Neo-liberalism and contemporary culture
Many writers agree that neo-liberalism* has brought about massive transformations
across the world. What are the repercussions of neo-liberalism in contemporary culture,
communications and media? If neo-liberalism threatens to exacerbate inequality and
constrain crucial liberties (even as it purports to uphold certain kinds of freedom) how
might the grip of its dogmas be loosened? This short symposium brings together three
speakers who have engaged with such questions in their recent work.
Nick Couldry (Goldsmiths University of London) Voice: culture and politics beyond the
horizon of neo-liberalism
Alison Hearn (University of Western Ontario) Neo-liberalism, online 'selfhood', and the
emergence of digital reputation
David Hesmondhalgh (University of Leeds) Neo-liberalism and the political economy of
culture
Chair: Stephen Coleman, University of Leeds
Lecture Theatre D, Houldsworth Building, University of Leeds, Friday 26 February
The event begins at 2.30pm and will continue to about 5pm.
All are welcome, no charge
Organised by the Media Industries Research Centre and the Centre for Digital Citizenship
*The geographer David Harvey has defined neo-liberalism as the theory of political-
economic practices that holds that human well-being is best served by institutional
frameworks characterised by strong private property rights, free markets and free trade.
Nick Couldry is Professor of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of
London and Director of its Centre for the study of Global Media and Democracy. He is the
author or editor of eight books including most recently Media Consumption and Public
Engagement: Beyond the Presumption of Attention (Palgrave 2007, new edition February
2010, co-authors Sonia Livingstone and Tim Markham), Media Events in a Global Age
(Routledge 2009, coedited with Andreas Hepp and Friedrich Krotz) and Listening Beyond
the Echoes: Media Ethics and Agency in an Uncertain World . (Paradigm 2006). His next
book is Why Voice Matters: Culture and Politics After Neoliberalism (Sage June 2010).
Alison Hearn is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the
University of Western Ontario, Canada. Her work is included in such journals as Topia,
Continuum, The Journal of Consumer Culture and Bad Subjects and in edited volumes
including The Celebrity Culture Reader, and The Media and Social Theory. She is co-
author of Outside the Lines: Issues in Interdisciplinary Research (McGill-Queens
University Press, 1997) and she is currently completing a book entitled Real Incorporated:
reality television, promotional culture and the will to image.
David Hesmondhalgh is Professor of Media and Music Industries at the University of
Leeds, where he is Director of the Media Industries Research Centre (MIRC). His
publications include The Cultural Industries (2nd edition, 2007), and five edited volumes:
The Media and Social Theory (with Jason Toynbee, 2008), Media Production (2006),
Understanding Media: Inside Celebrity (with Jessica Evans, 2005), Popular Music Studies
(with Keith Negus, 2002) and Western Music and its Others (with Georgina Born, 2000).
Creative Labour: Media Work in Three Cultural Industries, co-written with Sarah Baker, is
published by Routledge in 2010.
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