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The sociology of media and communications was never explicitly defined – nor was there ever an explicit debate about the sub-field. Not having a clear anchor makes it hard to define what its critical component should be. Nonetheless, a rich yet disconnected tradition of sociology and critical political economy allows flexibility to reconsider communication and social relations in the broader societal dynamics of capitalism. Specifying a critical sociological approach to communication can help better define the role of communication at the micro, mezzo and macro levels of society. The multi-paradigmatic heritage of sociological theory can provide new ways of criticising communication power in contemporary society. Diverse contemporary developments in the critique of political economy give a breadth of understanding of the capitalist mode of production and its internal dynamics. Sociology can add depth to understanding social relations within and beyond the production, distribution and consumption process. This introduction sets out the framework for the special issue.

Just as the Frankfurt School responded to the radicalisation of the working class in Germany and the rise of post-war consumerism in the United States, today, we are confronted by platform monopolies, automated hyper-consumption and technological control. Critical approaches to digital media have exposed the structural coupling of Internet use and capital accumulation for almost two decades. However, many authors building on this tradition can struggle to understand how online social interaction is controlled beyond the worn-out critique of false consciousness or beyond conceptualising all digital activity mediated by data as labour. This paper will attempt to theoretically untangle the Marxian ontology of labour and the Frankfurt School-inspired critique of everyday life. This is not just theoretical nit-picking. Society becomes completely dominated if we accept no difference between wage labour and lifeworld activities. Each contains its internal struggles. The value form regulates both in different ways.

This article sets out a case for a revived sociology of media work. It suggests that a certain sociological approach, neglected for some time, offers the promise of (a) providing a more rounded sociological account of journalistic practice that (b) will help us better understand what journalists do and how and why they do it, (c) will ultimately help us better understand the process of news production and message creation, and (d) may have wider applicability for the study of occupations in the realm of cultural production.The article argues that there is still much to be gained from sociologically informed empirical enquiry into the work of journalists. The examples of journalists' mistakes and the ways journalists regulate and control each others' work are used to illustrate the case. This involves an analytical framework built on the concept of journalism as an occupational accomplishment.

I informally examine how the idea of public sociology has been affected by the rise of social media. New social media platforms disintermediate communication, make people more visible, and encourage public life to be measured. They tend to move the discipline from a situation where some people self-consciously do "public sociology" to one where more sociologists unselfconsciously do sociology in public. I discuss the character of such "latently public" work, the opportunities and difficulties it creates for individuals, and its tendency to be associated with academic fields that believe in what they are doing.