Centre for International Communications & Society
The Department of Sociology at City
The Department of Sociology at City has a distinguished record in Media Sociology and Communications. The pioneering work of Jeremy Tunstall during the 1970s ensured the Department international prominence in this field from the very beginning.
Seminal studies such as The Westminster Lobby Correspondents (1970), Journalists at Work (1971) and The Media are American (1977) set an enviably high standard of research that continues with Professor Tunstall's latest work, The Media Were American (2007).
Today's much-expanded Department continues to publish a large number of books and articles, ensuring it a leading role in the study of media and communications.
About our Masters programmes
The Department boasts one of the longest-established Masters degree courses in the UK - International Communications and Development. A range of other enormously successful postgraduate degrees have been added to this, including Masters courses in Political Communication, Media & Communications and Transnational Media & Globalisation.
An exciting new MA Information, Communication & Society had its first cohort in 2009 and is aimed at addressing core issues - technical or social - surrounding the emergence of the "social web". These courses bring together well over 100 students from almost 40 different nations. (For further information please see the programme links below).
The Department also regularly invites speakers from within the industry, with past speakers coming from companies such as CNBC, Eurosport and FremantleMedia.
Sociology PhD programme
The Department has a vibrant Sociology PhD programme and welcomes applicants with original research topics. The Department participates in the Joint PhD London Symposium together with the University of Westminster, Goldsmiths and the LSE, giving research students the opportunity to meet students from other universities and to present papers to a challenging audience.
The perfect location for studying communications and media
City's location in and around Islington, Clerkenwell and Barbican puts the Department at the heart of media and communications affairs in what is unarguably one of the world's leading cities. London is a hub of global, national and international communications, and researchers at City capitalise on this situation.
Key players are close by: journalists and web designers, fashion designers and entrepreneurs, advertising agencies and political advisers, diplomats and deal-makers, NGOs and established interest groups. All are concentrated and congregate in the immediate area, giving researchers ready access to 24/7 activities that truly connect all around the globe in real time.
Step out of the doors of City and you are immediately in one of the most vibrant and stimulating parts of London where intense cosmopolitanism, the creative industries and sheer style are inescapable.
Furthermore, just a few minutes walk and you're in one of the world's greatest financial centres. It is hard to imagine a better place to study communications and media issues.
The ICS research community
All the ICS members are research active and publish extensively in the broad field of media and communication studies (see our list of recent books below).
They all have an established reputation and are regularly invited to present papers at seminars and conferences. Their research interests, whilst centered around media and communication issues, are varied and encompass audiovisual policy, the information society, new communication technologies, journalism and news production, media and gender, new media and gaming, crime and media, war and communication, cultural identity and the city, and global and transnational media.
Staff linked to the Centre
Dr Jean Chalaby
Global communication and transnational media
Dr Chris Greer
Media, crime and justice
Dr Petros Iosifidis
Media policy
Dr Sarah Maltby
Media and conflict
Dr Simon Susen
Social and political theory; history of social and political thought; sociology of critique; sociology of contemporary Europe; philosophy of the social sciences
Dr Patria Roman-Velazquez
Culture, media and the city
Professor Frank Webster
The information society; social movements and new media; democratisation and information/communications
A selection of the Group's publications
P. Iosifidis (2011), Global Media and Communication Policy, Palgrave Macmillan
Simon Susen and Bryan S. Turner (eds.) (2011) The Legacy of Pierre Bourdieu: Critical Essays, London: Anthem Press, 470 pp.
Simon Susen (2010) 'Remarks on the Concept of Critique in Habermasian Thought', Journal of Global Ethics, 6(2), pp. 103-126.
Celia Basconzuelo, Teresita Morel, and Simon Susen (eds.) (2010) Ciudadanía territorial y movimientos sociales. Historia y nuevas problemáticas en el escenario latinoamericano y mundial, Río Cuarto: Ediciones del ICALA, 228 pp.
F. Webster, Theories of the Information Society, Routlege
K.Ball, F. Webster, The Intensification of Surveillance: Crime, Terrorism and Warfare in the Information Age, Pluto Press
J. Tuntall, The Media Were American, Oxford University Press
H. Tumber, F. Webster, Journalists Under Fire, Sage Publications Ltd
J. K. Chalaby, Transnational Television Worldwide: Towards a New Media Order, I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd.
P.Iosifidis, Public Television in the Digital Era, Palgrave Macmillan
R, Blom, E. Karvonen, H.Melin, K. Nordenstreng, E. Puoskari, F. Webster, The Information Society Reader, Routledge Student Readers
C.Greer, Sex Crime and the Media: Sex Offending and the Press in a Divided Society, Willan Publishing
J. K. Chalaby, Transnational Television in Europe: Reconfiguring Global Communications Networks, I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd.
G. Browning, A. Halcli, F. Webster, Understanding Contemporary Society, SAGE Publications Ltd
S.Maltby, R.Keeble, Communicating War: Memory, Media and Military
A.Smith, F.Webster, The Postmodern University?: Contested Visions of Higher Education in Society, The Society for Research into Higher Education
K. Robins, F. Webster, The Virtual University: Knowledge, Markets and Management, Oxford University Press
P. Davies, P. Francis, C. Greer, Victims, Crime and Society, SAGE Publications Ltd
Petros Iosifidis, Reinventing Public Service Communication: European Broadcasters and Beyond, Palgrave Macmillan
K.Robins, F.Webster, Times of the Technoculture: From the Information Society to the, Virtual Life, Routledge
F.Webster (with K.Gillan and J.Pickerill), Anti-War Activism: New Media and Protest in the Information Age, Palgrave Macmillan
Underlying ideas
The Group is united by a shared understanding that media permeate all dimensions of social and political life, mediating all types of relations. Media and communications technologies are fast-changing, not merely adapting to a world that is rapidly evolving, but actively contributing to its transformations.
Masters programmes index
Staff associated with the Centre for International Communications and Society play core roles in the following Masters Programmes:
