Prof Paul K. Jones

Paul K. Jones works at the intersection of sociology, critical theory and political communication.  He has published widely on the relations between media policy, political communication and the public sphere in Australia and international comparative 'media systems'.  He has held ARC grants and/or participated in local and international research teams in this area. He was a founding member of the editorial board of Cultural Sociology.  He is also well-published on the work of Raymond Williams and cultural sociology more broadly.  He was an executive board member of The International Sociological Association's Sociological Theory research committee 2006 - 2014.  He has been a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics (Sociology & Media and Communications separately). the University of Cambridge (Sociology), the University of California, Berkeley (History) and the Yale Center for Cultural Sociology.  

Forthcoming Publications:

Jones, P.K. (forthcoming) ‘Gramsci and a Critical Sociology of Demagogic Populism’. The Companion to Gramsci. Ed. D. Riley and M. Santoro. Anthem Press.

Jones, P.K. (forthcoming) ‘The Reception of Frankfurt Critical Theory in 'British' Cultural Studies: Williams, Hall, Gilroy’. In O.Kozlarek, G. Leyva (eds) Global Critical Theories. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

BA (Hons) Syd., MA (Cultural Studies) Birm, UK, PhD (Philosophy) Syd.

Demagogic Populism and the fate of the public sphere; cultural sociology; media sociology; critical theory; social theory

My latest monograph, Critical Theory and Demagogic Populism (Manchester UP, 2020) develops a critical sociological alternative to the currently dominant literatures in 'populism studies': orthodox political science comparative (electoral) studies and their de facto critical alternative, the 'left populist' work of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. It reconstructs the explicitly social-theoretical and sociological work of the US-resident Frankfurt School on 'modern demagogy' and antisemitism. A sociological model of populism is constructed whereby populist movements are vulnerable to, but not simply reducible to, 'demagogic capture'. The role of the culture industry in modern demagogy is traced from the radio demagogues of early US broadcasting through to the crises in the contemporary public sphere usually associated with social media. The book also maps potential counter-demagogic forces, including those advocated by the Frankfurt School.

https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526123435/

Current Student Projects

PhD Candidate Panels

Nicholas Regan (Primary Supervisor) “Populism and social pathology: Tracing and reconstructing a troubled concept”

Sean Ward “Exploring the performance of moral outrage across digital media platforms.”

Mikayla Novak "Contentious Decarbonisation: Quantitatively exploring Australian hydrogen decarbonisation actor networks on Twitter." (submitted)

Past Student Projects

Honours Theses

Samuel Keane  “‘Prophets of Deceit’ in the Hybrid Media System” (2020)

Mary Drummond “Nancy Fraser on the public sphere, redistribution and recognition, and populism: a critical analysis.” (2019)

Nicholas Regan “Rules, Pastiche and Paranoia: An analysis and critique of Jordan Peterson.” (2019)

PhD Completions (UNSW)

PhD: Edwina Throsby (2018) The Deciders are Undecided: undecided voters, election campaigns, political media, and democracy in Australia (joint supervision)

PhD: Ele Jansen (2015) Misfit Lifestyles: Institutionalizing Collaboration And Play Among Creative Storytelling Collectives.

PhD: Cynthia Fernandez Roich (2014): Argentina: from fragility to stability:
Print media and crime coverage during the 1990s. (Joint supervision) (Published by Palgrave Macmillan)

PhD: Christyana Bambaccas (2014): White Wedding Culture

PhD: Tomoki Wakatsuki (2013): Haruki Murakami  and Cosmopolitan Japanese Identity.(Published as The Haruki Phenomenon by Springer).

PhD: Laura Fisher (2012) Hope, Ethics & Disenchantment: a critical sociological inquiry into the Aboriginal art phenomenon  (shortlisted for Faculty best thesis prize; published by Anthem Press)

PhD: (Professor) Chris Nash (2011) Communication Struggles in the Construction of Sydney as a Global City, 1983-2008

PhD: Neil Huthnance (2006) Creativity In The Bioglobal Age: Sociological Prospects From Seriality To Contingency (shortlisted for Faculty best thesis prize)

PhD: Hughson, John. (1996) A Feel for the Game: an ethnographic study of soccer support and social identity.

MA Honours/Research (by thesis)

Fox, Catherine (1992) Media Segmentation in the Australian Women’s Magazine Sector

Theen, Teresa (1992) Global Village or Global Ghetto? Singapore and the New World Information Order.