What is the appropriate research agenda for media studies after the financial ­crisis of 2008 and how might it be located in the ‘Popular’? This contribution emphasises the extent to which the present is an exceptional historical phase and represents a seismic shift in terms of paradigm. Major economic consequences have led to improvrishment of large sections of populations and a sense of insecurity that has fostered resentment against political elites. The popular movements of 2011 Occupy Wall Street, out of many others for example Indignado signal a clear historical break with post-1968 protest with their refusal to accept that history has ‘ended’ and these look towards a possible new era beyond neoliberal capitalism and postmodernism. Huge increases in the volume of research conducted relating to political activism and protest are currently taking place. In theory interest has reverted to reading classical or modernist authors – Gramsci, Machiavelli – and away from postmodernist thinkers, that also reflects this new environment. Postmodernisms’s retrenchment from the political to the personal (post-1968) is in retreat in the face of a unifying sense of the popular ­appearing in three related spheres: space and place, agency (as a manifestation of will) and culture. Popular digital culture as such becomes a key resource for ­emancipatory social movements and arena for research and reflection in our field.

中文翻译：

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流行归来

在2008年金融危机之后，适合媒体研究的研究议程是什么？如何将其置于“大众”位置？这一贡献强调了现在是一个特殊的历史阶段的程度，并代表了范式上的一次地震性转变。重大的经济后果导致大量人口的不称职和不安全感加剧了对政治精英的不满。2011年占领华尔街的流行运动，例如因迪尼加多（Indignado）在1968年后的抗议活动中标志着明显的历史突破，他们拒绝接受历史已经“终结”，而这些运动则展望了新自由主义资本主义和后现代主义之外的新时代。与政治行动主义和抗议有关的研究数量目前正在大量增加。从理论上讲，兴趣已经转向阅读古典或现代主义作家（葛兰西，马基雅维利），而远离后现代主义思想家，这也反映了这种新环境。后现代主义从政治上的退缩到个人化（1968年后）正面临着一种在三个相关领域中对民众的统一认识：空间和地方，代理（作为意志的体现）和文化。这样的流行数字文化就成为了解放性社会运动的重要资源，成为了我们领域研究和反思的舞台。这也反映了这种新环境。后现代主义从政治上的退缩到个人化（1968年后）正面临着一种在三个相关领域中对民众的统一认识：空间和地方，代理（作为意志的体现）和文化。这样的流行数字文化就成为了解放性社会运动的重要资源，成为了我们领域研究和反思的舞台。这也反映了这种新环境。后现代主义从政治到个人的缩水（1968年后）正面临着一种在三个相关领域中对流行现象的统一认识：空间和地方，代理（作为意志的体现）和文化。这样的流行数字文化就成为了解放性社会运动的重要资源，成为了我们领域研究和反思的舞台。