ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some data from a research project on contemporary undergraduate media, which suggests this approach addresses the struggle critical media research faces in coming to terms with shifts in media and tertiary education. It begins by explaining how Youth Subcultures framed media influence, and its relation to teaching and researching the social impact of the media. Angela McRobbie, whose engagement with subcultural studies was foundational to the development of both feminist and critical empirical media research, has complained of scholars and students who are too ready to celebrate the play' of popular culture, and too reticent to investigate the global economic conditions of exploitation that this play disguises. The survey gauged how students felt about studying media influence broadly, the research that studies the circumstances where access to media does not enhance the well-being of young people then to assess how these reactions varied according to gender, nationality, career aspiration and media tastes.
