Media Studies and the Psychosocial Subject

Abstract

The chapter is divided into four main parts. Firstly, it provides a historical outline of the development of media studies by shedding light on the founding of its main schools and traditions. Secondly, it offers an understanding of media from a psychosocial vantage point, so as to then, thirdly, touch upon existing psychosocial traditions of studying media. The final part offers miniature portraits of central thinkers and texts in media studies and discusses their bearings on psychosocial conceptions of the subject. Due to the interdisciplinary origins and outlook of both media and psychosocial studies and their partial reliance on the same academic traditions, a significant number of key positions in media studies show strong affinities to psychosocial conceptions of the subject. Countering the dominant, quantitative-empirical research paradigm in media studies, these positions themselves have long since taken on hegemonic status. This status, in turn, casts an interesting light on psychosocial studies, which has traditionally seen itself as at the margins of the academic field.