This new edition of Introduction to Media Sociology is a critically minded introduction to the sociology of media and media-facilitated social identity development, providing wraparound coverage of social theory and analysis of how media are an instrument of social reproduction and a business organized to profit from social identity.

From streaming platforms to smartphone apps to infotainment industrial complexes, mass media are nearly omnipresent in contemporary life and act as a powerful social institution. In this book, Lindner and Barnard encourage readers to think critically about the power of media companies, state-media relations, new developments in journalism, representations of race, class, gender, and sexuality in media, and what social media may be doing to our brains, among other topics. Each chapter explores pressing questions about media by carefully excavating classic and contemporary social scientific studies. The second edition is thoroughly updated to reflect the significant evolution and transformations that have occurred in digital technology, social and news media, and social and educational learning during and post pandemic, and considers the ways in which media have shifted after major political and social changes with the movements for racial, reproductive, and environmental justice, the conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine, and combatting disinformation. The book also reflects on the social-political economy of media in age of increased institutional mergers and consolidation, and the monetization of online identity formation and socialization,

With updated context and further applications, the second edition of Introduction to Media Sociology is an excellent resource for courses in social theory, sociology of media and media studies, contemporary culture, and political studies.