Professor John Thompson

Emeritus Fellow
University Positions
Professor of Sociology
Specialising in
Sociology

John B. Thompson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Cambridge and an Emeritus Fellow of Jesus College.

Academic interests

John B. Thompson's academic interests include:

  • Contemporary social and political theory
  • Sociology of the media and modern culture
  • The social organisation of the media industries
  • The changing structure of the book publishing industry
  • The social and political impact of information and communication technologies
  • The changing forms of political communication.

Degrees obtained

  • BA, Keele, 1975.
  • PhD, Cambridge, 1979.

Awards and prizes

  • European Amalfi Prize for Sociology and the Social Sciences for his work on political scandal, 2001.

Biography

John B. Thompson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Cambridge and an Emeritus Fellow of Jesus College. He was a Research Fellow at Jesus College from 1979 to 1984. He was appointed Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Cambridge in 1985, Reader in Sociology in 1994, and Professor of Sociology in 2001.

He has held Visiting Professorships at universities in the United States, Canada, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, China, and South Africa. He is currently working on the impact of the digital revolution on the book publishing industry.

Publications, links and resources

Recent publications include:

  • Thompson, J.B. (2010) Merchants of Culture: The Publishing Business in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: Polity.
  • Thompson, J.B. (2005) Books in the Digital Age: The Transformation of Academic and Higher Education Publishing in Britain and the United States. Cambridge: Polity.
  • Thompson, J.B. (2000) Political Scandal: Power and Visibility in the Media Age. Cambridge: Polity.
  • Thompson, J.B. (1995) The Media and Modernity: A Social Theory of the Media. Cambridge: Polity. 
  • Thompson, J.B. (1990) Ideology and Modern Culture: Critical Social Theory in the Era of Mass Communication. Cambridge: Polity. 

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