Digital, Political, Radical

Natalie Fenton author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:John Wiley and Sons Ltd

Published:12th Aug '16

Should be back in stock very soon

This paperback is available in another edition too:

Digital, Political, Radical cover

Digital, Political, Radical is a siren call to the field of media and communications and the study of social and political movements. We must put the politics of transformation at the very heart of our analyses to meet the global challenges of gross inequality and ever-more impoverished democracies.

Fenton makes an impassioned plea for re-invigorating critical research on digital media such that it can be explanatory, practical and normative. She dares us to be politically emboldened. She urges us to seek out an emancipatory politics that aims to deepen our democratic horizons. To ask: how can we do democracy better? What are the conditions required to live together well? Then, what is the role of the media and how can we reclaim media, power and politics for progressive ends? Journeying through a range of protest and political movements, Fenton debunks myths of digital media along the way and points us in the direction of newly emergent politics of the Left.

Digital, Political, Radical contributes to political debate on contemporary (re)configurations of radical progressive politics through a consideration of how we experience (counter) politics in the digital age and how this may influence our being political.

"A brilliant work of critical theory. This insightful analysis of the economic and political crises of our time points out the reasons why radical politics have eroded. Fenton also argues that the recent waves of digitally enabled mobilizations around the world may not be what effective democracy really looks like. This rich, well written book raises fascinating questions about the democratizing potential of digital media in neoliberal society. A call to action for scholars across the social sciences."
Lance Bennett, University of Washington

"Rather than repeating the old slogans that make digital media into the savior of democracy, Natalie Fenton's new book anchors networked media in contemporary capitalism. Economic inequality, global financialization, and corporate dominance configure the settings of mediated sociality – and the very centrality of digital media to this economic order provides the opening for the radical politics we need to change the system.'
Jodi Dean, Hobart and William Smith Colleges

ISBN: 9780745650876

Dimensions: 229mm x 150mm x 23mm

Weight: 363g

232 pages