英语论文网

zations.
Hesmondhalgh (2002) has made the point that, in the case of critical political
economy, this has arguably been more the case in the North American
academic literature than in those - principally European - traditions that have
been influenced by theories of the cultural industries. Hesmondhalgh argues
that a critical political economy of media and cultural industries needs to
focus not only upon qi~estions of ownership and market structure, but also
upon 'how such issues of market structure affect the orgnrrizntiorz of cultural
production and the making of texts a t an ordinary, everyday level'
(Hesmondhalgh, 2002, p. 34). A capacity to move from the macro-dynamics
of global media to questions of industrial organization and organizational
culture is thus an important benchmark for the usefulness of theories of global
media. In the case of culti~rals tudies, there has sometimes been a tendency to
view the production process as largely explained through political economy,
in order to focus attention upon the politics of media consumption and use.
Fiske's (1987) theory of the progressive possibilities of the cultural economy,
for instance, rests very much upon its existence alongside a financial economy
of media texts whose operations are largely explained through neo-Marxist
political economy.
Institutions have been the dominant orianizational form of modern societies.
Whether it be the concentration of economic resources into large corporations,
the growth of the nation-state as the principal regulator of economic,
social and cultural life, or the ways in which we work in organizations, or join
unions, gililds or professional associations to declare a common affinity with
those in like occupations, institutions have been the central organizational
form of capitalist modernity in the 20th and early 21st centuries. March and
Olsen (1989, pp. 1-2) have observed that 'Social, political and economic institutions
have become larger, considerably more complex and resourceful, and
1
Supplied by The British Library - "The world's knowledge" I
44 Understanding Global Media
pritizn facic more important to collective life. Many of the major actors in
modern economic and political systems are formal organizations, and the
institutions of law and bureaucracy occupy a dominant role in contemporary
life'. Institutions exist both as formal legal entities (such as corporations) and
more informal mechanisms for combining individuals and organizing their
relationships with others. W. Richard Scott (1995, p. 33) has defined institutions
as 'cognitive, normative and regulative structures and activities that
provide stability and meaning to social behaviour. Institutions are transported
by various carriers - cultures, structures, and routines - and they operate at
multiple levels of jurisdiction'. They have a regzrlative element, as mechanisms
for setting rules, establishing routines, and offering rewards for compliance
(or sanctions for non-compliance). They have a rzortizativc elen~ent, as their
durability over time is dependent upon the willingness of those \vithin an institution
to accept a set of broadly shared values. As a result, they possess a
degree of pntl) dependency in their responses to the external environment,
shaped by ideas, values and con~n~i tmenhtesl d by key individuals and disseminated
throu