ABSTRACT

This companion brings together scholars working at the intersection of media and class, with a focus on how understandings of class are changing in contemporary global media contexts.

From the memes of and about working-class supporters of billionaire "populists", to well-publicized and critiqued philanthropic efforts to bring communication technologies into developing country contexts, to the behind-the-scenes work of migrant tech workers, class is undergoing change both in and through media. Diverse and thoughtfully curated contributions unpack how media industries, digital technologies, everyday media practices—and media studies itself—feed into and comment upon broader, interdisciplinary discussions. They cover a wide range of topics, such as economic inequality, workplace stratification, the sharing economy, democracy and journalism, globalization, and mobility/migration.

Outward-looking, intersectional, and highly contemporary, The Routledge Companion to Media and Class is a must-read for students and researchers interested in the intersections between media, class, sociology, technology, and a changing world.

part I|2 pages

Class and Mass Media

chapter 4|13 pages

Migrants Meet Reality Shows

The Class Representation of Non-Koreans in Reality Shows in Korea

chapter 5|12 pages

Participation in Reality Television

Entertainment Mobilization in Dance Talent Shows

chapter 6|12 pages

Love, Sex, Money

Gender and Economic Inequality in HIV Edutainment Programming in Kenya

part II|2 pages

Class in Interactive Digital and Mobile Media

chapter 8|9 pages

“Keep it Classy”

Grindr, Facebook and Enclaves of Queer Privilege in India

chapter 9|11 pages

YouTube-based Programming and Saudi Youth

Constructing a New Online Class and Monetizing Strategies

chapter 10|12 pages

Mobile Technology and Class

Australian Family Households, Socioeconomic Status and Techno-literacy

chapter 11|10 pages

Hanging Out at Home as a Lifestyle

YouTube Home Tour Vlogs in East Asia

chapter 12|10 pages

Young People, Smartphones, and Invisible Illiteracies

Closing the Potentiality–Actuality Chasm in Mobile Media

part III|2 pages

Labor in Digital/Media Contexts

chapter 14|11 pages

The Roots of Journalistic Perception

A Bourdieusian Approach to Media and Class

chapter 16|12 pages

Technologies of Recognition

The Classificatory Function of Social Media in Mobile Careers

chapter 19|14 pages

Between “World Class Work” and “Proletarianized Labor”

Digital Labor Imaginaries in the Global South

part IV|2 pages

Media, Class, and Expressions of Citizenship

chapter 21|11 pages

“Second-class” Access

Homelessness and the Digital Materialization of Class

chapter 23|14 pages

Reconsidering Mobility

The Competing Logics of Information and Communication Technologies Across Class Differences in the Context of Denver’s Gentrification

part |2 pages

Postscript