Doctoral Dissertations

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Browsing Doctoral Dissertations by Author "Naima Boudis"

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    The Political Economy of the USh Media and Its Implications for the US Popular Culture’s Metamorphosis in the Digital Age
    (University of M'Sila, 2025) Naima Boudis
    This thesis explores the metamorphosis of American popular culture in the digital age, drawing on Franz Kafka's metaphorical use of “metamorphosis”, and John Fiske's theory of popular culture. The thesis sketches the changes the political economy of the US media has undergone in the information age as it shifted its focus from a product-based market economy to a consumer-based attention economy. It meticulously explores significant Marxist terms around which the theme is circumscribed such as use value, exchange value, surplus value, free labor, exploitation, and false consciousness, to name but a few. Furthermore, an emphasis is placed on explaining the inner dynamics of digital media by shedding light on digital-related concepts such as visibility algorithms, shadow banning, filter bubbles, echo chambers, digital homophily, and confirmation bias to unravel the techniques undertaken by media owners and decision makers to shape the American culture and public opinion. The thesis further examines how the digital environment, including social media, streaming platforms, and participatory technologies, has reshaped cultural texts’ production, circulation, and consumption. By situating this discussion within a cultural studies framework, the thesis contends that digital platforms facilitate a radical redefinition of popular culture and its politics, embodying a new form of metamorphosis that echoes Kafka's themes of identity, alienation, and transformation. Case studies have been chosen to unravel and flesh out said transformation in culture industry- movie remakes, reality TV, political comedy, and athletes’ activism – and its concomitant popular culture metamorphosis. The thesis lays bare the difference between the media culture and popular culture, yet it further illustrates the existent metabolic relation between said cultures insofar as the balance of power is no longer titled in favor of the power block; rather, it is unstable. The bottom-up influence of popular culture is equally effective and prevailing.