The world of ideas and things: the political ecology of ecomedia

Antonio López

Chapter 30 in Research Handbook on Critical Theory, 2026, pp 337-351 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter situates ecomedia studies within the broader framework of critical theory, interrogating how media systems—as both ideological constructs and material infrastructures—reproduce and resist the ecological crises engendered by colonial-capitalist modernity. By synthesising Frankfurt School critiques of instrumental rationality with decolonial, ecofeminist, and political-ecological perspectives, the analysis exposes media's dual role as vehicles of ideological domination (e.g., neoliberal narratives of endless growth, consumerism, and technological solutionism) and material agents of ecological violence (e.g., extractivism, labour exploitation, and e-waste externalisation). It argues that ecomedia scholarship extends critical theory's emancipatory praxis by bridging the “ecological mind/footprint”—the interplay of media's symbolic content and its resource-intensive infrastructures—to confront the systemic inequities embedded in global production networks. The chapter underscores the urgency of a dialectical materialist approach that dismantles the nature–culture dichotomy, critiques the commodification of attention and data under platform capitalism, and reimagines media ecosystems as sites of ecojustice. In doing so, it contributes to critical theory's evolving research agenda by centring ecological imperatives within critiques of capitalist hegemony and advocating for transformative pedagogies that align media literacy with planetary sustainability.

Keywords: Ecomedia; Media Materiality; Political Ecology; Environmental Justice; Media Infrastructures; Ecological Footprint (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781800373754
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