296 pages

English

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Apprehending Politics , livre ebook

State University of New York Press - Marco Calavita

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296 pages

English

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Description

This groundbreaking book examines the significance of the news media for the political beliefs and behavior of contemporary Americans. Relying on original, in-depth interviews with members of the group known as Generation X, Marco Calavita analyzes the memories and understandings of these individuals' political development dating back to childhood. Specifically, he focuses on the developmental significance of news media engagement in the context of institutions and phenomena like family, peers, schooling, and popular culture. Calavita succeeds where others have failed at exploring the inevitably contextualized and ecological nature of individual political development, and the specific roles of news media in that development. Apprehending Politics illuminates the subtle but fundamental power of news media in who we are politically, and how we got that way.

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

2. Contemporary American Political Culture and News Media

3. Portraits of Individual Political Development

4. The Ecology of Individual Political Development and News Media: Relationships, Institutions, and Culture

5. The Contours of Ideology and Orientation

6. Conclusion: Recontextualizing Politics and News Media

Appendix One: Methodological Issues

Appendix Two: Questionnaire For Participants

Appendix Three: Partial Interview Protocol

Appendix Four: Gauging Political Values and Beliefs and Political and Civic Involvement/Commitment

Appendix Five: Tracking and Analysis of News Media Sources

References

Index

Informations

Publié par	State University of New York Press
Date de parution	01 février 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780791484081
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1698€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Apprehending Politics

SUNY Series in Communication Studies Dudley D. Cahn, editor

Apprehending Politics

News Media and Individual Political Development

By Marco Calavita

State University of New York Press

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatso ever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including elec tronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207 Production by Christine L. Hamel Marketing by Michael Campochiaro

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Calavita, Marco, 1970– Apprehending politics : news media and individual political development / by Marco Calavita. p. cm. — (SUNY series in communication studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 079146279X (alk. paper) — ISBN 0791462803 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Press and politics—United States. 2. Press—Political aspects— United States. 3. Press—Social aspects—United States. 4. Political socialization—United States. I. Title. II. Series.

PN4751.C26 2005 070.4'49330973—dc22

2004056467

Contents

Acknowledgments 1 Introduction 2 Contemporary American Political Culture and News Media 3 Portraits of Individual Political Development 4 The Ecology of Individual Political Development and News Media: Relationships, Institutions, and Culture 5 The Contours of Ideology and Orientation 6 Conclusion: Recontextualizing Politics and News Media

Appendix One Appendix Two Appendix Three Appendix Four

Appendix Five

References Index

Methodological Issues Questionnaire For Participants Partial Interview Protocol Gauging Political Values and Beliefs and Political and Civic Involvement/Commitment Tracking and Analysis of News Media Sources

vii 1 17 57

127 189 223

233 243 247

249 253

255 275

Note

Portions of this book come from the transcripts of interviews the author conducted with fifteen “comtemporary Americans.” In the interest of authenticity, the interview passages have been printed here verbatim, including the occasional lapse in grammar and syntax. On those occasions where ellipses and/or brackets are used in a quoted passage, these symbols indicate that some of the participant’s words have been omitted for con siderations of space and focus (and not that the participant has paused while speaking, which is indicated by “[pause]”).

Acknowledgments

irst and foremost, this book owes its existence to the fifteen people who F agreed to talk with me for hours on end about their lives and about politics and news media. They were unfailingly accommodating and forth coming when there was little pressing reason for them to be, other than their kindness and willingness to help. They have my appreciation and gratitude. I would also like to thank the many people, who also should remain nameless, who helped me by suggesting friends, family, and col leagues as potential research participants. This book originated in my doctoral dissertation research at New York University. I would like to thank the faculty, staff, and students of the Department of Culture and Communication for providing me with the learning environment in which that research took shape. In particular I would like to thank Professor Todd Gitlin, whose mentoring and contin uing example of rigorous, engaged thinking and scholarship have been an inspiration to me. I would also like to thank Professors JoEllen Fisherkeller, Christine Nystrom, Ted Magder, Salvatore Fallica, Terence Moran, Joy Gould Boyum, Robin Means Coleman, and the late Herbert Schiller, who visited often from the University of California, San Diego. Neil Postman, longtime department chair and renowned author, passed away shortly before I finished this book. His wisdom, wit, and generosity were a godsend to me, and along with countless others at NYU and elsewhere, I will miss him. I also appreciated greatly my fellow graduate students at NYU for their kinship, stimulation, and advice, especially Evan Baily, Lila Bauman, Brian Cogan, Rosemarie Conforti, Michael Grabowski, Jon Hyde, Tony Kelso, Mark Lipton, Rick Pieto, Janet Sternberg, Kimberly Sultze, and Laura TroppGrabowski. And finally, my thanks to the School of Educa tion at NYU, which supported this work early on with a Dean’s Grant for Graduate Student Research. Many others also aided me in various ways throughout the research and writing of this book, whether they knew it or not. I would like to remem ber and offer my heartfelt thanks to my grandmother, the late May Cecil,

viii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

as well as the late Milton Klein. I also thank Emily Adler, Melinda Barnard, David Buckingham, Elizabeth Burch, Ralph Crevoshay, Michael Litle, Sam Nelson, Jonah Raskin, Craig Reinarman, and Cathryn Stuckey. Thanks also to my editor at SUNY Press, Priscilla Ross, and to the readers of the manuscript. Lastly, I would like to thank my family. My parents, Nico and Kitty, and my brother Joe, have been a fount of loving encouragement and guid ance. My wife Michelle has further supported and nurtured me on a daily basis in myriad, wonderful ways both trivial and substantial, and our daughter Elizabeth is an unending source of inspiration and joy. Their love gave this book life.

Introduction

hen Whitney, a 26yearold EuroAmerican college graduate living in W a small Midwestern town, told me that “crime among our adoles cents” was one of the biggest problems facing America at the end of 1999, I asked her why she felt that way.

whitney: The media. The media and all the school shootings. I know when I was in high school we had a teenager who took a gun to the principal . . . and it never made the news, but it was pretty serious. mc: So you get the sense that the news media— whitney: —I think that . . . what they are doing has been around . . . but now the media . . . can’t ignore it any more because of Columbine . . . mc: So . . . the reality has . . . been there but news media are covering it now? . . . whitney: Right. And I think . . . the more we hear about gangs—of course, there aren’t really any gangs here, but there are some . . . in [the African American section of the nearby metropolitan area]. And I know from [my husband] being a cop that they have tried to take families from the projects and move them to smaller towns pretty close to us, and the gangs have continued to thrive there. So there’s not a gang in [our town], but there is one in the town next to us. So, there’s gang activity, the drugs, and the killings. . . . [T]o think that a 12 year old has already tried to kill two people—that’s really sad. mc: What sorts of things do you learn about crime from talking to [your husband]? whitney: Just the reality of it. That itisjust like it is on TV—some of it. It’s not as glamorous, but it does happen. Thereare12 year olds out there dealing drugs and selling guns and therearecontracts out on people. People from [the African American neighborhood]dodrive to [a town miles away] to kill someone.