[Air-L] Call for Abstract/Special issue: Gender Politics and Moral Norms Across Media

[Zhen Ye]

Call for Abstract/Special issue: Gender Politics and Moral Norms Across Media
Media and Communication
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/issue/futureissues#i505


Deadline for abstracts: 1-15 September 2025
Deadline for decisions on abstracts: 30 September 2025
Deadline for articles: 15-31 January 2026

About the issue
In recent years, we have witnessed a growing body of research focused on identity politics, public shaming, and social outrage in the contemporary media landscape. Morality is often at the core of these debates. At times, societies are gripped by moral panics (Cohen, 1972/2011) and attribute the cause of such feelings of panic to certain media products such as TV dramas, reality TV, or advertising (Critcher, 2006; Guo, 2017). Yet, evidence that these media products contribute to audiences’ moral imagination and reflection in a positive sense increases (Bilandzic et al., 2017; Krijnen, 2009, 2011; Krijnen & Tan, 2009; Krijnen & Verboord, 2011, 2016). On social media platforms, the entanglement of morality with actions of gender-based harassment, status-seeking, and intergroup conflicts (Huang, 2021; Marwick, 2021) always dominates public attention. On the one hand, the existing moral norms and standards are often used to legitimize individual online practices and even to mobilize collective actions; on the other hand, the state and market actors draw on moral norms to regulate and moderate media content under the name of protecting public interests. This thematic issue aims to explore the historical trajectory and continuity of the vital role of media in shaping social dynamics and moral norms, particularly through the lens of gender, from a global perspective.
We welcome contributions that empirically and theoretically engage with the topic of gender, media, and morality, and encourage contributors to reflect on the topic with its intersections of class, race, geopolitics, etc. For example, and not limited to:

  *   In the process of formation and mobilization of moral norms, what roles do media play?
  *   How can we critically study, analyze, and compare the complex moralized rhetoric across media?
  *   What are the political and social consequences when the moralized rhetoric is used to target specific social groups (i.e. women and LGBTQ communities)?
  *   What kinds of power dynamics between individuals, social institutions, market actors, and nation-states are reflected in the construction of moral norms?

Instructions for Authors
Authors interested in submitting a paper for this issue are asked to consult the journal's instructions for authors and submit their abstracts (maximum of 250 words, with a tentative title) through the abstracts system. When submitting their abstracts, authors are also asked to confirm that they are aware that Media and Communication is an open access journal with a publishing fee if the article is accepted for publication after peer-review (corresponding authors affiliated with our institutional members do not incur this fee).
Editor(s):Tonny Krijnen (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Zhen Ye (Erasmus University Rotterdam), and Qian Huang (University of Groningen)
If you have any question, contact: ye[at]eshcc[dot]eur[dot]nl