[artinfo] New open access book

[Christian Fuchs]

Fuchs, Christian
Critical Theory of Communication:
New Readings of Lukács, Adorno, Marcuse, Honneth 
and Habermas in the Age of the Internet.
University of Westminster Press.
ISBN 978-1-911534-04-4.
Critical Digital and Social Media Studies Book Series, Volume 1.

More information:
http://fuchs.uti.at/books/critical-theory-of-communication/
http://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/site/books/detail/1/critical-theory-of-communication/

Watch the introductory talk from the book launch
https://vimeo.com/187128375

This book contributes to the foundations of a 
critical theory of communication as shaped by the 
forces of digital capitalism. Christian Fuchs 
explores how the thought of some of the Frankfurt 
School's key thinkers can be deployed for 
critically understanding media in the age of the 
Internet. Five essays that form the heart of this 
book review aspects of the works of Georg Lukács, 
Theodor W. Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Axel Honneth 
and Jürgen Habermas and apply them as elements of 
a critical theory of communication's foundations. 
The approach taken starts from Georg Lukács' 
"Ontology of Social Being", draws on the work of 
the Frankfurt School thinkers, and sets them into 
dialogue with the Cultural Materialism of Raymond 
Williams.

Critical Theory of Communication offers a vital 
set of new insights on how communication operates 
in the age of information, digital media and 
social media, arguing that we need to transcend 
the communication theory of Habermas by 
establishing a dialectical and 
cultural-materialist critical theory of 
communication.

It is the first title in a major new book series 
'Critical Digital and Social Media Studies' 
published by the University of Westminster Press.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Critical Theory of 
Communication: New Readings of Lukács, Adorno, 
Marcuse, Honneth and Habermas in the Age of the 
Internet

2. Georg Lukács as a Communications Scholar: 
Cultural and Digital Labour in the Context of 
Lukács' Ontology of Social Being

3. Theodor W. Adorno and the Critical Theory of Knowledge

4. Herbert Marcuse and Social Media

5. The Internet, Social Media and Axel Honneth's 
Interpretation of Georg Lukács' Theory of 
Reification and Alienation

6. Beyond Habermas: Rethinking Critical Theories of Communication

7. Conclusion

Index