The Politics of Misinformation (Communication, Society and Politics) - Hardcover

Edelman, Murray

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521801176 ISBN 13: 9780521801171

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2001

Synopsis

The Politics of Misinformation is an examination of how concentrations of social and economic power result in public languages of politics that are necessarily image-based, vague, and misleading in their denial of undemocratic tendencies. As a result, public discourses of democracy tend to be populistic, emotional, and likely to emphasize images of progress rather than structural inequalities in their formulations of public problems. Similarly, discourses of policy solutions to public problems emphasize assumptions about rationality in policy processes that are equally poor descriptions of most political outcomes. In short, neither typical problem definitions nor solutions invite critical popular understanding or involvement in democratic politics.

About this title

Review:

"Those deeply pessimistic about contemporary American politics will find great comfort in this volume." Choice

Book Description:

This book is about how people in power use language to generate and perpetuate misunderstandings. Edelman explores the ways in which social institutions such as language, authority, courts, science, and the media generate erroneous understandings of political realities in ways that protect the power and interests of the elite.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0521801176
• ISBN 13: 9780521801171
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 152