Luc Boltanski: Distant Suffering. Morality, Media and Politics (1993/1999)

“Distant Suffering examines the moral and political implications for a spectator of the distant suffering of others as presented through the media. What are the morally acceptable responses to the sight of suffering on television, for example, when the viewer cannot act directly to affect the circumstances in which the suffering takes place? Luc Boltanski argues that spectators can actively involve themselves and others by speaking about what they have seen and how they were affected by it. Developing ideas in Adam Smith’s moral theory, he examines three rhetorical ‘topics’ available for the expression of the spectator’s response to suffering: the topics of denunciation and of sentiment and the aesthetic topic. The book concludes with a discussion of a ‘crisis of pity’ in relation to modern forms of humanitarianism. A possible way out of this crisis is suggested which involves an emphasis and focus on present suffering.”

Keywords and phrases
Bernard Kouchner, Georges Bataille, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Nietzsche, Marxism, Adam Smith, Hannah Arendt, However, Jean-Paul Sartre, Pierre Klossowski, mediatisation, Maurice Blanchot, Gilles Deleuze, Genealogy of Morality, Marquis de Sade, spectator, Pierre Favre, sentimental literature, Paris, USSR

Originally published in French as La Souffrance à Distance by Editions Métailié, 1993

Translated by Graham D. Burchell
Publisher Cambridge University Press, 1999
ISBN 0521659531, 9780521659536
246 pages

Publisher

EPUB (updated on 2019-5-15)

Meenakshi Gigi Durham, Douglas Kellner (eds.): Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks (2006)

“Bringing together a range of core texts into one volume, this acclaimed anthology offers the definitive resource in culture, media, and communication.

* A fully revised new edition of the bestselling anthology in this dynamic and multidisciplinary field.
* New contributions include essays from Althusser through to Henry Jenkins, and a completely new section on Globalization and Social Movements.
* Retains important emphasis on the giant thinkers and “makers” of the field: Gramsci on hegemony; Althusser on ideology; Horkheimer and Adorno on the culture industry; Raymond Williams on Marxist cultural theory; Habermas on the public sphere; McLuhan on media; Chomsky on propaganda; hooks and Mulvey on the subjects of visual pleasure and oppositional gazes.
* Features a substantial critical introduction, short section introductions and full bibliographic citations.”

Keywords and phrases
postmodern, mass media, cultural studies, Star Wars, culture industry, feminism, Marxist, Frankfurt school, third world, hyperreal, Stuart Hall, hegemony, cultural imperialism, deterritorialization, labour power, Ideological State Apparatuses, simulacrum, television, media imperialism

Publisher Wiley-Blackwell, 2006
ISBN 1405132582, 9781405132589
755 pages

Publisher

PDF, PDF (updated on 2016-8-14)

Joost Van Loon: Media Technology: Critical Perspectives (2007)

What are media? Why are more and more objects being turned into media? How do people interconnect with the media in structuring their everyday lives? In “Media Technology: Critical Perspectives,” Joost van Loon illustrates how throughout the course of society, different forms of media have helped to shape our perceptions, expectations and interpretations of reality.

Drawing on the work of media scholars such as Marshall McLuhan, Walter Benjamin, Roland Barthes and Raymond Williams, the author provides a theoretical analysis of the complexity of media processes. He urges the reader to challenge mainstream assumptions of media merely as instruments of communication, and shows how the matter, form, use and purpose of media technologies can affect content.

The book uses practical examples from both old and new media to help readers think through complex issues about the place of media. This helps to create a more innovative toolkit for understanding what media actually are and the basis for trying to make sense of what media actually do. It uses case studies and examples from television, radio, print, computer games and domestic appliances.

“Media Technology” is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students on media, social theory and critical theory-related courses.

Publisher McGraw-Hill, 2007
ISBN 0335214460, 9780335214464
Length 174 pages

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