ABSTRACT
This chapter argues for an industrial perspective in media studies. Such a perspective was adopted by several founding fathers of media research. An industrial approach can draw upon relevant research traditions in several fields of social science; the insights of organizational studies are one example. Contemporary media are characterized by large, complex organizations. An occupational sociology perspective reveals that media organizations have characteristic occupational strata. In the middle are the “professionals” and technical/production work force, and at the bottom there is a layer of unskilled extras. At the top of media organizations are entrepreneurs, baronial executives, and celebrity performers. Media research has tended to leave these starry individuals to the popular press, but, in doing so, has ignored much that is important to, and characteristic of, the media industry. Comparative studies between national media industries can be instructive. This chapter reviews a number of recent British studies and points to the need for an agreed-upon conceptual framework suitable for comparative and other studies of the world media industry.
