Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political control & freedoms
|
Buy Now
After the Propaganda State - Media, Politics, and 'Thought Work' in Reformed China (Hardcover, First)
Loot Price: R1,928
Discovery Miles 19 280
|
|
After the Propaganda State - Media, Politics, and 'Thought Work' in Reformed China (Hardcover, First)
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
|
This book argues that a combination of property rights reform,
administrative fragmentation, and technological advance has caused
the post-Mao Chinese state to lose a significant degree of control
over "thought work," or the management of propagandistic
communications flowing into and through Chinese society.
The East Asian economic meltdown of the late 1990's has reinforced
the conviction, derived from Communism's nearly worldwide collapse
a decade earlier, that the only path to sustained prosperity
combines an openness to trade and investment with market economies
that are minimally impinged upon by state intervention. But, the
author argues, the situations in China demonstrates that the
political, social, and cultural costs of "reform and opening" are
high.
Notably, the construction of culture in China has fallen into the
hands of lower-level government administrators, semiautonomous
individuals and groups in society, and foreign-based public and
private organizations. Contrary to the prevailing neo-liberal
wisdom, however, this transformation has not generated a
Habermasian public sphere and an autonomous civil society that will
lead China inevitably toward democracy. Instead, the immediate
result has been "public sphere praetorianism," a condition in which
the construction of culture becomes excessively market-oriented
without being directed toward the achievement of public political
goals.
The case of China shows that under such conditions, a society is
set adrift and rudderless, with its members unable or unwilling to
channel their energies toward the resolution of pressing public
concerns, and communication flows dissolve into a patternless
mosaic. True, the flows are much less constrained by government
than ever before--an important precondition for democratization.
But the short-term effect is actually an enervating
depoliticization--even narcotization--of society, while the state
itself paradoxically continues to lose control.
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!
|
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.