Social Media: A Critical Introduction

by Christian Fuchs

Overview

Social media are an integral part of contemporary society; transforming the way we communicate, use information and understand the world, so we must explore critical questions about social media and dig deeper into issues of ownership, power, class and (in)justice. This book does just that, equipping students with a critical understanding of the complexities and contradictions at the heart of social media’s relationship with society.



The revised and expanded Third Edition:

• Explores populism, racism and nationalism in a new chapter on right-wing authoritarianism.
• Introduces the phenomenon of social media influencers and in the age of Instagram, You Tube, and Snapchat.
• Explains how big data is central to social media in a new chapter on big data capitalism and imperialism.
• Explores the growing prominence of platforms and platform capitalism.
• Challenges you to envision and achieve a truly social media that serves the purposes of a just and fair world.

There are winners and losers in the age of digital capitalism. This book is an essential guide for anyone who wants to critically understand how we got here, and what we can do to change it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781529752748
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	06/15/2021
Edition description:	Third Edition
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.53(h) x (d)

About the Author

Christian Fuchs is Professor at the University of Westminster, where he is the Director of the Westminster Institute for Advanced Studies and the Director of the Communication and Media Research Institute. His research fields are critical theory, critical media/communication studies, critical digital studies.

Fuchs is a critical theorist of communication and digital media. He is the author of many works about the roles of media, communcation, and the Internet in society.

His books include "Marxist Humanism & Communication Theory" (2021), "Communication and Captalism: A Critical Theory" (2020), "Marxism: Karl Marx's Fifteen Key Concepts for Cultural & Communication Studies "

(2020), "Nationalism on the Internet" (2020), "Rereading Marx in the Age of Digital Capitalism" (2019), "Digital Demagogue: Authoritarian Capitalism in the Age of Trump and Twitter" (2018), "Critical Theory of Communication" (2016), "Reading Marx in the Information Age" (2016), "Culture and Economy in the Age of Social Media" (2015), "Occupy Media! "

(2014), "Digital Labour and Karl Marx" (2014), "Foundations of Critical Media and Information Studies" (2011), "Internet and Society" (2008).

@fuchschristian,

http://fuchsc.net

Table of Contents

FOUNDATIONS
1. What Is a Critical Introduction to Social Media?
2. What Are Social Media?
3. Big Data Capitalism
APPLICATIONS
4. The Power and Political Economy of Social Media
5. Google: Good or Evil Search Engine?
6. Facebook and Whats App: Surveillance in the Age of Fake News
7. Influencer Capitalism: Reified Consciousness in the Age of Instagram, You Tube, and Snapchat
8. Twitter and Democracy: A New Public Sphere?
9. Right-Wing Authoritarianism on Social Media
10. Weibo: Power, Ideology, and Social Struggles in China
11. The Sharing Economy of Airbnb, Uber, and Upwork
12. Platform Capitalism
13. Wikipedia: A New Democratic Form of Collaborative Work and Production?
FUTURES
14. Capitalist Social Media’s Major Problems and Alternatives
15. A Manifesto for Truly Social Media

Editorial Reviews

In the fast-changing world of social media, it is imperative to have a text that changes with the times. With several new chapters covering Big Data, Trump, the challenge from China, platform capitalism and more, this thoroughly revised third edition of Social Media does just that, even as it retains a strong commitment to critical theory, democratic values, and digital activism.

Vincent Mosco

In the fast-changing world of social media, it is imperative to have a text that changes with the times. With several new chapters covering Big Data, Trump, the challenge from China, platform capitalism and more, this thoroughly revised third edition of Social Media does just that, even as it retains a strong commitment to critical theory, democratic values, and digital activism.

--Vincent Mosco (12/2/2020 12:00:00 AM)

From the Publisher

Until now, philosophical contributions to understanding the newer media have been trivially apolitical. Finally, in the assured hands of Christian Fuchs, readers have a brilliant introduction to the field that is as astute as it is engaged.

Toby Miller

This is the most complete and wide-ranging discussion of social media there is. An introduction not only to social media, but to critical theory and how it relates to contemporary digital culture, this book astutely illuminates an increasingly important social phenomenon that has become an integral part of modern daily living.

Vincent Miller

Christian Fuchs has turned his considerable talents to that rarest of academic creations: a truly, unabashedly critical textbook on a timely and important topic for contemporary media studies. If you want your students to think about issues of power and social justice, if you want to challenge them to re-imagine the world, and if you want an alternative to the anodyne and borderline fan-like writing that has become the stuff of new media texts, this is the book for you.

Mark Andrejevic

Fuchs continues to prove the enduring legacy of Marxist theory in a digital age, demonstrating its potential to help us understand social and technological relations and ways to foster a more just society beyond the shackles of techno-capitalist structures of power.

Dr Aliette Lambert

A definitive book for all social media users who feel powerless and exploited, who long for dignity, freedom, and a more democratic Internet - illuminated, again, by critical theory.

Jack Qiu

Christian Fuch’s revised text should be mandatory reading for students, scholars, or anyone trying to understand the changes and continuity that characterize social media. The book is a smart, thorough and well-documented resource that should be useful to all.

Janet Wasko