Total Propaganda - From Mass Culture To Popular Culture (Paperback)

"...offers internationalists who are caught up in the old propagandas of war and conflict fresh approaches to new propagandas in modern states". -- Robert L. Stevenson University of North Carolina

"Political scientists and Asia specialists will appreciate the creative approach to the analysis of propaganda with respect to trade and politics". -- Alan P.L. Lieu California, Santa Barbara

"Total Propaganda is for students and about them. My students are excited about the concept of the new propaganda". -- Diana S. Tillinghast San Jose State University

"The always inventive author provides a cornucopia of ideas and insights about politics and communication as he deconstructs the old propaganda paradigm and illuminates the new". -- David Paletz Duke University

"The author's distinction between the old and the new propagandas redirects us to old and new forms of media criticism and old and new media effects". -- Steve Chaffee Stanford University

"The conceptual distinction between the old and the new propaganda gives us much to think about and is worthy of empirical exploration". -- Lee B. Becker The Ohio State University

"A fresh, creative, and original look at politics, popular culture, and propaganda. Important reading for the end of this century and the beginning of the next". -- Chuck Whitney University of Texas

"...pushes out the boundaries of the study of propaganda in the popular culture in understandable, creative, and contemporary ways". -- Garth JowettHouston University

It is widely recognized that the mass media provide us with ample information which we use to construct some sense of the world around us. It is not as widely recognized that consumers of media messages are active in this constructive process, making meanings that are sensible to them in particular life circumstances. The media target a younger, more media savvy generation who are more likely to be participants in the messages than members of any previous generation. This participatory aspect of new media is central to what the author defines as the new propaganda. Although critical and cultural theories are often prohibitive for undergraduate students, the author's formulation offers an accessible way to discuss power and ideology in media texts. Without using the critical discourse, he provides compelling arguments that power and ideology are created and maintained through the active participation of audience members.

The conceptualization of the old and propagandas helps move the study of propaganda out of the realm of world politics into the study of popular culture. The author views all of the participatory functioning of the society as aspects of membership in a mots embracing popular culture. This point of view recognizes that the mass media are extremely important forces in the consumer's construction of reality and that they are no longer exclusive channels for disseminating the messages of the powerful elites. Instead, the media -particularly the new media -- are accessible to and used frequently by less powerful members of society -- children, ethnic minorities, and marginal members of society -- to create realities that more satisfactorily fulfilltheir needs.

New Blurb Copy... Total Propaganda is a fresh answer to the question of the inclusiveness of the popular culture. It demonstrates how the values of popular music, media, politics, debates over social issues, and international trade have become everyday propaganda to which everyone relates in some way.

The author demonstrates that the most important distinction that can be drawn between mass culture and popular culture is its text; i.e., its propaganda. In a popular culture, everyone creates and consumes propaganda, whereas in a mass culture, almost everyone consumes but only a few create it. This book presents a new language of propaganda that makes it possible to draw comparisons between mass and popular cultures. The language is used to observe shifts in propaganda across various social issues -- race, religion, sexuality, gender, gun control, the environment, print and broadcast media, new technologies, and politics. It also examines fashion, advertising, sports, and lobbying. Total Propaganda is not defined only quantitatively; it mirrors the synergies that have come about in every social and political realm and the energies that these synergies produce. As such, the sum of total propaganda is greater than the sum of its parts.

General

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!