Issues & Topics

At MSMC, Youth and Culture aims to analyse the main generational transformations that characterise the contemporary experience of young adults. In particular, research in this area focuses on processes of individualisation and new forms of participation in public life, increasingly mediated by information technology and the multiple forms of media communication and information

The MSMC believes that the media and communication practices must be studied as varying across space but also across time. To that end, we focus on the history of digital technologies in fields as diverse as journalism, popular culture, science, and religion. 
This temporal perspective allows scholars in Communication History to more clearly understand what is different about 21st century media, and why it matters.

MSMC hosts leading scholars specialised in critical research on the cultural, sociological and infrastructural aspects of digital platforms, artificial intelligence, and ICS technologies. The School contributes to interdisciplinary research on the platformization, datafication and algorithmic reproduction/transformation of social processes, through a wide range of qualitative, computational and digital methods.

At MSMC, Journalism Studies aims to understand the social and cultural dimensions of journalism and the news media industry. MSMC research in this area applies a range of methodologies, with a special focus on institutional and STS approaches, to the study of technological, political, commercial, educational, discursive and professional factors that shape contemporary journalism.

The Media Industries and Cultural Production/Consumption theme seeks to advance the understanding of media production, circulation, regulation, and consumption. Keeping a special emphasis on media in the digital realm, MSMC research in this area will employ a varied number of methodologies and approaches to the analysis of the cultural production of media in conjunction with the study of consumer cultures in the digital society.

The program in Religion, Media and Marketing operates within MSMC as a venue for research on the religion/media/marketing relationship. We see this relationship as two-sided: the religious use of newer media tools and marketing strategies to attract different resources (new members, donations, legitimacy, trust, etc.) and the commercial use of religious idioms, imaginaries and symbolic dimensions to communicate or market products and brands. This research engages themes related to how technological changes are reframing the organization and behaviour of religious institutions, capitalist narratives and the intersections of religion and politics, among other issues.

MSMC has a stream of research focused on communications about political issues by the media, political parties, and leaders, as well as social media influencers, digital movements, and citizens. Both the formation and manifestations of public opinion are studied using quantitative and qualitative methods within the context of a fragmented digital public sphere.

Visual Cultures at MSMC seeks to understand the role that visual imagery, representation and visuality at large play in society.
This research area brings together aesthetic, technological, professional, cultural and political perspectives to examine the meanings, practices and processes underlying contemporary visual texts and artifacts, together with their consequences.