The Uses of Media Literacy

This book examines the uses of media literacy today, considering its various applications, tensions, and implications for individuals, communities, and social class in the contemporary world. It reimagines Richard Hoggart's classic work "The Uses of Literacy" from 1957, applying his framework to media literacy and working-class culture in the 21st century.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 154 pages
Publication date: 29 August 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Revisiting Richard Hoggart's classic work, "The Uses of Literacy" (1957), this book applies Hoggart's framework to media literacy today, examining its various uses, the tensions between them, and what this means for people, communities, and the contemporary configurations of social class. In "The Uses of Literacy," Richard Hoggart wrote about how his working-class community in the North of England was at once using the new "mass literacy" for self-improvement, education, social mobility, and civic engagement, and, at the same time, the powerful were seizing the opportunity to use this expansion in literacy through the new popular culture for commercial and political ends. Working in the intersection between education, cultural studies, and literacies, the authors write about media literacy as a contested, under-theorised field through Hoggart's "line of sight" to provide a perspective on media literacy and working-class culture today.

This reimagining of a classic work, piercingly relevant to studies of class in Britain in 2019, will be of key interest to scholars in Media Studies, as well as interested readers in Communication Studies, Literacy Studies, Cultural Studies, Politics, and Sociology.

Weight: 254g
Dimension: 156 x 235 x 12 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032400341