Casey and the ASA Section on Culture

The latest issue of the official newsletter of the American Sociological Association’s Section on Culture, published in December 2013, features coverage by Prof Rodney Benson (New York University) of a preconference on media sociology co-convened by Dr Casey Brienza (City), Dr Andrew Lindner (Concordia College), and Matthias Revers (SUNY, Albany) and held at NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge and Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute on 9 August 2013. The preconference featured an invited keynote by Dr Dhiraj Murthy (Goldsmiths, University of London) and a plenary panel addressing the theme, ‘Mapping the Field of Media Sociology,’ with additional participants Prof Rodney Benson, Prof Andrea Press (University of Virginia), Prof Michael Schudson (Columbia University), and Prof Eleanor Townsley (Mount Holyoke College). This event was also linked to an ongoing grassroots campaign spearheaded by Dr Brienza and Mr Revers to form a Media Sociology section of the ASA that is theoretically and methodologically agnostic and aims to support sociological work related to any and all media. A petition supported by signatures from over 200 current members was submitted to the ASA Council in November 2013. A second media sociology preconference will be held at Mills College (Oakland, CA) on 15 August 2014.