Full Description
This book presents a new conceptual model for understanding the role of the media in the construction of public knowledge, belief and opinion in the context of a radically changed communications infrastructure. Drawing on a series of empirical studies conducted over nearly a decade, Happer deploys evidence of a 'disconnect' between neoliberal media and the public which is rooted in a disaffection with a mainstream political culture which has failed to deliver the societal outcomes promised. As people are pushed towards alternative digital sources, new communities of opinion are produced in ways which polarise publics and ultimately limit the potential for social change.
Offering an innovative and urgently needed new sociological analysis, this book is required reading for an inter-disciplinary field of media, journalism, and politics/IR which has largely abandoned questions of media power and public opinion management, as well as policymakers, science communicators and journalists.
Contents
Introduction
1 The disconnect: mis-managing public trust
2 Filtering for opinion: a new conceptual model
3 Class, education and media cultures: 'them' versus 'us'
4 The new gatekeepers of digital content and opinion
5 Climate, COVID and the cost of living: getting up close to global crises
Conclusion
Appendix: Empirical studies and datasets 2011-2020
Bibliography
Index
