tripleC 19 (2): 325-342, 2021 http://www.triple-c.at
Capitalisation of the Media Industry From a Political Economy Perspective Manfred Knoche Paris-Lodron-University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria, manfred.knoche@plus.ac.at http://www.medienoekonomie.at https://kowi.uni-salzburg.at/ma/knoche-manfred/ @Medoek https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred_Knoche Translation from German: Christian Fuchs Abstract Approaches to the critique of the political economy of communication in society belong to the “forgotten theories” in media and communication studies. But in view of the unmistakable structural change of a media industry “unleashed” by deregulation, privatisation, digitalisation, concentration, globalisation, etc., it seems from an academic perspective necessary to analyse the development of the media industry in close connection with the equally unmistakable general development of an “unleashed” capitalism. This article therefore shows that the analysis of the development processes of capitalism as the undoubtedly globally dominant economic and social system from a political economy perspective makes it possible to analyse, explain, and partly forecast the economisation or commercialisation process in the media industry in an academically appropriate way with regard to its causes, forms, consequences, and further development. Theoretical explanations are offered by the further developments of the analysis and critique of contemporary capitalism based on Marx’s critique of the political economy as a historical-materialist analysis of society. In doing so, the permanent fundamental characteristics, modes of functioning and “regularities” of the capitalist mode of production and the capitalist formation of society are analysed in connection with the particularities of the current capitalisation process in the media industry. Keywords: capitalisation of the media industry, critique of the political economy of the media and communication, transformation, media industry Acknowledgement: This article was first published in German: Manfred Knoche. 2001. Kapitalisierung der Medienindustrie aus politökonomischer Perspektive. Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft 49 (2): 177-194. Baden-Baden: Nomos. Translated into English and publication of the translation with permission by Nomos Verlag
“Today, in my view, capitalism is for the first time in a state, in which the logic of capital functions just as purely and unadulterated, as Marx described it in Capital.” Oskar Negt 1997, 38. Introduction What has recently been increasingly discussed in media and communication studies as the economisation or commercialisation of the media industry is, from a political economy perspective, an old phenomenon that can be seen as an essential structural feature of privately organised media production, distribution and consumption. Belonging to the commercially organised sector of the private economy has Date of Publication: 19 August 2021
CC-BY-NC-ND: Creative Commons License, 2021.