CATEGORY

"This is both a smashing textbook and also an impressive contribution to thinking in a range of subjects. This book should influence the way we construct the undergraduate curriculum as well as rethink the polarization between political economy and cultural studies."
- Frank Webster, City University

"A wonderfully clear, insightful, and original synthesis of work on the cultural industries, representing the perspectives of the new generation of researchers."
- James Curran, Goldsmiths College, University of London

"The Cultural Industries is an indispensable guide to the main forces at work in the production of media today. This lucid, careful, and sophisticated book orders the entire field, for the US as well as Europe, and at one stroke becomes the state of the art, the standard."
- Todd Gitlin, New York University

"David Hesmondhalgh offers us a valuable resource and a timely provocation. . . [A] very well organized and clearly written introduction to this increasingly important area of study. Students and teachers wanting a comprehensive and accessible guide to what we know and where we might be heading will welcome it with open arms. . . His book deserves to be required reading on every media and cultural studies course."
- Graham Murdock, University of Loughborough

"The arguments within [this book] provide both a timely overview of current scholarship and offer a unique multidisciplinary approach to the topic in a clear and concise manner."
- TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies

What are the 'cultural industries'? What role do they play in contemporary society? How are they changing?

The Cultural Industries, Second Edition combines a political economy approach with the best aspects of cultural studies, sociology, communication studies, and social theory to provide an overview of the key debates surrounding cultural production.

Key Features:

• Includes revised material on Policy
• Considers both the entertainment and the information sectors
• Combines analysis of the contemporary scene with a long-range historical perspective
• Draws on a range of examples from North America, the United Kingdom, Europe and elsewhere

This new edition of Hesmondhalgh's clearly written, thoroughly argued overview of political-economic, organizational, technological, and cultural change represents yet another important intervention in research on cultural production. It provides students with an indispensable introduction to the area, clearly written and accessible, but nonetheless essential.