Discourse Theory and Critical Media Politics

A systematic examination of the relationship between post-Marxist discourse theory and media studies. This volume interrogates discourse theory – as read via the work of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe – through an engagement with major approaches to critical media politics and a range of issues in contemporary media politics.

Table of Contents:
Note on Contributors Discourse Theory and Critical Media Politics: An Introduction; S.Phelan & L.Dahlberg Discourse Theory as Critical Media Politics? Five Questions; L.Dahlberg From Media to Mediality: Mediatic (Counter-)Apparatuses and the Concept of the Political in Communication Studies; O.Marchart What Does Democracy Feel Like? Form, Function, Affect, and the Materiality of the Sign; J.Gilbert Ideology and Politics in the Popular Press: The Case of the 2009 UK MPs' Expenses Scandal; Wei-yuan Chang & J.Glynos The Media as the Neoliberalized Sediment: Articulating Laclau's Discourse Theory with Bourdieu's Field Theory; S.Phelan Post-Marx beyond Post-Marx: Autonomism and Discourse Theory; J.Zeljko Bratich Multiplicity, Autonomy, New Media, and the Networked Politics of New Social Movements; N.Fenton Mediated Construction of the People: Laclau's Political Theory and Media Politics; J.Simons Mobilizing Discourse Theory for Critical Media Politics: Obstacles and Potentials; P.Dahlgren Index

About the Author :
JACK ZELJKO BRATICH Associate Professor of Journalism and Media studies at Rutgers University, USA WEI-YUAN CHANG Ph.D. Candidate in the Ideology and Discourse Analysis Programme at the Department of Government, University of Essex, UK PETER DAHLGREN Professor Emeritus at the Department of Communication and Media, Lund University, Sweden NATALIE FENTON Professor in Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK JEREMY GILBERT Reader in Cultural Studies at the University of East London, UK JASON GLYNOS Senior Lecturer in Political Theory at the Department of Government, University of Essex, UK OLIVER MARCHART Political Theorist and Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Lucerne, Switzerland JON SIMONS Associate Professor of Communication and Culture at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA.

Review :
'I came to this collection as a discourse theory sceptic. I still have doubts, but the editors' lucid and helpful introduction, and the excellent chapters, have opened my eyes and ears to the potential value of this approach. This is a major contribution to theorising the contemporary media.' - David Hesmondhalgh, University of Leeds, UK 'Lincoln Dahlberg and Sean Phelan have compiled an excellent collection of studies on Discourse Theory and Critical Media Politics that clarify how discourse theory can work to enrich media/communication studies. The introduction provides a succinct overview of contemporary discussions and positions concerning discourse theory and the succeeding articles provide articulation of the concept with studies of media, democracy, and contemporary politics.' - Douglas Kellner, UCLA, USA 'This is a most welcome volume. It presents a long overdue engagement between media politics and discourse theory. Combining theoretical discussion and empirical illustration, this important volume takes Discourse Theory forward in this crucial field.' - Lasse Thomassen, Queen Mary, University of London, UK '...this collection provides the reader with a very clear and lucid explanation of discourse theories and critical media politics.' - Journal of Language and Politics '[This volume] helps to fill a needed gap in revealing the positive potentials of combining discourse theory with critical media politics both in terms of theoretical complementarity and practical implications [It] is a great source for anyone interested in the growing role of 'media' for twenty-first-century politics.' Peter Bloom, Critical Discourse Studies '[The contributors'] approach and topics are definitely political, critical, original and, I would add, rigorous, in their continuity with the works of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe.' - Yves Laberge, Media, Culture & Society