printDeveloping a Theoretical Training Course on the Sociology of Media Communications
Kolomiets V. P.
Dr. Sci. (Sociol.), Prof., Head of Sociology of Mass Communication Department of the Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia vikkolomiets@yandex.ru
Kolomiets V. P. Developing a Theoretical Training Course on the Sociology of Media Communications. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2026. No 9. P. 144-156
This paper presents the experience of designing and delivering a theoretical course titled “Sociology of Media Communications” for undergraduate students majoring in Media Communications. It demonstrates why traditional courses such as “Sociology of Mass Media” and “Sociology of Mass Communication,” typically offered in journalism sociology training, prove insufficient for the profession of media communicators in the context of platformization, the everyday use of AI, and the increasing complexity of the media environment. The paper proposes a course logic based on distinguishing three forms of media communications (centralized, networked, and personalized) and the corresponding professional tasks of the media communicator. The modular structure of the course (12 lectures and three tests) is described, and methodological recommendations are offered for instructors providing sociological training to undergraduates in the Media Communications field. The course concept can be utilized by anyone teaching disciplines related to the themes and challenges of contemporary media and society.
Berger P., Luckmann T. (1995) Sotsial’noye konstruirovaniye real’nosti. Traktat po sotsiologii znaniya [The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise on the Sociology of Knowledge]. Moscow: Medium. (In Russ.)
Blumler J.G. (1979) The Role of Theory in Uses and Gratifications. Communication Research. Vol. 6. No. 1: 9–36.
Bourdieu P. (2005) Formy kapitala [Forms of Capital]. Ekonomicheskaya sotsiologiya [Economic Sociology]. Vol. 6. No. 3: 60–74. (In Russ.)
Bourdieu P. (2007) Sotsiologiya sotsial’nogo prostranstva [Sociology of Social Space]. Moscow: IES; St. Petersburg: Aletheia. (In Russ.)
Boyd D. (2015) Social Media: A Phenomenon to be Analyzed. Social Media+Society. Vol. 1. No. 1. DOI: 10.1177/2056305115580148.
Castells M. (2000) Informatsionnaya epokha. Ekonomika, obshchestvo i kul’tura [The Information Age. Economy, Society, and Culture]. Moscow: ID VShE. (In Russ.)
Davenport T.H., Beck J.C. (2001) The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business. Harvard Business School Press.
Deleuze G. (1992) Postscript on the Societies of Control. October. Vol. 59: 3–7.Durkheim E. (1994) Samoubiystvo: Sotsiologicheskiy etyud [Suicide: A Sociological Study]. Moscow: Mysl’. (In Russ.)
Foucault M. (1999) Nadzirat’ i nakazyvat’. Rozhdeniye tyur’my [Discipline and Punish. The Birth of the Prison]. Transl. from Fr. by V. Naumov; ed. by I. Borisova. Moscow: Ad Marginem. (In Russ.)
Fuchs K. (2025) Foundations of Critique of Social Media. Moscow: ID VShE. (In Russ.)
Galtung J., Ruge M. (1965) The Structure of Foreign News. Journal of Peace Research. Vol. 2. No. 1: 64–91.
Gerbner G. (1998) Cultivation analysis: An overview. Mass Communication and Society. Vol. 1. No. 3-4: 175–194.
Goffman I. (2000) Predstavleniye sebya drugim v povsednevnoy zhizni [Presenting Oneself to Others in Everyday Life]. Moscow: KANON-press-C, Kuchkovo Pole. (In Russ.)
Habermas J. (2023) The New Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere and Deliberative Politics. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie. (In Russ.)
Hall S. (1980) Encoding, Decoding in the Television Discourse. In: Culture, Media, Language. Ed. by S. Hall, D. Hobson, P. Lowe. London: Hutchinson.
Han B.C. (2025) Infocracy. Truth and Freedom in the Digital Age. Moscow: AST. (In Russ.)
Katz E. (1957) The Two-Step Flow of Communication: An Up-to-Date Report on an Hypothesis. Public Opinion Quarterly. Vol. 21: 61–78.
Kolomiets V.P. (2024) Journalism and Media Communications: Articulation of Research Spaces. Medi@ lmanah [Media Almanac]. No. 2: 18–26. DOI: 10.30547/mediaalmanah.2.2024.1826; EDN: VVDCJY. (In Russ.)
Kolomiets V.P. (2026) Media Communications: Three Logics of Social Interaction in a Hybrid Media Space. Vestnik Moskovskogo un-ta. Zhurnalistika [Bulletin of Moscow University. Journalism]. No. 3: 91–116. DOI: 10.55959/msu.vestnik.journ.3.2026.91116. (In Russ.)
Kolomiets V.P. (2019) Conceptualization of Media Communication. Mediaskop [Mediascope]. No. 4. URL: http://www.mediascope.ru/2575 (accessed 22.08.26). DOI: 10.30547/mediascope.4.2019.2. (In Russ.)
Kolomiets V.P. (2023) Media and Media Communication – the Space of Sociological Knowledge. Mediaskop [Mediascope]. No. 1. URL: http://www.mediascope.ru/2800 (accessed 22.08.2026). (In Russ.)
Kolomiets V.P., Razin P.V. (2018) Teaching Sociology to Journalism Students. Mediaskop [Mediascope]. No. 1. URL: http://www.mediascope.ru/2415 (accessed 22.08.26). DOI: 10.30547/mediascope.1.2018.5. (In Russ.)
Konkina K.M., Khrapova D.M., Shtifanova P.V. (2025) Conceptualization of the Media Communications Program on the Websites of Russian Universities: An Analysis Using Mathematical Modeling. Informatsionnoe obshchestvo [Information Society]. No. 6: 86–97. DOI: 10.52605/16059921_2025_06_86. (In Russ.)
Krivonosov A.D. (2021) Media communications: On the way to institutionalization? Rossiiskaya shkola svyazei s obshchestvennost’yu [Russian School of Public Relations]. No. 14: 13–28. EDN: XWXXLW. (In Russ.)
Latour B. (2014) Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network Theory. Moscow: ID VShE. (In Russ.)
McCombs M., Shaw D. (1972) The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass-Media. Public Opinion Quarterly. Vol. 36: 176–187.
Mills Ch.W. (1998) Sotsiologicheskoye voobrazheniye [The Sociological Imagination]. Moscow: Strategiya. (In Russ.)
Nissenbaum H.A. (2011) Contextual Approach to Privacy Online. Daedalus. Vol. 140. No. 4: 32–48.
Noelle-Neumann E. (1996) Obshchestvennoye mneniye. Otkrytiye spirali molchaniya [Public Opinion. Opening the Spiral of Silence]. Moscow: Progress-Academy, Ves’ Mir. (In Russ.)
Ritzer G. (2015) Automating Prosumption: The Decline of the Prosumer and the Rise of the Prosuming Machines. Journal of Сonsumer Сulture. Vol. 15. No. 3: 407–424.
Simon H.A. (1971) Designing Organizations for an Information-rich World. In: Computers, Communications, and the Public Interest. Ed. by M. Greenberger. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press: 37–72.
Toffler E. (2009) Tret’ya volna [The Third Wave]. Moscow: AST. (In Russ.)
Weber M. (2006) Ponyatiye sotsiologii i «smysla» sotsial’nogo deystviya [The Concept of Sociology and the “Meaning” of Social Action]. In: Obshchaya sotsiologiya [General Sociology]. Moscow: ID VShE: 236–239. (In Russ.)
Zuboff Sh. (2024) The Era of Surveillance Capitalism. The Battle for the Human Future on the New Frontiers of Power. Moscow: In-t Gaidara. (In Russ.)