Examines the unique cultural practices of media production. This title collects the essays that combine ethnographic, sociological, critical, material, and political-economic methods to explore a wide range of topics, from contemporary industrial trends such as new media and niche markets to gender and workplace hierarchies.
Production Studies is a landmark collection that closely examines the texts, institutions, and practices of media industries in order to allow media studies students and scholars to think more precisely and holistically about media production as a cultural activity. The book is comprised of all new essays exploring the cultures, social organization, work practices, and belief systems of media practitioners. Each section results from a combination of situated fieldwork, empirical or from-the-ground-up studies, and critical analysis. Individual chapters draw upon a diverse array of earlier production studies across a range of ethnographic, sociological, critical, material, and political-economic methodologies as each author presents their own contemporary research.
The contributors include distinguished and new scholars from a range of academic disciplines-Film and Media Studies, Communication, Sociology, and Anthropology. The authors and editors are especially interested in how the cultural activities of production workers fit within and animate the new realities of a post-Fordist and neoliberal economy, flexible and outsourced labor practices, multimedia convergence, and multinational, corporate conglomeration.
"Production Studies's collection of insightful essays by academics from a range of disciplines presents a superb example ofprecisely the kind of complex, collaborative work their essays elucidate. Incorporating material from interviews with a range of industry professionals, interrogating both industry practices and the scholarship that has explored them, this book speaks to some of the most pressing issues in the current media studies agenda."--Michele Hilmes, authorof NBC:America's Network
"Arriving at a time when the analysis of cultural and material production, in all its forms, has perhaps never been so critical, this rich and diverse collection of essays is a vital contribution to media production studies. The contributors offer a variety of insightful accounts of production culture, approaching it from perspectives including anthropology, cultural studies, feminism, and political economy, and highlighting many different production modes, levels, and locales. Production Studies is the new benchmark for this important and rapidly evolving field, and will influence media scholars and practitioners for years to come."--Derek Kompare, author ofRerun Nation: How Repeats Invented American Television