Why Current Affairs Needs Social Theory

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Television news is frequently disparaged by thoughtful commentators for its preoccupation with drama and spectacle at the expense of serious, in-depth, engagement wit...

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Hoofdauteur: Stones, Rob
Formaat: Online
Taal:Engels
Gepubliceerd in: Bloomsbury Academic 2022
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Online toegang:ONIX_20221014_9781780931807_119
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author Stones, Rob
author_browse Stones, Rob
author_facet Stones, Rob
author_sort Stones, Rob
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Television news is frequently disparaged by thoughtful commentators for its preoccupation with drama and spectacle at the expense of serious, in-depth, engagement with the critical issues it covers. Whilst insisting these charges possess more than a small dose of truth, Rob Stones argues for more emphasis to be placed on strengthening the capacities of audiences. Drawing from major traditions in social thought, and on academic media analysis, Stones provides the conceptual tools for audiences to bring greater sophistication to their interpretations, developing their capacity to think across items and genres. A detailed account of an episode of the Danish political drama, Borgen, reveals the extent to which its viewers already deploy similar concepts and skills in order to follow its storylines. Stones shows how audiences can refine these skills further and demonstrates their value with respect to a wide range of current affairs texts, including: Israeli settlers on the West Bank; the Rwandan genocide; the Egyptian ‘revolution’; the Obama administration’s immigration reform bill; the bases of Germany’s economic success; the conflict between ‘red shirts’ and ‘yellow shirts’ in Thailand; China’s diplomatic relations with Burma; and scandals of mistreatment within the UK and Swedish healthcare systems. The book shows that everyone’s understanding of current affairs can be significantly enhanced by social theory. It will be relevant to students of sociology, politics, media studies and journalism at all levels.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-927752025-08-13T13:42:48Z Why Current Affairs Needs Social Theory Stones, Rob Sociology Politics and government Media studies Social and political philosophy thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology::JHBA Social theory thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCT Media studies thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology::JHBA Social theory thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCT Media studies thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Television news is frequently disparaged by thoughtful commentators for its preoccupation with drama and spectacle at the expense of serious, in-depth, engagement with the critical issues it covers. Whilst insisting these charges possess more than a small dose of truth, Rob Stones argues for more emphasis to be placed on strengthening the capacities of audiences. Drawing from major traditions in social thought, and on academic media analysis, Stones provides the conceptual tools for audiences to bring greater sophistication to their interpretations, developing their capacity to think across items and genres. A detailed account of an episode of the Danish political drama, Borgen, reveals the extent to which its viewers already deploy similar concepts and skills in order to follow its storylines. Stones shows how audiences can refine these skills further and demonstrates their value with respect to a wide range of current affairs texts, including: Israeli settlers on the West Bank; the Rwandan genocide; the Egyptian ‘revolution’; the Obama administration’s immigration reform bill; the bases of Germany’s economic success; the conflict between ‘red shirts’ and ‘yellow shirts’ in Thailand; China’s diplomatic relations with Burma; and scandals of mistreatment within the UK and Swedish healthcare systems. The book shows that everyone’s understanding of current affairs can be significantly enhanced by social theory. It will be relevant to students of sociology, politics, media studies and journalism at all levels. 2022-10-15T04:04:58Z 2022-10-15T04:04:58Z 2022-10-14T14:53:49Z 2015 book ONIX_20221014_9781780931807_119 OCN: 928995173 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/58788 9781780931807 9781780931791 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/92775 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg n/a n/a n/a https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/58788/1/9781780931807.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/58788/1/9781780931807.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/58788/1/9781780931807.pdf Bloomsbury Academic Bloomsbury Academic 10.5040/9781472545282 10.5040/9781472545282 f75587da-2374-4722-9d42-9fffa7fa3f92 9781780931807 9781780931791 Bloomsbury Academic 224 London open access
spellingShingle Sociology
Politics and government
Media studies
Social and political philosophy
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology::JHBA Social theory
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCT Media studies
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology::JHBA Social theory
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCT Media studies
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government
Stones, Rob
Why Current Affairs Needs Social Theory
title Why Current Affairs Needs Social Theory
title_full Why Current Affairs Needs Social Theory
title_fullStr Why Current Affairs Needs Social Theory
title_full_unstemmed Why Current Affairs Needs Social Theory
title_short Why Current Affairs Needs Social Theory
title_sort why current affairs needs social theory
topic Sociology
Politics and government
Media studies
Social and political philosophy
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology::JHBA Social theory
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCT Media studies
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology::JHBA Social theory
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCT Media studies
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government
topic_facet Sociology
Politics and government
Media studies
Social and political philosophy
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology::JHBA Social theory
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCT Media studies
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology::JHBA Social theory
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBC Cultural and media studies::JBCT Media studies
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government
url ONIX_20221014_9781780931807_119
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