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Area of Concentration: Media

Learning Objectives

Students will

  • recognise that organisations and society often emerge through intricate communication and mediation processes and familiarise themselves with fundamental theories and approaches within the interdisciplinary study of media, encompassing communication studies, cultural theory, and the social sciences. The variety of courses will offer students also the possibility to develop an in-depth understanding of specific media processes (e.g. social media communication, visual cultures and film, promotional cultures and advertising, and media crisis and reputation), their political economies and social implications;
  • gain a critical awareness of the historical influence of evolving media and communication landscapes from the industrial revolution and modernity, through digital networks and globalisation to the rise of social media and AI;
  • acquire knowledge about non-western media histories and cultures;
  • gain a thorough understanding of the power of communication, emphasising the relationship between representation and ideology, social psychology, emotion and media messages or sociological and anthropological understandings of active user engagement or audiences;
  • be equipped with the theories and skills to reflect on the relationship between communication and ethics, and the importance of responsible communication within organisational cultures.

This area of concentration teaches students that we cannot understand organisations, societies, and cultures without looking at how they come into being through complex processes of communication, information exchanges, and meaning construction. Our worlds are dominated by screens, media images and media practices; our lives are defined by media interactions. But how far do we understand the role of media and communication processes in our society, organisations, and everyday life? The Media area of concentration introduces students to key theories and approaches in the study of media, at the intersection of communication studies, cultural theory, and the social sciences. This area of concentration provides students with a critical perspective into the power of communication, and the affordances and challenges of different media technologies and processes.

The area includes both introductory and theoretical courses and more specialised and practical ones. The introductory courses will explore the relationship between media, communication, and society. They address key topics such as the rise of the ‘public sphere’ in the early days of industrial capitalism or the role different media played (e.g. satellite broadcasting, internet networks and social media) in the making of the global economy and society. More specialised courses will focus on different topics such as social media communication and viral contagion, organisational communication in changing media cultures, media persuasion and advertising, responsible communication or the power of film and visual cultures. Courses in this area of concentration will be critical and contextual in nature and consider communication and mediation as complex social and cultural processes rather than as a set of strategies that can be taught. Students will gain critical skills that will enable them to reflect on the power of communication, the relationship between representation and ideology, social psychology, and promotional cultures, and the impacts of fake news, echo chambers and algorithmically mediated forms of communication on organisations and society.

Bachelor: Students focus on introductory media theory and media history, and in-depth courses on specific formats and genres (storytelling, advertisements, film, social media, selfies and so on).

Master: The focus is on complex interdisciplinary issues related to the media and themes such as media economics, transculturality and globalisation of the media, representations of gender, the formation of the public sphere, algorithmic cultures as media and their impacts.

Key Topics:

  • Media Cultures and Social Impacts
  • Social Media in Context
  • Promotional Cultures
  • Organisational Communication and Ethics
  • Visual Cultures and Film Theory

Coordination

Veronica Barassi

Prof. Ph.D.

Director

SHSS-HSG / MCM
Blumenbergplatz 9

9000 St. Gallen

Daria Berg

Prof. Dr.

Professor of Chinese Culture and Society

Lehrstuhl Kultur und Gesellschaft Chinas
Unterer Graben 21
6. Stock
9000 St Gallen
north