This book reveals the layered effects of the corporatization of higher education, situated within the phenomenon of disaster capitalism. The authors argue that higher education administrators have seized on the Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to advance a corporate higher education agenda consistent with the principles of disaster capitalism. This crisis deeply impacts what and how students in the United States learn, who gets to learn, and the very mission of the academy. Chapters also address neoliberalism as a policy statement that has reshaped and continues to shape higher education in the United States and in much of Western societies.

In a world that is increasingly wary of artificial intelligence (AI), this book explores the pressing need for strategic communicators to move away from being advocates for AI and move towards a more critical activist role that enables them to counter AI-driven threats to communities and relationships. AI is contributing to inequality, misinformation and environmental damage, among other problems. This book argues that strategic communicators are uniquely placed to help counter AI-driven challenges because of their skills in relationship-building and their ability to craft and deliver messages effectively. By discussing the different professional activist approaches that communicators can take in relation to growing AI challenges, the book offers multiple perspectives that will help to build knowledge in diverse settings and develop practice, especially in community and activist strategic communication. Research-based and combining theory with practice, this thought-provoking book will be welcomed by strategic communication scholars and practitioners alike eager to develop a critical approach to the challenges surrounding AI.

With the crisis of the global capitalist economy, the topic of global culture is regaining its importance and needs to be revisited from both theoretical and practical standpoints. How do we make sense of this rapid flow of global consumer culture across national borders? What is the role of corporations, governments and social movements in shaping these flows? How do these flows of money, people, culture, goods and services work in practice? Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this volume examines the way cultures and people oppose, resist and re-centre globalisation.