Dr Dan Laughey BA (Hons), PGCE, MA, PhD
Responsibilities
Senior Lecturer in Media Theory
Teaching Interests
Dan teaches four modules on the BA (Hons) Media and Popular Culture degree: Media Theory (Level 2); Youth Culture, Crime and Media (Level 2); Sport, Media and Celebrity (Level 3); Research Workshop (Level 3). He also teaches two modules on the MA Screen Media Cultures programme: Audiences and Lifestyles: Theory and Practice; Researching Cultures. In addition, he is a PhD supervisor.
Research Interests
Dan's main interests centre on media theory, and more broadly, the long history of media thought. His current work is engaged in issues around so-called 'new digital media' (the inverted commas signal his doubts about the socio-political novelty of many twenty-first-century media developments, Web 2.0 included); untangling long-standing traditions of research and debate on media effects and influences; exploring the relationship between media and (psychic) mediums; and critically evaluating sports media, especially sports rights. Previously, he has written extensively on the role of music media in young people's lives. He welcomes postgraduate students with similar interests.
Dan's well-known Key Themes in Media Theory covers a wide range of perspectives on media production and consumption, including behaviourism and media effects; structuralism and semiotics; medium theory; feminist media theory; postmodernity and information society; political economy; and media consumerism. It is unique in bringing together different schools of media theory into a single, comprehensive text. The ideas of key media theorists such as Lasswell, McLuhan, Hall, Williams, Barthes, Adorno, Baudrillard and Bourdieu are examined in depth. Click here for more details. An Indian subcontinent edition of Key Themes was subsequently published by Rawat Publications, and the book has recently been translated into Hebrew.
Dan's first book, Music and Youth Culture, received critical acclaim in a range of academic journals, music and youth magazines. Click here for a selection of reviews. His work in this area has also been published in France (see Publications below). He is pursuing further research on popular music, song and dance, particularly in respect to Mass Observation studies carried out during the Second World War.
Dan is a member of the Editorial Board of the Media Education Research Journal; member of the advisory board of a Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research project; reader and reviewer for various publishers and journals. He has delivered keynote lectures and seminar papers on his work in Amsterdam, Bangkok, Montreal and Oxford among other places. In 2009 he gave the introductory lecture at the Carnegie Sporting Words Festival, entitled 'The Sports Digital Media-scape', which considered the problematic implications of the 'Digital Britain' White Paper for universal access to broadband, digital television and radio coverage of sport.
Visit Dan's Media Theory Site for his latest blogs, activities, teaching notes, etc.
Publications
Laughey, D. (2011) 'Mapping British Music Audiences: Subcultural, Everyday and Mediated Approaches', In: Dauncey, H. & Le Guern, P. (eds) Stereo: Comparative Perspectives on the Sociological Study of Popular Music in France and Britain. London: Ashgate, pp. 173-186, ISBN 978-1-4094-0568-9.
Laughey, D. (2011) 'Media Studies 2.0: Back to Basics', Media Education Research Journal. 2:2, pp. 59-64.
Laughey, D. (2010) 'User Authority Through Mediated Interaction: A case of eBay-in-use', Journal of Consumer Culture, 10 (1): 105-28.Laughey, D. (2009) Media Studies: Theories and Approaches. Harpenden: Kamera Books.
Laughey, D. (2008) Key Themes in Media Theory. Jaipur: Rawat Publications.
Laughey, D. (2008) 'A la Recherche des Publics de la Musique Britannique: Sous-cultures, Pratiques Quotidiennes et Médiation' in H. Dauncey and P. Le Guern (eds) Stéréo: Sociologie Comparée des Musiques Populaires France / G.-B. Paris: IRMA.
Laughey, D. (2007) Key Themes in Media Theory. Maidenhead and New York: Open University Press/McGraw-Hill.
Laughey, D. (2007) 'Music Media in Young People's Everyday Lives'. In J. Sexton (ed.) Music, Sound and Multimedia: From the Live to the Virtual. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Laughey, D. (2006) Music and Youth Culture. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Whiteley, S., Tams, E. and Laughey, D. (2004) Women and the Cultural Industries. Brussels: European Social Fund.
Consultation Hours
Friday 11:00 - 12:00 and 13:00 - 14:00
Contact Details
Room A214, Cultural Studies, Humanities Building, Broadcasting Place, Leeds Metropolitan University, Civic Quarter, Leeds LS2 9EN
Tel: 0113 81 24967
Fax: 0113 81 23112
Email: d.laughey@leedsmet.ac.uk