On The Communication Researches In UK: A Marxism Perspective

This thesis aims to on the one hand map out the academic field of media and communication studies in UK, which covers culture studies, media studies, political economy of media, policy research, media history, etc; and on the other hand outline the Marxism roots in the intellectual history of these fields. Not only the personal influences Marxism exerted to the scholars are examined, but also the dynamics between Marxism and the researches on media are evaluated.The methodologies of the thesis are as below: literature review, interview and informal talk, field observation. Abundant literature in English in its original form provide more accurate information than the translated versions; interviews and informal talks conducted by the author provide the chances to enhance the understanding of what the scholars thought of and wrote about; field observation collects first hand all-around information.The thesis first probes how Marxism was accepted by British intellectuals, especially the left wing. Left Book Club and New Left are discussed in this case. Then the thesis describes how the British culture studies and media studies inherit, modify, develop or abandon Marxism, in which way and causes what results. Birmingham School and Westminster School as the representing scholar communities of each approach are in the center of discussion. At last the thesis identifies three concepts of class, labor and power, which are key concepts of Marxism as well as playing a major role in the approach of political economy of media/communication.The main contribution of the thesis is to elaborate on Westminster School that was rarely mentioned before in China as well as map out the communication research field in UK in the Marxism perspective.