Articles in this special issue focus on:
*the history of the communications field;
*the condition of the "information society" in the United States, Europe, and Asia;
*the internal critiques within scholarship itself; and
*some of the contemporary concerns of political economy as it regards communications in an increasingly integrated world system.

Taken as a whole, the issue presents an alternative to economistic and administrative analyses of communications common to mainstream academic journals. It is also an invitation for other scholars to participate in this critical analysis and methodology.