Democratic Communications: Formations, Projects, Possibilities(Critical Media Studies)

While it has always been hard to do, establishing a clear difference between mainstream media and alternative media has grown even more difficult within the past twenty years. With the emergence of such efforts as open publishing, web-logging and video-logging, video-posting websites, citizen journalism, creative-commons initiatives, and image-focused anti-corporate activism, it has become increasingly difficult to navigate within this emerging media landscape. The traditional lines between mainstream and alternative and between producers and consumers have been blurred. This growing inability to adequately map this landscape demands that these lines be reconsidered. New ways must be formed for probing implications of these new media outlets for democratization and global-justice movements. This book reconstitutes the cultural and historical roots of this protean media landscape and assesses its relevance to democratic communications. Using a comprehensively argued cultural and historical analysis, the book rethinks long-standing assumptions about alternative media and democratic communications. By providing greater understanding of historical resources, limitations, and possibilities, this book makes a key contribution not only to scholarship in this area, but also to this pressing social, political, and cultural issue.

Table of Contents:
1 Preface 2 Acknowledgements 3 Introduction: The Problem of the Mainstream and the Alternative Part 4 Part One—Market Formations 5 Introduction to Part One Chapter 6 1. Providentialism and Rationalist Empiricism in Early Modern England Chapter 7 2. The Emergence of Broadcasting and the Rationalization of Participation Part 8 Part Two—Struggling Against the Market 9 Introduction to Part Two Chapter 10 3. Philanthropy, Professionalization, and Social-Reform Communications Chapter 11 4. Community Media Projects and the Containment of the Mass-Culture Critique Chapter 12 5. Modernism and the Aestheticization of Dissent Part 13 Part Three—Toward New Formations 14 Introduction to Part Three Chapter 15 6. Market Radicalism and the Struggle of Participation Chapter 16 7. Democratic Communications as Critical, Collective Education 17 Afterword: Utopia and Inspiration 18 Bibliography 19 Index 20 About the Author

About the Author :
James F. Hamilton is associate professor of advertising and public relations at the University of Georgia.

Review :
This book is splendidly chewy, offering both an absorbing array of historical specifics and arguments, and of conceptual challenges. It lends considerable muscle to the rapidly growing debate on social movements and their media. There is no more thoughtful historian of the notion of alternative media than James Hamilton; his erudition and intelligence are on full display in Democratic Communications. This book should be read by every scholar committed to understanding the history and meaning of progressive media. If you think you already know what you're talking about when you discuss alternative media, reading Hamilton's book will make you think again; if you don't think much of the promise of alternative media, Hamilton will make you rethink that too. Democratic Communications is a must-read for all students and scholars of media, and all activists interested in developing challenges to the mainstream media. The book adds historical depth and important new insights to old questions, and will forever change the way you think about ‘alternative’ media. Democratic Communications is one of the most thoughtful and literate studies of alternative media to date. Hamilton’s work carries us across the centuries, inviting reflection on what it means for media to serve public needs rather than private wealth. One is not only impressed with the rigor of his research but also with the breadth and subtlety of his analysis.