Periodising the political economy of communication : a proposal

Amon Prodnik, Jernej (author)

This article proposes that the history of the Political Economy of Communication can be divided into five distinct periods. A summary of the defining features and leading thinkers of these phases is provided, together with the main contextual factors that shaped each period. Given that political economy has historically had a political stance and been a central critical approach in communication studies, its development has been clearly influenced by these changing historical conditions. The proposed chronology provides a synthesis, as opposed to an exhaustive literature review, and complements Vincent Mosco’s historical account, situating him as a key author adopting and defining the approach.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Political economy of communication, communication studies, historicity, social context, Marxism, capitalism, IAMCR, Dallas Smythe, Herbert Schiller, Vincent Mosco
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 240-260
• Numbering: Vol. 20, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-185095
• UDC: 316.77
• ISSN on article: 1745-6428
• DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.20.2.0005
• COBISS.SI-ID: 285715459
• Publication date in RUL: 22.07.2026

Record is a part of a proceedings

• Title: Control, survival, struggle
• COBISS.SI-ID: 285710339

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Work, organisation, labour & globalisation
• Publisher: Pluto Journals
• ISSN: 1745-6428
• COBISS.SI-ID: 526171929

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P5-0051
• Name: Množični mediji, javna sfera in družbene spremembe