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.
By:
N Fenton
Imprint: Polity Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 227mm,
Width: 155mm,
Spine: 19mm
Weight: 358g
ISBN: 9780745650876
ISBN 10: 0745650872
Pages: 232
Publication Date: 12 August 2016
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Contents Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Introduction: Sowing the Seeds of Dissent Chapter 2: Digital Activism: A New Means of and a New Meaning of Being Political Chapter 3: Digital Media, Radical Politics and Counter Public Spheres Chapter 4: Passion and Politics: Radical Politics and Mediated Subjects Chapter 5: Radical Politics and Organisational Form in Theory and in Practice Chapter 6: On Being Political and the Politics of Being Chapter 7: Conclusion: Putting Politics Back in the Picture? Notes References Index
Natalie Fenton is Professor of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London
Reviews for Digital, Political, Radical
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 A 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
