Rethinking Power in Communicative Capitalism. Critical Perspectives on Media, Culture and Society European Sociological Association Research Network 18: Sociology of Communications and Media Research RN18 Mid-Term Conference Venue: ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal September 8-10, 2016 http://esarn18.tumblr.com Keynote Speakers: Jodi Dean (Hobart and William Smith Colleges, NY, USA): Communicative capitalism and class struggle Christian Fuchs (University of Westminster, UK): Karl Marx and communicative capitalism Abstract submission deadline: May, 15, 2016 Notification of selected abstracts: June, 10, 2016 Conference dates: September 8-10, 2016 Please send your 250-400 words abstract to Romina Surugiu (University of Bucharest) romina.surugiu@fjsc.ro, Roy Panagiotopoulou (University of Athens) rpanag@media.uoa.gr, and Marisol Sandoval (City University London) marisol.sandoval.1@city.ac.uk The proliferation of digital media in the 21st century has once again shown the deeply ambivalent and contradictory potentials of technological development. Digital technologies have been celebrated for enabling new levels of democratic communication, participatory media production, community building and media activism. From Wikipedia, to open source programming, open access publishing, and peer-to-peer file sharing, we have witnessed the rise of a range of alternative forms of communication and media production that seemed to challenge established media business models and momentarily contested corporate power. However, far from decreasing the dominance of corporate media, the expansion of digital culture, the Internet and social media further strengthened the power of multinational corporations over media culture and human communication. Despite the rhetoric of ‘social’ media, sharing, community and collaboration, the majority of the digital media sphere remains privately owned and controlled. In this corporate media system, multinational corporations maintain almost exclusive control over large parts of the media and communication technology, infrastructure and content. Power in communicative capitalism is uneven and corporate control confronts us with a range of problems such as the systematic surveillance of Internet users, an increasingly commercialised online environment, devastating environmental impacts of the production and usage of media technologies and the global exploitation of digital labour. (Digital) media technologies are deeply entangled with the on-going economic, social, environmental and political crises. Mobilising the empowering qualities of digital technologies and their potential to contribute to progressive social change requires an effective critique of corporate dominance, challenging power inequalities and strengthening radical alternatives. This conference invites contributions that offer a critical analysis of corporate media culture and alternatives to it and thus contribute to rethinking power in communicative capitalism. Conference fees 80 Euro for ESA RN18 members / 100 Euros for non ESA RN18 members (conference dinner included) 60 Euro for ESA RN18 members / 80 Euros for non ESA RN18 members (without conference dinner) 25 Euro for students (Bachelor and Master) (without conference dinner) / 45 Euros (conference dinner included) The registration details, including the registration form, will be available on the DINÂMIA’CET-IUL website (http://dinamiacet.iscte-iul.pt/) on June 1, 2016. You can become a member of ESA RN18 by joining the ESA and subscribing to the network. The network needs material support, so we encourage you to join or renew your membership. The network subscription fee is only 10 Euros: http://www.europeansociology.org/member/ Participation support for 4 PhD students and/or independent researchers will be available. This will not cover all costs, but part of them (accommodation and full conference fee). Preference will be given to presentations that suit the overall conference topic. If you want to apply for participation support, please indicate this in your abstract submission by adding the sentence “I want to apply for participation support for PhD students / independent researchers”. The notifications about participation support will be sent out together with the notifications of acceptance or rejection of presentations. Additional information to prove your condition as PhD student or independent researcher will be requested.