CAMRI Seminar Marisol Sandoval From Corporate to Social Media: Critical Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility in Media and Communication Industries Univ of Westminster Wed, Feb 4, 2015 14:00 Harrow Campus, room A7.1 Launch of the paperback edition of the corresponding book Registration per e-mail to [email protected] http://www.westminster.ac.uk/camri/research-seminars/marisol-sandoval-from-c... In this talk, Marisol Sandoval presents her recent book “From Corporate to Social Media: Critical Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility in Media and Communication Industries”, Routledge 2014, http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415722568/ The corporate and the social are crucial themes of our times. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, both individual lives and society were shaped by capitalist crisis and the rise of social media. But what marks the distinctively social character of "social media"? And how does it relate to the wider social and economic context of contemporary capitalism? The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is based on the idea that a socially responsible capitalism is possible; this suggests that capitalist media corporations can not only enable social interaction and cooperation but also be socially responsible. This presentation provides a critical and provocative perspective on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in media and communication industries. It examines both the academic discourse on CSR and actual corporate practices in the media sector, offering a double critique that reveals contradictions between corporate interests and social responsibilities. Marisol Sandoval’s political economic analysis of Apple, AT&T, Google, HP, Microsoft, News Corp, The Walt Disney Company and Vivendi shows that media and communication in the twenty-first century are confronted with fundamental social responsibility challenges. From software patents and intellectual property rights to privacy on the Internet, from working conditions in electronics manufacturing to hidden flows of eWaste – Marisol Sandoval’s book encourages the reader to explore the multifaceted social (ir)responsibilities that shape commercial media landscapes today. It makes a compelling argument for thinking beyond the corporate in order to envision and bring about truly social media. Marisol Sandoval is a lecturer at City University London’s Department of Culture and Creative Industries. Her research critically deals with questions of power, responsibility, commodification, exploitation, ideology and resistance in the global culture industries. She is co-editor of the collected volumes Internet and Surveillance (2012, http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415633642/), Critique, Social Media and the Information Society (2013, http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415841856/), and of the tripleC-special issue “Philosophers of the World Unite! Theorising Digital Labour and Virtual Work - Definitions, Dimensions and Forms” (http://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/issue/view/29). She is co-editor of the open access online journal tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique (http://www.triple-c.at). Her book From Corporate to Social Media? (Routledge, 2014, http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415722568/) looks beyond common understandings of the term social media by providing a critical analysis of corporate social (ir)responsibility in the global media and communication industries. Forthcoming talk (open for registration): Feb 11: Justin Lewis - Beyond Consumer Capitalism: A Movie Screening and Q&A with Justin Lewis http://www.westminster.ac.uk/camri/research-seminars/justin-lewis-beyond-con...