Spring 2019 Distinguished Lecture: Dr. Joseph Turow Presents "The Resignation Industry and the Future of Media Studies"

A “resignation industry” is developing in tandem with—and overlapping with—the growth of the digital interactive media system. In his talk, Dr. Joseph Turow (Robert Lewis Shayon Professor of Communication, University of Pennsylvania) discusses how the resignation industry carries out pervasive and purposeful corporate undertakings to encourage people to give up thinking they can change data collection by businesses. These activities have the potential of corroding political and cultural democracy. We need a sociology of digital resignation to understand the industry. Research in this area is best carried out with a new understanding of the meaning and nature of “media research.”