Media and the Restyling of Politics: Consumerism, Celebrity and Cynicism / Edition 1

by John Corner, Dick Pels

Overview

Bringing together the work of leading academics in media and cultural studies, this book questions the ways in which emerging forms of political style relate not only to new conventions of celebrity and publicity but to ideas about representation, citizenship and the democratic process.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761949213
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	10/08/2003
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.46(d)

About the Author

Dick Pels is Professor of Sociology in the Department of Human Sciences at Brunel University, West London, and a Senior Research Affiliate of the Amsterdam School of Social Science Research.
He is the author of Property and Power in Social Theory. A Study in Intellectual Rivalry(Routledge, 1998), The Intellectual as Stranger. Studies in Spokespersonship (Routledge, 2000) and Unhastening Science. Autonomy and Reflexivity in the Social Theory of Knowledge (forthcoming Liverpool University Press, 2002). He has edited books on Bourdieu, basic income, and political style, and has widely published in international journals on social and political theory, the sociology of knowledge and intellectuals, and intellectual history.
His current research interests are in theories of performativity and performance, the social status of 'things', intellectuals and media, and the role of celebrity culture.

Table of Contents

Introduction - John Corner and Dick Pels
The Re-Styling of Politics
Democracy's Inner Voice - Frank Ankersmit
Political Style as Unintended Consequence of Political Action
Aesthetic Representation and Political Style - Dick Pels
Re-Balancing Identity and Difference in Media Democracy
Mediated Persona and Political Culture - John Corner
The Celebrity Politician - John Street
Political Style and Popular Culture
‘After Dallas and Dynasty We Have… Democracy' - Liesbet van Zoonen
Articulating Soap, Politics and Gender
Citizen Consumers - Margaret Scammell
Towards a New Marketing of Politics?
Lifestyle Politics and Citizen-Consumers - W Lance Bennett
Identity, Communication and Political Action in Late Modern Society
Reconfiguring Civic Culture in the New Media Milieu - Peter Dahlgren
Popular Culture and Mediated Politics - Jon Simons
Intellectuals, Elites and Democracy
Marked Bodies - Bronislaw Szerszynski
Environmental Activism and Political Semiotics

Editorial Reviews

"The authors deal with a number of important concepts- e.g., aesthetic politics, celebrity politician, cool politics, the president as 'entertainer-in-chief,' 'the supermarket state,' permanent campaigns, and political brands- and discuss their implementation and far-reaching sociocultural implications... this work deserves to be widely read, especially during election seasons. Highly recommend."

J.A. Lent