Involution and vacuum: Comments on mainstream U.S. media studies

Abstract

Mainstream U.S. media studies has been marked by an involuntary process toward greater self-absorption and internal development, hence privileging methodologically elaborate study of neatly delineated problems over conceptual or theoretical innovation. Communication research is increasingly divorced from the larger contexts of the humanities and social sciences. It may also risk being criticized for operating in historical and global vacuum. The solution is to return to what C. Wright Mills describes as the classic tradition of ‘intellectual craftsmanship’ that encourages the production of sociological imagination.

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