[ecrea] CFP - Societies in Flux: Media, Democratisation, and Political Socialization

Interactions: Studies in Communication and Culture (Volume 8, Issue 3 - 
Fall 2017)

Societies in Flux: Media, Democratisation, and Political Socialization

Guest Editors: Nael Jebril (Bournemouth University), Matthew Loveless 
(Center for Research and Social
Progress), and Jamie Matthews (Bournemouth University)

Call for Papers

Issue 8.3 of Interactions: Studies in Communication and Culture (Fall 
2017) seeks to compile an empirically-based understanding of the role of 
media in countries in transition as it relates to individuals’ political 
attitudes, values, and behaviour.

There is a corpus of work across several disciplines such as political 
science, mass and political communication, anthropology, and sociology 
on political socialisation. However, they have not coalesced into an 
understanding – much less a theoretical body of knowledge - of 
individual political socialization via traditional and new media in 
periods of national change.

One reason for this is the depth of each of these fields given that the 
wide swath of potential media (i.e.: television news, electoral 
campaigns, social media, public radio, inter alia) and potentially 
related political outcomes (personal efficacy, voting, political 
knowledge, etc.) interact in a variety of contexts. In particular, the 
context of democratization shifts the (theoretical) ground under the 
feet of existing theories by blurring the distinction between private 
and public media, motivations for individuals’ media consumption, and 
the debut of the new technologies of social media in a world dominated 
by traditional print and broadcast media theories. Thus, the assumptions 
underpinning well-established theories of the West find little firm ground.

Media scholars must confront the troublesome reality that elements of 
both democracy and authoritarianism coexist in countries in transition. 
In this context, the simple and normative assumption of a positive 
relationship between changes in the quantity and quality of information 
sources (and the expansion of freedom of expression) and successful 
democratic socialization can be misleading. Investigations into media 
effects (at the individual level) may find the formation and change of 
individuals’ attitudes a more fertile area of research as well as one 
that is more closely related to democratisation theory.

This requires a break away from deductive approaches. We should stop 
thinking about the media in terms of static, traditional models which 
are inadequate for explaining the dynamic processes of democratisation. 
We may well need more inductive research that is theory-generating 
rather than theory-testing. Put slightly differently, there is a need to 
enhance our knowledge about the dynamics of media audiences in 
transitional contexts. Studies need to enhance our understanding of how 
information-seeking behaviour and/or preferences for political 
information consumption are affected by rapid changes to political and 
information environments and how audiences make sense of complex media 
transformations that accompany political transitions. This may require 
integrating theories of non-mechanical media effects and democratisation 
in order to shed light on the relationship between individuals’ media 
behaviour and choices and the subsequent take-up of democratic values 
following regime changes. Therefore, meaningful research will likely 
explore media use, contextualise analyses that are conducted at various 
levels (cross-nationally or ideally with times series/panel data), and 
be open - if not responsive - to the grey areas of inductive feedback 
that are likely in countries and societies in transition.

We seek empirical and theoretical answers to the following questions:

1.  How does regime change affect audience’s reliance on and perceptions 
of news media?
2. How do individuals’ media consumption change during democratic 
transitions? What do they consume and to what political effect?
3. What are the most likely political outcomes for individuals – i.e. 
values and attitudes - to be affected by media during transition?
4.  What is the role of international media in fomenting, encouraging, 
or catalysing public support for democratization?
5. Are there individual-level differences in media choice consumption 
and/or effects across democratizing, transitioning, or 
post-authoritarian contexts?
6. To what extent and how do the internet and social media influence the 
role of traditional media in democratization?
7. Ultimately, to what extent does the success of democratic political 
socialization require – genuinely require – a free media? Is there 
empirical support for the necessity of free media – the new marketplace 
of ideas - in the normative theory of democratization?
8. How effective are the internet and social media in influencing the 
development of individuals’ democratic attitudes, values, and behaviour?

Further details on the general state of research on media and change for 
democracy can be
found at: 
https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Media%20and%20Democratisation_0.pdf


Submission guidelines

Prospective authors should submit an abstract not exceeding 250 words 
directly by email to
Nael Jebril ((njebril /at/ bournemouth.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(njebril /at/ bournemouth.ac.uk)>) and Matthew Loveless 
((matthew.loveless /at/ cersp.org) <mailto:(matthew.loveless /at/ cersp.org)>) by
*23 September 2016.*

Please include your name, affiliation and contact details in all 
correspondence. All abstracts will
be peer-reviewed and authors will be notified about the outcome of the 
review by 7 October
2016.

A selection of authors will be invited to submit a full paper (from 6000 
to 8000 words) due on 15
January 2017.

Full paper submissions are to be

-original, scholarly manuscripts that follow the journal’s submission 
guidelines 
(http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/MediaManager/File/2015%20ISCC%20NfC%20.pdf) 

-formatted according to Intellect House Style guidelines
(http:// 
www.intellectbooks.co.uk/MediaManager/File/Intellect%20style%20guide.pdf 
<http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/MediaManager/File/Intellect%20style%20guide.pdf> 
)
-sent in Microsoft Word .doc/.docx format ONLY as e-mail attachments to 
(njebril /at/ bournemouth.ac.uk) <mailto:(njebril /at/ bournemouth.ac.uk)> and 
(matthew.loveless /at/ cersp.org) <mailto:(matthew.loveless /at/ cersp.org)>

All submissions will be peer-reviewed and the issue is scheduled for 
publication in Fall 2017 (November).


Interactions: Studies in Communication and Culture is published by 
Intellect and is online at 
http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=165/ 
<http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal%2cid=165/>​

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