Democratic Public Life Research Articles

GLOBAL MEDIA AND POLITICS: Transnational Communication Regimes and Civic Cultures

▪ Abstract There is much debate about the effects of media market deregulation and the resulting growth of vast global media corporations. Some observers argue that deregulatory pressures have undermined public service broadcasting and media social-responsibility norms, resulting in deterioration of information quality and political disengagement of citizens in many nations. Others herald deregulatory trends as expanding information choices and enabling citizens to find their preferred levels of political engagement. This analysis proposes that we understand global trends in media deregulation as part of a transnational political regime in which many players and institutional arenas shape norms for media ownership, social responsibility, and citizen information. The players include multinational corporations, parties and public officials, interest associations, and citizen advocacy organizations. The institutional settings include national legislatures and regulatory commissions as well as international trade organizations, European Union commissions, and United Nations agencies. The outcomes of contests among these players at different institutional levels influence the degrees of normative consensus on ownership and content policies in the regime and explain how different nations engage with media deregulation and the market forces that increasingly shape the content of democratic public life.

Class Work: Site of Egalitarian Activism or Site of Embourgeoisement?

s the college composition classroom a site where professors offer not just a set of skills to be mastered but also "a form of cultural citizenship and politics," which aims to reconstruct "democratic public life" so that "subordinate groups [...] have the opportunity to govern and shape history rather than be consigned to its margins"? (Giroux 367, 368, 367; see also Freire, Berlin, Bizzell, Shor). For most of us, the answer to this question is obvious. Of course the college composition classroom is a site for such activism: our pedagogy should be counterhegemonic, the literacy our students achieve should be critical, and all of us should seek positive change in our communities, indeed in the world. To be sure, some problems are "now commonly recognized" in putting such Freirean theory into practice among undergraduates in the United States, as Richard Miller points out (11); it is difficult, for instance, for some of us to agree that "basic writers are very much like Freire's peasants" (Bizzell 133, see also Hardin 103). But neither the problems nor the recognition of them has unsettled the power of critical literacy in the composition classroom. Today, compositionists "focus [.. .] almost exclusively on ideological matters," as "writing proficiency has dropped from view as a key purpose" (Durst 5; MacDonald 117). Undoubtedly, saysJeff Smith, the various strands of critical literacy are now the "Standard Model" of pedagogy (307), aimed at all students, whether or not they are prepared to engage it. In the past fifteen years, voices have protested the institutionalization of this "Standard Model"-I have cited several in the preceding paragraph-and they have done so principally, and in my view correctly, by inveighing against the bad faith of the middle-class professoriate while, at the same time, pointing out how deeply critical

Digital divide or discursive design? On the emerging ethics of information space

This article seeks to identify, theoretically,some broad ethical issues about the type ofspace which the Internet is becoming, issueswhich are closely linked to developing newagendas for empirical research into Internetuse. It seeks to move away from the concept of'digital divide' which has dominated debate inthis area while presuming a rather staticnotion of the space which the Internet is, orcould become. Instead, it draws on deliberativedemocracy theory in general and John Dryzek'sconcept of 'discursive design' in particular toformulate six types of issue (Convergence, WhoConverges?, Deliberation, Public Action,Relations to the State, and Long-term Patternsof Practice) around which both empiricalresearch and ethical debate can focus, andwhich taken together will help answer whetherthe Internet is, or can be, in part a'discursive design' which contributes to theconditions of democratic public life.

Chinese Populist Nationalism: Its Intellectual Politics and Moral Dilemma

In light of the growth of nationalism in China during the 1990s, it should comeas no surprise that intellectuals there have vigorously debated its political meaning and signiŽ cance. From their debates has emerged a multifariouspopulist nationalism which argues that anti-imperialist nationalism in China has provided a valuable public space for popular participation outside the country’s political institutions and that nationalist sentiments under the postcolonial condition represent a democratic form of civic activity. Advocates of this theory promote nationalism as an ideal of populist politics and as an embodiment of the democratic legitimacy that resides in the will of the people. Their justiŽ cation for populist nationalism is based on the argument that Chinese nationalismhas become the incarnation of the democratic process that allows the common people to join with others in forming ideals of equality and dignity in the national environment. This populist rhetoric radicalizes the emotional element in nationalist discourses and constructs nationalist politics as a fulŽ llment of the nation’s otherwise unavailable democratic public life. Populist nationalism is a comparatively late development in Chinese nationalism of the 1990s. It began to take recognizable shape after 1996, as a joint result of the evolving nationalist thinking of the early 1990s and the ongoing debates on modernity, postmodernism, postcolonialism, and their political implications—debates that have engaged many Chinese intellectuals since early 1995. From late 1989 to early 1992, nationalism was mainly an oYcial ideology by which the Chinese government buttressed the legitimacy of its tattered regime after the Tiananmen massacre. Throughout the second half of 1989, mainland media reiterated Deng Xiaoping’s explanation for the Tiananmen crisis: ‘‘This storm was bound to come sooner or later. This was determined by the major international climate and China’s own minor climate.’’ OYcial nationalism took a Ž rmly antagonistic stand

Anthony Giddens and Modern Social Theory

Introduction PART ONE: THE RECONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL THEORY The Legacy of Classical Sociological Theory New Rules of Sociological Method Positivism, Interpretive Sociology and Structuration Theory Structuration Theory Reconceptualizing Agency and Structure PART TWO: SOCIAL CHANGE AND MODERNITY The State, Capitalism and Social Change The Culture of Modernity From the Critique of Postmodernism to the Rise of the New Social Movements The Problems and Possibilities of a Democratic Public Life in Late Modern Societies Feminism, Sexuality and Self-Identity Conclusion

Emerging Patterns of East Asian Investment in China: From Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

The modern age with its emphasis on technical rationality has enabled a new and dangerous form of evil--administrative evil. Unmasking Administrative Evil discusses the overlooked relationship between evil and public affairs, as well as other fields and professions in public life. The authors argue that the tendency toward administrative evil, as manifested in acts of dehumanization and genocide, is deeply woven into the identity of public affairs. The common characteristic of administrative evil is that ordinary people within their normal professional and administrative roles can engage in acts of evil without being aware that they are doing anything wrong. Under conditions of moral inversion, people may even view their evil activity as good. In the face of what is now a clear and present danger in the United States, this book seeks to lay the groundwork for a more ethical and democratic public life one that recognizes its potential for evil, and thereby creates greater possibilities for avoiding the hidden pathways that lead to state-sponsored dehumanization and destruction. Key changes to this edition: * UAE is updated and revised with new scholarship on administrative ethics, evil, and contemporary politics. * The authors include new cases on the dangers of market-based governance, contracting out, and deregulation.* There is an enhanced focus on the potential for administrative evil in the private sector. * The authors have written a new Afterword on administrative approaches to the aftermath of evil, with the potential for expiation, healing, and reparations.

Women's work in east and west: the dual burden of employment and family life

The modern age with its emphasis on technical rationality has enabled a new and dangerous form of evil - administrative evil. Unmasking Administrative Evil discusses the overlooked relationship between evil and public affairs, as well as other fields and professions in public life. The authors argue that the tendency toward administrative evil, as manifested in acts of dehumanization and genocide, is deeply woven into the identity of public affairs. The common characteristic of administrative evil is that ordinary people within their normal professional and administrative roles can engage in acts of evil without being aware that they are doing anything wrong. Under conditions of moral inversion, people may even view their evil activity as good. In the face of what is now a clear and present danger in the United States, this book seeks to lay the groundwork for a more ethical and democratic public life one that recognizes its potential for evil, and thereby creates greater possibilities for avoiding the hidden pathways that lead to state-sponsored dehumanization and destruction. Key changes to this edition: * UAE is updated and revised with new scholarship on administrative ethics, evil, and contemporary politics. * The authors include new cases on the dangers of market-based governance, contracting out, and deregulation.* There is an enhanced focus on the potential for administrative evil in the private sector. * The authors have written a new Afterword on administrative approaches to the aftermath of evil, with the potential for expiation, healing, and reparations.