Christian Fuchs

Paul Middelhoff

Wer sie lenkt, wer sie finanziert und wie sie die Gesellschaft verändern

Das Netzwerk der neuen Rechten

This fifth volume in Christian Fuchs’s Media, Communication and Society series presents foundations and applications of digital ethics based on critical theory. It applies a critical approach to ethics within the realm of digital technology. Based on the notions of alienation, communication (in)justice, media (in)justice, and digital (in)justice, it analyses ethics in the context of digital labour and the surveillance-industrial complex; social media research ethics; privacy on Facebook; participation, co-operation, and sustainability in the information society; the digital commons; the digital public sphere; and digital democracy. The book consists of three parts. Part I presents some of the philosophical foundations of critical, humanist digital ethics. Part II applies these foundations to concrete digital ethics case studies. Part III presents broad conclusions about how to advance the digital commons, the digital public sphere, and digital democracy, which is the ultimate goal of digital ethics. This book is essential reading for both students and researchers in media, culture, communication studies, and related disciplines.

Media, Communication and Society Volume Five

Digital Ethics

A Critical Introduction

Social Media

Fast unbemerkt von der Öffentlichkeit ist ein neues und einflussreiches rechtes Netzwerk aus Stiftungen, Vereinen, Medien und Kampagnen-Plattformen in Deutschland herangewachsen. Seit Jahren spüren Christian Fuchs und Paul Middelhoff ihm nach: seinen öffentlichen Seiten und denen, die im Dunkeln liegen. Dieser Report enthüllt zum ersten Mal das ganze Ausmaß und die ganze Breite des Milieus - seine ideologischen Grundlagen, seine führenden Köpfe, seine wichtigen Zeitschriften, Verlage, Internet-Plattformen, Aktionsformen, Stiftungen, Finanziers, Kontakte zur AfD, internationalen Verbindungen und Anschlüsse an die gesellschaftliche Mitte. Die Erkenntnisse sind alarmierend.

Das Netzwerk der Neuen Rechten

Foundations of Critical Media and Information Studies lays down foundations for the analysis of media, information, and information technology in 21st century information society, as well as introducing the theoretical and empirical tools necessary for the critical study of media and information. Christian Fuchs shows the role classical critical theory can play for analyzing the information society and the information economy, as well as analyzing the role of the media and the information economy in economic development, the new imperialism, and the new economic crisis. The book critically discusses transformations of the Internet (‘web 2.0’), introduces the notion of alternative media as critical media, and shows the critical role media and information technology can play in contemporary society. This book provides an excellent introduction to the study of media, information technology, and information society, making it a valuable reference tool for both undergraduate and postgraduate students of subjects such as Media Studies, Sociology of Media, Social Theory, and New Media.

Foundations of Critical Media and Information Studies

Medien, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft

Grundlagen der Medienökonomie

Social media are an integral part of contemporary society; having changed the way we communicate, use information and understand the world, we should now ask critical questions about social media and dig deeper into issues of ownership, power, class and (in)justice. This book equips readers with a critical understanding of the complexities and contradictions at the heart of social media’s relationship with society.

This essential guide to the critical study of the media economy in society teaches students how to critically analyse the political economy of communication and the media. The book introduces a variety of methods and topics, including the political economy of communication in capitalism, the political economy of media concentration, the political economy of advertising, the political economy of global media and transnational media corporations, class relations and working conditions in the capitalist media and communication industry, the political economy of the Internet and digital media, the information society and digital capitalism, the public sphere, Public Service Media, the Public Service Internet, and the political economy of media management. This will be an ideal textbook for a variety of courses relating to media and communication, including Media Economics; Political Economy of Communication; Media, Culture, and Society; Critical Media and Communication Studies; Media Sociology; Media Management; and Media Business Studies.

Media, Economy and Society

This sixth volume in Christian Fuchs' Media, Communication and Society series draws on radical Humanist theory to address questions around the digital public sphere and the challenges and opportunities for digital democracy today. The book discusses topics such as digital democracy, the digital public sphere, digital alienation, sustainability in digital democracy, journalism and democracy, public service media, the public service Internet, and democratic communications. Fuchs argues for the creation of a public service Internet run by public serviceMedia that consists of platforms such as a public service YouTube and Club 2.0, a renewed digital democracy and digital public sphere version of the legendary debate programme formats Club 2 and After Dark. Overall, the book presents foundations and analyses of digital democracy that are interesting for both students and researchers in media studies, cultural studies, communication studies, political science, sociology, Internet research, information science, as well as related disciplines.

Media, Communication and Society Volume Six

Digital Democracy and the Digital Public Sphere

Understanding social media requires us to engage with the individual and collective meanings that diverse stakeholders and participants give to platforms. It also requires us to analyse how social media companies try to make profits, how and which labour creates this profit, who creates social media ideologies, and the conditions under which such ideologies emerge. In short, understanding social media means coming to grips with the relationship between culture and the economy. In this thorough study, Christian Fuchs, one of the leading analysts of the Internet and social media, delves deeply into the subject by applying the approach of cultural materialism to social media, offering readers theoretical concepts, contemporary examples, and proposed opportunities for political intervention. Culture and Economy in the Age of Social Media is the ultimate resource for anyone who wants to understand culture and the economy in an era populated by social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google in the West and Weibo, Renren, and Baidu in the East. Updating the analysis of thinkers such as Raymond Williams, Karl Marx, Ferruccio Rossi-Landi, and Dallas W. Smythe for the 21st century, Fuchs presents a version of Marxist cultural theory and cultural materialism that allows us to critically understand social media’s influence on culture and the economy.

Culture and Economy in the Age of Social Media

Marisol Sandoval

In times of global capitalist crisis we are witnessing a return of critique in the form of a surging interest in critical theories (such as the critical political economy of Karl Marx) and social rebellions as a reaction to the commodification and instrumentalization of everything. On one hand, there are overdrawn claims that social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc) have caused uproars in countries like Tunisia and Egypt. On the other hand, the question arises as to what actual role social media play in contemporary capitalism, crisis, rebellions, the strengthening of the commons, and the potential creation of participatory democracy. The commodification of everything has resulted also in a commodification of the communication commons, including Internet communication that is today largely commercial in character. This book deals with the questions of what kind of society and what kind of Internet are desirable, how capitalism, power structures and social media are connected, how political struggles are connected to social media, what current developments of the Internet and society tell us about potential futures, how an alternative Internet can look like, and how a participatory, commons-based Internet and a co-operative, participatory, sustainable information society can be achieved.

Critique, Social Media and the Information Society

An Illustrated Guide to Psycho Cinema

Bad Blood

This introductory text is a critical theory toolkit on how to how to make use of Karl Marx’s ideas in media, communication, and cultural studies. Karl Marx’s ideas remain of crucial relevance, and in this short, student-friendly book, leading expert Christian Fuchs introduces Marx to the reader by discussing 15 of his key concepts and showing how they matter for understanding the digital and communicative capitalism that shapes human life in twenty-first century society. Key concepts covered include: the dialectic, materialism, commodities, capital, capitalism, labour, surplus-value, the working class, alienation, means of communication, the general intellect, ideology, socialism, communism, and class struggles. Students taking courses in Media, Culture and Society; Communication Theory; Media Economics; Political Communication; and Cultural Studies will find Fuchs' concise introduction an essential guide to Marx.

Karl Marx’s Fifteen Key Concepts for Cultural and Communication Studies

Marxism

This fourth volume in Christian Fuchs’s Media, Communication and Society book series outlines the theoretical foundations of digital fascism and presents case studies of how fascism is communicated online. Digital Fascism presents and engages with theoretical approaches and empirical studies that allow us to understand how fascism, right-wing authoritarianism, xenophobia, and nationalism are communicated on the Internet. The book builds on theoretical foundations from key theorists such as Theodor W. Adorno, Franz L. Neumann, Erich Fromm, Herbert Marcuse, Wilhelm Reich, Leo Löwenthal, Moishe Postone, Günther Anders, M. N. Roy, and Henry Giroux. The book draws on a range of case studies, including Nazi-celebrations of Hitler’s birthday on Twitter, the ‘red scare 2.0’ directed against Jeremy Corbyn, and political communication online (Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, the Austrian presidential election). These case studies analyse right-wing communication online and on social media. Fuchs argues for the safeguarding of the democratic public sphere and that slowing down and decommodifying the logic of the media can advance and renew debate culture in the age of digital authoritarianism, fake news, echo chambers, and filter bubbles. Each chapter focuses on a particular dimension of digital fascism or a critical theorist whose work helps us to illuminate how fascism and digital fascism work, making this book an essential reading for both undergraduate and postgraduate students of media and communication studies, sociology, politics, and political economy as well as anyone who wants to understand what digital fascism is and how it works.

Media, Communication and Society Volume Four

Digital Fascism

In this exceptional study, Christian Fuchs discusses how the internet has transformed the lives of human beings and social relationships in contemporary society. By outlining a social theory of the internet and the information society, he demonstrates how the ecological, economic, political, and cultural systems of contemporary society have been transformed by new ICTs. Fuchs highlights how new forms of cooperation and competition are advanced and supported by the internet in subsystems of society and also discusses opportunities and risks of the information society.

Social Theory in the Information Age

Internet and Society

Die heutigen gesellschaftlichen Verhältnisse zeichnen sich durch eine Verschärfung der globalen Probleme und die zunehmende Prekärisierung der Lebensverhältnisse großer Teile der Weltbevölkerung aus. Gleichzeitig setzen die Protagonisten der "New Economy" große Hoffnungen in den technischen Fortschritt. Angesichts der Richtung der technischen und gesellschaftlichen Entwicklung wird jedoch bezweifelt, daß sich eine Humanisierung der Lebensverhältnisse unter den bestehenden Bedingungen ergeben wird. Die Theorie der Selbstorganisation bietet eine Möglichkeit, gesellschaftliche Entwicklung dialektisch und nichtdeterministisch zu erfassen. Dieses neue wissenschaftliche Paradigma ist auch für aktuelle politische, ökonomische und soziale Diskussionen und Probleme von konkreter Bedeutung. Der vorliegende Band untersucht die Möglichkeiten sozialer Selbstorganisation und emanzipatorischer Prozesse im kapitalistischen Weltsystem heute. Diskutiert werden gesellschaftliche Veränderungen in Ökonomie, Politik, Technologie, Kultur und Ideologie, die Verschärfung der globalen Probleme, die postfordistische Phase des Kapitalismus, der Zusammenhang von Demokratie und Selbstorganisation, die Selbstorganisationsmöglichkeiten emanzipatorischer Subjekte und potentielle zukünftige Formen sozialer Selbstorganisation.

Gesellschaftliche Verhältnisse heute und Möglichkeiten zukünftiger Transformationen

Soziale Selbstorganisation im informationsgesellschaftlichen Kapitalismus

Tanja Zigart

Eine lehrreiche Gute-Nacht-Geschichte mit vielen Illustrationen über Mut für Jung und Alt. In einem Wald geht das Gerücht um, der Wolf habe eine Todesliste an den Wänden seiner Höhle. Alle Tiere fragen sich, wer denn nun auf der Liste drauf steht. Deshalb machen sich ein Hirsch, ein Wildschwein und ein Hase nacheinander auf den Weg zur Wolfshöhle. Ob die Tiere ihre Angst überwinden und sich dem Wolf stellen, erfahrt ihr in diesem Kinderbuch.

Die Todesliste des Wolfes: Bunte Bilder Kinderbuch - Eine lehrreiche Kurzgeschichte für Mädchen und Jungen ab 3 Jahren

Eine Gute Nacht Geschichte

Wie über COVID-19 im Internet kommuniziert wird

Verschwörungstheorien in der Pandemie

This third volume in Christian Fuchs’s Media, Communication and Society book series illuminates what it means to live in an age of digital capitalism, analysing its various aspects, and engaging with a variety of critical thinkers whose theories and approaches enable a critical understanding of digital capitalism for media and communication. Each chapter focuses on a particular dimension of digital capitalism or a critical theorist whose work helps us to illuminate how digital capitalism works. Subjects covered include: digital positivism; administrative big data analytics; the role and relations of patriarchy, slavery, and racism in the context of digital labour; digital alienation; the role of social media in the capitalist crisis; the relationship between imperialism and digital labour; alternatives such as trade unions and class struggles in the digital age; platform co-operatives; digital commons; and public service Internet platforms. It also considers specific examples, including the digital labour of Foxconn and Pegatron workers, software engineers at Google, and online freelancers, as well as considering the political economy of targeted-advertising-based Internet platforms such as Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Instagram. Digital Capitalism illuminates how a digital capitalist society’s economy, politics, and culture work and interact, making it essential reading for both students and researchers in media, culture, and communication studies, as well as related disciplines.

Media, Communication and Society Volume Three

Digital Capitalism

Daniel Trottier

This book is the essential guide for understanding how state power and politics are contested and exercised on social media. It brings together contributions by social media scholars who explore the connection of social media with revolutions, uprising, protests, power and counter-power, hacktivism, the state, policing and surveillance. It shows how collective action and state power are related and conflict as two dialectical sides of social media power, and how power and counter-power are distributed in this dialectic. Theoretically focused and empirically rigorous research considers the two-sided contradictory nature of power in relation to social media and politics. Chapters cover social media in the context of phenomena such as contemporary revolutions in Egypt and other countries, populism 2.0, anti-austerity protests, the fascist movement in Greece's crisis, Anonymous and police surveillance.

Christian Fuchs

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