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Mass Media and Imperialism

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The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism

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From World War II to the present day, the USA has been the world’s dominant media and cultural superpower. The study of US Empire, cultural and media imperialism, and the cultural industries is important to critical political economists of communication, media studies scholars, and US foreign policy researchers. This entry is a holistic conceptualization of the US Empire and the cultural industries. The first section conceptualizes the “media” dimension of US Empire and cultural imperialism. The second section highlights the global economic dominance of the US cultural industries and the role played by the US State in supporting this dominance. The third section focuses on the global geopolitics of the US cultural industries and their support for US “soft power” or public diplomacy campaigns that attempt to build transnational consent to dominant ideas about America and US foreign policy. The fourth section conceptualizes “the media products” of US Empire. The concluding...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Communication and Digital Media Studies, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, ON, Canada

    Tanner Mirrlees

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  1. Tanner Mirrlees
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Correspondence to Tanner Mirrlees .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Center for Worker Education, Brooklyn College, New York, NY, USA

    Immanuel Ness

  2. Independent Scholar, Belfast, UK

    Zak Cope

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Mirrlees, T. (2019). Mass Media and Imperialism. In: Ness, I., Cope, Z. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6_122-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6_122-1

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