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Book Details
Abstract
This major international text introduces the key themes, issues and theoretical approaches in the field. A central concern is to put the politics back into the study of communication by posing key critical questions about power and ideology: what is being communicated, by whom, how, in whose interests, and with what effects and implications?
Heather Savigny is Associate Professor in Politics & Gender at Bournemouth University, UK. Her most recent publication is in Feminist Media Studies (2016) and she has published and co-edited books with Palgrave, Continuum and Ashgate.
This major international text introduces the key themes, issues and theoretical approaches in the field. A central concern is to put the politics back into the study of communication by posing key critical questions about power and ideology: what is being communicated, by whom, how, in whose interests, and with what effects and implications?
‘Political Communication is not only an exemplary examination of the key aspects of political communication - it also offers in-depth critiques of the underlying power relations within society and of the ideology of today’s mass media, and analyses the challenges new media present to the transmission of dominant ideologies. Clearly written, informed by original research and offering a usefully broad definition of the political, her book will be essential reading for students.’ – Mick Temple, Staffordshire University, UK
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | Cover | ||
| Contents | vii | ||
| Acknowledgements | x | ||
| Introduction | 1 | ||
| Political communication as a site of academic study | 3 | ||
| The emergence and consolidation of political communication as a field of academic study | 4 | ||
| Politics as a subject of study | 5 | ||
| Media technology as a site of study | 7 | ||
| Media or politics: Which came first? | 9 | ||
| Mass communication as a site of study | 11 | ||
| The temporal, social and cultural as a site of study: Implicit political communication? | 14 | ||
| Summary | 16 | ||
| Chapter 1 What is Political about Political Communication? | 19 | ||
| Introduction | 19 | ||
| Contemporary political communication | 20 | ||
| What is political? | 23 | ||
| What is communication? | 25 | ||
| What is the site in which politics is communicated? | 28 | ||
| Towards a politics of political communication | 31 | ||
| Summary | 34 | ||
| Chapter 2 Why does Political Communication Matter? | 36 | ||
| Introduction | 36 | ||
| Political literacy, political knowledge | 36 | ||
| Language and literacy | 40 | ||
| What is the political and ideological context for our literacy? | 44 | ||
| Codes and messages | 47 | ||
| Reading mediated political discourse | 49 | ||
| What is not being communicated? | 51 | ||
| Summary | 53 | ||
| Chapter 3 Who are the Audience(s)? | 54 | ||
| Introduction | 54 | ||
| What is an audience? | 54 | ||
| Why do audiences matter? | 56 | ||
| The general public and public opinion | 57 | ||
| Advertisers and the construction of audiences | 61 | ||
| Advertising constructing audiences as consumers? | 63 | ||
| Elites as audiences | 65 | ||
| Who is not an audience? | 68 | ||
| Summary | 69 | ||
| Chapter 4 How do Governments and Politicians Communicate? | 71 | ||
| Introduction | 71 | ||
| A brief history of ‘spin’ | 72 | ||
| Propaganda | 74 | ||
| Contemporary marketing and advertising by politicians | 76 | ||
| Communicating election campaigns | 78 | ||
| What is and is not being communicated? | 82 | ||
| Summary | 84 | ||
| Chapter 5 How is News Communicated Politically? | 86 | ||
| Introduction | 86 | ||
| What is news? | 87 | ||
| Relations between news organizations and the state | 91 | ||
| The changing nature of news and journalism: The technological context | 93 | ||
| The gendering of news | 96 | ||
| The discursive context | 99 | ||
| Summary | 101 | ||
| Chapter 6 How is Politics Communicated beyond the News? | 103 | ||
| Introduction | 103 | ||
| Popular culture and the culture industry | 104 | ||
| Elite politicians, popular and celebrity culture | 106 | ||
| Reality TV and celebrity culture | 110 | ||
| The political representation of gender in popular and celebrity culture | 113 | ||
| Summary | 118 | ||
| Chapter 7 How is Politics Communicated beyond the Nation State? | 120 | ||
| Introduction | 120 | ||
| War | 121 | ||
| War reporting | 123 | ||
| Popular culture and war | 127 | ||
| War as a media non-event? | 130 | ||
| Terrorism and media | 131 | ||
| Summary | 134 | ||
| Chapter 8 How do Citizens Communicate Politically? | 136 | ||
| Introduction | 136 | ||
| Civic participation | 136 | ||
| Citizens and social media | 142 | ||
| Political identity | 145 | ||
| Resistance as a form of political communication | 148 | ||
| Summary | 151 | ||
| Conclusion: Politics and Power | 153 | ||
| The three faces of power | 153 | ||
| Structures and agents | 155 | ||
| Power and the constitution of the subject | 156 | ||
| The subject and gender | 157 | ||
| Technologies of regulation in political communication | 160 | ||
| Bibliography | 163 | ||
| Index | 183 |