The Political Web

Media, Participation and Alternative Democracy

verfasst von: Peter Dahlgren

Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan UK

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

As democracy encounters difficulties, many citizens are turning to the domain of alternative politics and, in so doing, making considerable use of the new communication technologies. This volume analyses the various factors that shape such participation, and addresses such key topics as civic subjectivity, web intellectuals, and cosmopolitanism.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Introduction

Abstract

On a cold and cloudy morning in late January 2013, demonstrators were gathering in one of the main squares in Ljubljana as part of a one-day national strike of public sector workers. Similar gatherings were taking place elsewhere in the city — notably at university campuses — as well as in other urban areas of the small (population 2 million) country of Slovenia. The strike was part of a larger, growing protest movement against the government, specially the prime minister, and local authorities in some municipalities, that had been growing in size and intensity since the autumn of the previous year, though largely beyond the coverage of the international news media. Slovenia had been the most prosperous republic within former Yugoslavia; its transition to an independent state in June 1991 had proceeded with minimal bloodshed. Since independence, its economy had flourished; it joined both the European Union (EU) and the eurozone.

Peter Dahlgren

Politics and Participation on the Web

Frontmatter

1. Democracy, Participation, and Media Connections

Abstract

That democracy is facing an array of very serious dilemmas has become an established and engaging theme within research and public discussions in the past two decades; foundations are earmarking ever greater sums to study the issues, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are trying to tackle them in diverse ways, journalistic pundits analyse the difficulties, while political parties and governments are obviously troubled. Though the concept of ‘democracy’ is routinely invoked, at times almost as an incantation, we must keep in mind that the term itself is contested among theorists, who offer a range of ideal models (Held, 2006). Not least on the Left, there is a diversity of visions of its future (see, for example, Agamben et al., 2011).

Peter Dahlgren

2. Force-Fields of the Web Environment

Abstract

The web can be thought of as a communicative space — or rather, an infinite universe of spaces, where new spaces are constantly being generated by users. This environment is characterised by a number of features that shape the experience of the web as an everyday phenomenon; there are also aspects of it that have impact but may not be directly experienced as such by those who use the web. From the standpoint of participation, more generally, there are tensions that serve to both augment and diminish the web’s democratic character. I explore some of these force-fields in this chapter, beginning first with some features regarding the web as a daily environment and resource, then addressing more specifically some of the main tension-ridden attributes regarding participation. In the third section I look at three sets of contingencies that shape participation on the web, illustrating them with glimpses from Google, Facebook, and the highly individualised mode of participation that tends to prevail.

Peter Dahlgren

Evolving Forms and Practices

Frontmatter

3. Occupy Wall Street: Discursive Strategies and Fields

Abstract

The year 2011 witnessed intense political protest in many countries. This includes the Arab Spring, which began in Tunisia and Egypt, where the revolts led to the removal of these countries’ dictators; in Libya a civil war emerged, leading to a democratically committed leadership taking power, though the situation remains unstable. In Syria the peaceful protest movement that began in 2011 was met with brutal violence, and at the time of writing a vicious civil war rages with reports of huge casualties daily. In Europe, most noteworthily in Greece and Spain, revolts against the economic crisis and austerity measures began — and continue today, in these and other countries in the southern part of the EU. In the US, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement spread from its New York City origins to other cities in the US and abroad — but largely dissipated the following year. It is this latter protest movement that is the topic of this chapter; despite its short-lived character, it is a very instructive case in regard to alternative politics and participation via the media.

Peter Dahlgren

4. Online Public Intellectuals

Abstract

The status and significance of public intellectuals (PIs) continue to be debated. Even if PIs themselves tend to dominate these discussions, we would be foolish to dismiss the issues as merely an expression of vanity among a small coterie, because, as I will argue, PIs still play an important role in democracies. They represent a particular form of political participation, often within the realm of alternative politics, and while there may be in some corners a misguided tendency to dismiss PIs as ‘elitist’, their significance persists, despite changes in their circumstances, activities, and practices. Most of the familiar questions remain and will no doubt continue to be discussed: are PIs in decline or not, in quantitative terms? How should we view the quality of their contributions today? Who is/is not a PI? What are the consequences of their increased academic profile? Who are the audiences for contemporary PIs? In fact, these questions, as we shall see, take on new pertinence with the advent of the web.

Peter Dahlgren

5. Web Journalism and Civic Cosmopolitanism: Professional vs. Participatory Ideals

Abstract

The world changes, and with it our understanding of it — even if the goodness of fit between the world in some ‘objective’ sense and our grasp of it will always remain problematic. One important factor in shaping the way we see the world beyond our own face-to-face experience is of course journalism, with its various institutions, practices, and representations. Journalism finds itself in a period of dramatic transition; indeed, the term ‘crisis’ has been a part of the discussions for some years now, applied to a complex field that is witnessing pushes and pulls from several directions, deriving from changes in, among other things, financial circumstances, technologies, media landscapes, audience use patterns, and notions of professionalism. (There is of course a vast literature on these themes; for recent contributions in the American context, see McChesney and Nichols, 2011; the current annual report State of the News Media, 2013; see also Russell, 2011; Waisbord, 2012). A specific development to be noted in this regard is that increasingly, journalism is not being done only by journalists. This is not historically new per se, but the magnitude and diversity of the actors and practices involved today are significant.

Peter Dahlgren

Critical Approaches

Frontmatter

6. The Civic Subject and Media-Based Agency

Abstract

Research on media and democracy mobilises a range of conceptual versions of the subject. This is often done out of habit, with a specific model becoming implicitly established in any given research tradition. This chapter argues that different theories of the subject can have different implications for our understanding of citizenship and democracy. In the previous chapters I have been making use of a model that leans towards post-structural and psychoanalytic grounding, but also with other components, and at this point it could be edifying to make explicit a broader range of options. My aim is not so much to sell my own views as to make visible and invite reflection on various possible notions of the subject as citizen, something that we (myself included) tend to take for granted. (For an illuminating presentation that also pursues this theme, but with a different agenda, see Corner, 2011: ch. 3).

Peter Dahlgren

7. Critical Media Research: Something Old, New, and Unfinished

Abstract

The etymologically related concepts of ‘critical’, ‘criticism’, and ‘critique’ figure in a number of different discursive contexts; there are three broad sets of usages of these terms. On the one hand, the adjective ‘critical’ is an attribute that is often associated with science, the arts, and the pursuit of knowledge more generally, a legacy of its largely Enlightenment origins (its roots of course go back to ancient Greece). It most often involves an analysis of the merits and deficiencies of a particular work, as in ‘literary criticism’; such an analysis results in a ‘critique’. On the other hand, these terms also cluster around political analysis of social and cultural phenomena, which signals the intellectual lineage that runs from Hegel to Marx, and on to a variety of traditions on the Left, including the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School and many contemporary currents; here critique is seen as an emancipatory project that challenges domination.

Peter Dahlgren

Backmatter

Titel: The Political Web
verfasst von: Peter Dahlgren
Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan UK
Electronic ISBN: 978-1-137-32638-6
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-32637-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137326386