Media and Cultural Regulation

How far can culture be regulated through formal controls on the media? How are such controls shaped and contested in an age of cultural diversity and global cultural industries? In Media and Cultural Regulation, the contributors outline the ways in which contemporary trendsùpolitical, social, and economicùgive rise to public debates about policies concerned with culture. This book covers a range of key debates about the politics and regulation of culture. A range of theoretical issues are explored in questions of the public sphere and the politics of leisure. Three key arenas of contested regulation, posing very different issues of the formation and regulation of culture and media are discussed, including sexuality, globalization, and multiculturalism. Sexuality poses issues of control of representations, pornography, and censorship. Globalization raises questions of national identity and cultural imperialism. Multiculturalism challenges existing models of cultural identity and citizenship. Through these three central cases, major contests around the public defining of culture, identity, and difference are clarified. Balanced and accessible, the book deals with some of the most contentious aspects of contemporary cultural change. Incorporating questions, activities, and selected readings, it will be invaluable to students and lecturers as a resource for understanding the culture wars that occur more frequently in the global village.