Communication, Media, and American Society: A Critical Introduction
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What is the role of communication technology and media in making American society more adaptive, equitable, and democratic? Analyzing the field of communication against an in-depth picture of American society, this provocative, wide-ranging text explores how communication enterprises are intrinsically linked to the establishment and maintenance of social power. Throughout the book, changes in communication capabilities are related to changes in wealth and income distribution, the structures of economic organizations, work and the professions, minorities, law and government, urbanization, popular culture, and globalization. In an engaging narrative the author presents empirical evidence that suggests that popular beliefs about the democratic role of media and communications often are misguided. While we are in an information age, it is not an information revolution that can liberate society. Emphasizing new technologies and media in contemporary American society, Rossides shows how most forms of social communication throughout history—language, gestures, clothing, buildings and spaces, ships and railroads—have sustained social power.
PrefacePt. IKind of Society and Kind of Communication1Communication and Types of Power Structure in the Premodern World32Communication and the Rise of Capitalism, 1100-1800203Communication, Media, and the Emergence of Corporate Capitalism in the United States, 1800-194035Pt. IICommunication, Media, and Contemporary American Society4Computer Communication and the Emergence of Corporate World-Market Capitalism after 1940675Communication, Media, and the American Polity1136Communication, Media, and the American City1357Journalism, Policy Science, Policy Groups, and Foundations: Undermining the Public and Contracting the Public Sphere1548Communication, Media, and Popular Culture2009Communication and Media Problems: The Need to Ask Foundational Questions236Name Index274Subject Index277About the Author284
