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This book provides a detailed, critical analysis for understanding the political dimensions of 21st century communication/information technologies, mass media and transnational networks.
Gerald Sussman contextualizes the expanding use of these technologies and media in the social histories of their development, in order to provide an integrated functional and political economic framework for viewing the many controversies surrounding communications, media and society - from the diminishing of citizenship and work experiences to the growing use of commerical and political surveillance. In addition, he examines the impacts of global communication and information structures on the developing countries and at alternatives to the hegemonic tendencies within the United States and the world economy.
List of contents
PART ONE: THE MEANING AND POLITICS OF THE `COMMUNICATION REVOLUTION¿
Ideology and Discourses of the "Information Society"
A Political Economy of Communications
PART TWO: THE SOCIAL HISTORICAL PROCESS
Historical Perspectives on Communications
Mass Consumption, Mass Communications and Politics
PART THREE: POLITICAL ISSUES IN THE `INFORMATION SOCIETY¿
Modern Power Structures and the Means to Communicate
Privatizing the Ether
Regulation, Deregulation and Information Apartheid
PART FOUR: THE GLOBAL DIMENSIONS OF THE `INFORMATION SOCIETY¿
The Third World Meets the `Third Wave¿
PART FIVE: CONCLUSIONS
Communication, Technology and Politics
Summary
'Sussman is a severe critic of mass media culture, and a yet more severe critic of the interests behind it. His book is a long, powerful and sophisticated polemic.... an entertaining read, filled with intriguing detail.... An important contribution to an area of concern within international affairs' - International Affairs
