EUROPEAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

Research Network:  Sociology of Mass Media & Communications

Network conference; Call for papers

As we have done for several years now the Network will hold a meeting
between the biennial conferences of the ESA.  This year’s meeting will take
place in Greece, due to the kind hospitality of the School of Journalism
and Mass Communication
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

The details are as follows:

Dates:   November 5th to 7th 2004
Place: Thessaloniki, Greece.
Title: New Directions in European Media
Eligibility:  All members of the ESA and all social scientists with an
interest in social scientific understanding of media and communications.
Arrangements:   Delegates will be self-financing.  There will be no
registration fee.  Local accommodation and meals will be supported by our
hosts and will not be expensive.  A small amount of money is available for
support for younger scholars and for scholars from countries or
universities where support is unlikely to be available.  It must be
stressed that the sums available are very small, and the conference
committee will need to be very selective in allocating such funds.   Anyone
likely to need any such support should in the first instance send a brief
explanation of the cause and scale of their need for support to Peter
Golding.

Programme;  Our title invites papers on any aspect of media or mass
communications in Europe. We are especially interested in papers addressing
new or comparative dimensions of this field, and which deploy innovative
approaches from sociological or social science understanding to relevant
problems.  We also welcome papers which relate the changing character of
Europe itself to media and communications issues – is there an emerging
European public sphere beyond the national?  How do we understand changing
supra-national formations and activities in relation to communications and
media?   Empirical research and theoretical discussion are equally welcome.

Publication:  It is anticipated that the best papers presented may be
published by the host organisation, but also will be submitted, if
suitable, as a special issue of European Societies, the journal of the
ESA.
Conference Programme Committee:  Comprises the Network officers (Peter
Golding, Peter Ludes, Rossella Savarese) plus Dr. Sophia Kaitatzi-Whitlock
of  Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Submission of Abstracts:   Abstracts of papers to be presented at the
Meeting should be submitted electronically to Sarah Rawson in Loughborough
([log in to unmask]) by June 25th 2004.  Abstracts must be no longer
than 250 words.  The author’s full contact details and current position
should be sent with the abstract.
Further information about the Research Network may be found at;
http://www.valt.helsinki.fi/esa/commun.htm#bremen