Postmodern Political Communication: The Fringe Challenges the Center / Edition 1

by Andrew King

Overview

Analyses of political dialogue have traditionally concentrated on structures of government or social movements, drawing clear boundaries between the individual and the state. In its examination of the marginal fringe groups struggling to secure power, Postmodern Political Communication broadens our conception of political behavior and places new emphasis on the generation and invention of politics. This volume's contributors examine the discourse of deviant, oppressed, and powerless groups from the point of view of empowerment; that is, how do such outsider groups engage the center and how are they able to use mass media to gain political power?

The authors study the discourse of those who seem most alienated from the formal political process: religious cults, youth gangs, submerged culture groups, and illegal aliens. Their analyses concentrate on the ways in which postmodern discourse legitimizes distribution of power in the social order, and disclose the ideological and political messages that underlie ordinary nonpolitical expression. With its explorations of communicative theory and implications for praxis, this work will appeal to a large audience of scholars and practitioners in political science and communications.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275938406
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/22/1992
Series:	Praeger Series in Political Communication
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	1370L (what's this?)

About the Author

ANDREW KING is Professor and Chair of the Department of Speech Communication at Louisiana State University. He has authored two previous books. Professor King's academic interests lie in the areas of communication and power, and medieval and renaissance rhetorical theory.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword by Robert E. Denton, Jr.
Introduction: The Great Power Shift by Andrew King
What is Postmodern Rhetoric? by Andrew King
Postmodern Forerunners by Andrew King
The Higher Culture as the Site of Struggle by Andrew King
Marginalization, the Body, and Empowerment: The Rhetoric of the Obese and Little People in America by Kenneth Zagacki
The Reciprocal Power of Group Identities and Social Style: A Note on a Specimen Deviant Youth Group by Calvin Morrill and William Bailey
Sanctuary Confronts the Court: An Unrepentant Prophet by Jeanne E. Clark
Chicago Utopianism in the Southwest by Richard J. Jensen and John C. Hammerback
The Goddess of Democracy as Icon in the Chinese Student Revolt by Kenneth C. Petress
Ma And Sheela: Media Power through Radical Discourse by Catherine Ann Collins
Understanding Fandom Rhetorically: The Case of "Beauty and the Beast" by Kari Whittenberger-Keith
Purchasing Identity: Advertising and the Embrace and Celebration of Self by Charles Urban Larson
A Critical Look at the Postmodern Future by Andrew King
Selected Bibliography
Index