Holger Briel - Böcker

Media Realities is an intellectual intervention into today’s most urgent debates about truth, perception, and power.Including essays by journalists, artists, philosophers, and theorists, this interdisciplinary volume exposes how mass media—old and new—shape not just what we know, but what we believe to be real. From Ukraine to China to Africa, from journalism to art to propaganda, this book asks: Who gets to define reality—and who gets left out?Edited by scholars based in China, it challenges dominant Western portrayals of global politics and gives voice to perspectives too often dismissed or discredited. Contributions from the Global South, China, Germany, and beyond confront a simple truth: we don't all see the same world, and the media don't just reflect society—they perform it. Media Realities is not just a book about media. It is a book about reality itself—and how it is made, sold, and believed.With contributors from across the fields of media, sociology, journalism, philosophy, political theory, and art, this volume will appeal to scholars and upper-level students with interests in the sociology of media and global political dynamics.

Media Realities is an intellectual intervention into today’s most urgent debates about truth, perception, and power.Including essays by journalists, artists, philosophers, and theorists, this interdisciplinary volume exposes how mass media—old and new—shape not just what we know, but what we believe to be real. From Ukraine to China to Africa, from journalism to art to propaganda, this book asks: Who gets to define reality—and who gets left out?Edited by scholars based in China, it challenges dominant Western portrayals of global politics and gives voice to perspectives too often dismissed or discredited. Contributions from the Global South, China, Germany, and beyond confront a simple truth: we don't all see the same world, and the media don't just reflect society—they perform it. Media Realities is not just a book about media. It is a book about reality itself—and how it is made, sold, and believed.With contributors from across the fields of media, sociology, journalism, philosophy, political theory, and art, this volume will appeal to scholars and upper-level students with interests in the sociology of media and global political dynamics.

The proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Humanities and Social Sciences (ISHSS 2024), provide a rich repository of scholarly articles that explore the intricate links between ideas, cultures, and communities. This volume captures the essence of interdisciplinary research, offering fresh perspectives on the challenges and opportunities within the social sciences. Spanning a wide array of topics, from historical analysis to contemporary sociological studies, the proceedings delve into the main findings of the symposium. With a focus on regional development, political policies, and the impact of technology on education, these papers illustrate a commitment to advancing understanding and fostering global dialogue.Designed for academics, researchers, and professionals in the fields of humanities and social sciences, this publication is ideal for those seeking to expand their knowledge, engage with current research, and contribute to the ongoing discourse on the pressing issues of our time.

The Piracy Years: Internet File Sharing in a Global Context is the first collection to provide an overview of digital piracy’s recent past and its potential futures. Combining research essays, interviews, and overviews, the volume brings together leading scholars and infamous digital pirates from China, Germany, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.In June 1999, the peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing website Napster transformed the availability of online content, but the site was quickly sued into oblivion. Despite the highly publicised shutdowns of a number of P2P websites, many continue to thrive, and digital piracy has become a global phenomenon. This book argues that any future media theory and research will have to contend with such web practices remaining an integral and politically formative part of the Internet. Offline and online piracies thrive on technological affordances in opposition to corporate efforts – in music, film, publishing, and academia – to label them as threatening to the economy and society. Therefore, this book explores piracy as a phenomenon navigating the conventions, norms, and boundaries of legality in digital cultures. Pirate networked sociabilities work within and outside the fringes of market economy through the lens of institutional and discursive power. By creating new ways that keep society moving and from stagnation, they ensure its continued existence - including the survival of the very areas they attack.The Piracy Years is an essential resource for researchers, post-graduate students, and anyone interested in the global spread and ever-increasing importance of digital piracy.