1) provide a clear outline of your papers topic including your proposed research
question (i.e., describe WHAT your paper will be on),
2) indicate why it is a significant and worthy topic of investigation (i.e., explain WHY
this topic is appropriate and important with respect to this course), and
3) provide an outline of how you intend to organize and carry out your investigation
(IOW, provide a brief preliminary outline of your final paper) by introducing the
examples or case studies you will use to illustrate your argument (i.e, explain HOW
you will organize your paper).
Suggested Research Paper Titles
This assignment is structured in such a way as to provide you with the opportunity to focus
on the medium, region, and historical epoch of your own choosing. A good way of
thinking about how to approach writing a paper for this course is to start with a working
title. This will help focus your thinking and guide the organization of your research and
writing. The more specific the title, the more focused your approach will be. The more
focused your approach, the easier it will be to research and write a consistent, compelling
paper. The Suggested Topics provided below take this approach: each is presented as a
potential paper title where you “fill in the blanks” to come up with your own individual
topic.
1) “(Commodification OR Spatialization OR Structuration) in the History of (REGION)
(MEDIUM)” (e.g., “Spatialization in the History of American Television Production” or
“Commodification in the History of Canadian Broadcasting”
Your paper will provide a historical analysis of an aspect of a communication medium
using one of Mosco’s three processes of political economy. Use the process to assess how
the medium/industry has changed over time. What are the important features of these
changes? What sort of actions have facilitated these changes?
2) “Political Economy and Alternative (MEDIUM) in (REGION)” (e.g., “Political Economy
and Alternative Television in Canada”)
Using political economy as an analytical framework, discuss and analyse the need for, as
well as the challenges faced, by the alternative medium of your choice.
3) “Political Economy and the Future of (MEDIUM)” (e.g., “Political Economy and the
Future of Social Media”
The historical focus of political economic analysis makes it quite useful as a means of
speculating about future developments in a given industry. This paper will establish a solid
historical profile of a given industry in order to develop an argument about possible, or
even probable, developments it will undergo.
4) “The Political Economy of Labour in (REGION) (MEDIUM)”(for e.g. “The Political
Economy of Labour in American Video Game Publishing”
Mosco identifies labour, and the specific conditions of creative labour, as one of the key
issues for those doing political economy of media. Your task here will be to analyze such
conditions of labour for a given media industry. What are the key issues or challenges
faced by workers in your chosen industry? How have the conditions of labour changed
over time? What have been the driving forces behind such changes?
5) “Political Economy, Government Policy and the Transformation of (REGION)
(MEDIUM)” (for e.g., “Political Economy, Government Policy, and the Transformation of
Chinese Mobile Telecommunication”)
Government activity is one of the prime movers behind shifts in the political economy of
media and communication industries. Your paper will analyze a specific example of a
government policy (or policies) that has (or have) inaugurated a major shift in the regional
industry of your choice. Over what period did this shift occur? How did this policy come
about? Why then? What were the driving forces behind it? What were the results of such a
shift in policy? Who benefitted? Who lost?
