*CFP* "RACIALIZING MEDIA POLICY", BOOK CHAPTER

Racialization is a term used within the social sciences to highlight the ways that social interactions become racial. This is an important concept in sociological and political science research when looking at structural mechanisms that perpetuate racial inequalities. The state, and its various organizational spaces of action, is often seen as a site for race to be enacted (e.g., Bracey 2015). Public policy sectors such as housing, taxation, and immigration, to name a few, have been ripe areas of research. However, media policy research has not effectively engaged with this critical conception. Media policy research has been driven by political economy perspectives within the field of Communications and Media Studies, and can benefit from an approach that analyzes it in relation to social science perspectives that focus on processes which constitute, or are constituted by, actors, groups, and organizations.

Racializing Media Policy seeks to fill this scholarly gap by providing case studies which focus on media policy issues in the United States through the lens of racialization. It will contribute to a growing body of media policy research within the Communications and Media Studies literature, as well as anchor the role of media policy in Sociological research – where it is lacking. It would also lend itself toward a growing body of work in the Sociology of Organizations which have begun to focus on “raced organizations” (Ray 2019; Wooten 2019) to understand how racial inequalities are embedded within organizational practices. The volume is under contract with the Emerald series ‘Studies in Media and Communications.’ The series is sponsored by the Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology section of the American Sociological Association.

Proposals of 750-1000 words are due by July 16, 2021. Submissions that are theoretical and/or empirical are welcomed, although we will give more weight to empirical submissions that can demonstrate the mechanisms of racialization throughout the media policy process. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches will be welcomed, as well as case study approaches which allow authors to connect to larger structural conditions within media policy debates.

Topics of interest for this volume might include, but are not limited to:

• A focus on traditional (print, radio, television) and new (internet, social) media issues 
• Historical media policy issues analyzed through the lens of racialization 
• Contemporary issues such as: Net Neutrality, Privacy, Telecom Development (5G), Broadband Access 
• Tensions over media ownership 
• The role of federal agencies in policy formation and decisions 
• The role of media activist groups who engage in media policy work/spaces 
• Localized media policy decisions at the municipal/county or state level 
• Discourses of policy debates 
• Racialized outcomes of media policy decisions

 

Submissions should be sent to Jason A. Smith jsm5@gmu.ed and Richard T. Craig rcraig@gmu.edu.