.
• The labor of communication workers is also being commodified as
wage
labor has developed in importance throughout the media working
environment
 Commodification Spatialization
Spatialization: structural changes brought about by shifting uses of
space and time.

Spatialization encompasses the process of globalization. (worldwide

restructuring of industries)
Commercialization
Four major patterns
of government
Privatization
restructuring

Liberalization

Internationalization
 10 10

Examining dominant
The expansion powers & procedures
of political activism of misuse to address
stances of protection
Five major
current trends
in the political Transition of approaches
to new media
Communication
history
economy of 10 10
communication
Globalization
of research

10
Political Economy
What is Critical Political Economy?

Why Political Economy? Why Now?

Political Economy and Other Approaches

Organization of the Handbook

The International Association for Media &

Communication Research (IAMCR) /Political Economy
Section
 What is Critical Political Economy?
Europian Revolution (The Enlightment)
Aimed to develop empirically grounded accounts of the
natural and social worlds, replace arbitrary power with
participatory governance, and provide a nonreligious basis for
moral action.

Adam Smith Karl Marx

Theoritical and empirical questions about how
to organize economic life and balance
markets against state intervention were
inextricably bound up with questions about
the constitution of the good
society.capitalism.
Karl Marx, who presented his magnum
opus, Capital, as a critique of political
economy, shared this ethical concern, but
argued forcefully that it could only be
pursued by abolishing capatalism.

Both positions produced critiques of capitalism's claims and empirical investigations of its injustices,
inequalities, and undermining of solidarity.
 Holistic relationship between economic practices and
social-political organization.

Critical Maintain a link with moral philosophy

Political
Economy Emphasize historical analysis

Advocate for practical action for change

 Why Political Economy?

Capitalism has The tension between Critical political The cultural or

expanded private interests and economy is crucial "creative" industries
globally, with the public good has for understanding now hold a central
marketization intensified, with these developments role in the economy,
becoming a privatization and contemporary but the
dominant force advancing and media and understanding of
in recent private power abuse communications. this phenomenon is
decades. being common. often inadequate.
 Political Economy and Other Approaches

Media economics only Media economics applies

focusing on microeconomic
issues and emphasizing
industry success without
moral critique.
Media
neoclassical economics to
media, avoiding political and
historical analysis, and
generally accepting the
status quo.

Media economics typically

Economics
In contrast, critical political
uses the industrial
economy challenges unjust
organization model,
power systems and adopts a
emphasizing industry
critical orientation towards
structure, behavior, and
media study.
performance.
 Political Economy and Other Approaches

Creative Industries
He coined the term "Culture Industry" to describe how commercial
media standardized expression and limited imaginative horizons.

This critical perspective has been overshadowed by the integration of

commercial media into the "creative industries" concept, where
governments view media as central to the knowledge economy.

Academic advocates argue that the Internet has democratized creative

production, shifting innovation and control away from major media
companies.

However, this argument overlooks the simultaneous rise of

marketization, corporate power consolidation, and strategies to
monetize popular creativity alongside the spread of the Internet.
Thoerdo Adorno
The Cultural Analyst
Political Economy and Other Approaches
New Media
Overvaluations of the Internet's impact often stem from a short-term
perspective and a limited analysis of structural inequalities and
entrenched power structures.

The term "new media" tends to lead analysis towards technological

determinism, focusing on the introduction of new communication
technologies as drivers of change.

Critical analysis, however, begins with an examination of existing

power dynamics and inequalities, questioning whose interests are
served by new technological possibilities.

From this perspective, digital media are seen not as the primary
catalyst for change, but as a new arena of struggle characterized by
ongoing battles over power and inequality.
Organization
of the Handbook
Part I : Legacies and Debates
Graham Murdock examines
competing moral economies
of commodities, gifts, and
public goods on the
contemporary Internet.
Nicholas Garnham critiques
the traditional focus of
political economy, advocating
for a political economy of
culture and emphasis on the
relations between information
services and culture.
Eileen Meehan and Paul Torre
discuss media markets,
focusing on television
markets, ratings, formats, and
legal/regulatory influences
Bernard Miège traces the
legacy of cultural industries
theory within political
economy of communications,
from the Frankfurt School to
contemporary developments.
Organization of he Handbook
Part II; Modalities of Power: Examines power mechanisms related to media and
Ownership, Advertising, communications, areas traditionally crucial in political
Government economy for understanding their societal roles.

Part III; Conditions of The study of political economy of media requires

Creativity: Industries understanding media companies, industries, and labor
Production, Labor issues.

Part IV: Dynamics of Political economy of the media pays special attention to
Consumption: Choice, consumption issues, contrary to some claims.
Mobilization, Control

The study of political economy of media is adaptable and

Part V: Emerging Issues and
responsive to social changes within a historical context.
Directions
IAMCR / Political Economy Section
- The Political Economy Section examines power's role in mediated communication's
production, distribution, and exchange, drawing from political economic theory.
- Section members study social relations holistically, evaluate them based on
standards of social justice, and intervene for a more just and democratic world.
- Research interests include developing a theoretical foundation in communication
research by understanding power structures, especially in transforming messages
into commodities.
- This includes research on the global political economy, dependent on
communication for growth, and on transnational media companies controlling
communication systems.
- Research also explores conflicts over control of communication resources,
documenting worker interventions and efforts by women and racial minorities to
address global communication power imbalances.
- Recent research expands to include social movements in communication, the state
of the public sphere in privatized audio-visual spaces, and the status of citizenship in
a consumer-centric world.
The Political
Economy of
Communication
The Political Economy of
Communication
A social exchange of significance whose
outcome is the measure or mark of a
social relationship.

Institutional : How Institutional and technological constraints shape

market to the advantage of corporation and governments powerful
enough to control them.

Neo-Marxian: Places labor at center of analysis; issues such as

automation, deskilling, international division of labor.