In Democracy, Inc., David S. Allen exposes the vested interests behind the U.S. slide toward conflating corporate values with public and democratic values. He argues that rather than being institutional protectors of democratic principles, the press and law perversely contribute to the destruction of public discourse in the United States today. Allen utilizes historical, philosophical, sociological, and legal sources to trace America's gradual embrace of corporate values. He argues that such values, including winning, efficiency, and profitability actually limit democratic involvement by devaluing discursive principles, creating an informed yet inactive public. Through an examination of professionalization in both the press and the law, corporate free speech rights, and free speech as property, Democracy, Inc. demonstrates that today's democracy is more about trying to control and manage citizens than giving them the freedom to participate. Allen not only calls on institutions to reform the way they understand and promote citizenship but also asks citizens to adopt a new ethic of public discourse that values understanding rather than winning.
Les mer
Exposes the vested interests behind the US slide toward conflating corporate values with democratic values. Through an examination of professionalization in both the press and the law and free speech as property, this book demonstrates that present democracy is about trying to control and manage citizens than giving them freedom to participate.
Les mer
“From a master’s hand, wall-to-wall argument not limited to the cranium but invigorating our conscience as well. This erudite book is destined for the classics, in the legacy of de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, John Dewey’s The Public and Its Problems, and Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition. High-energy ideas on another order of magnitude, taking public life back from corporate ideology and re-creating it with discourse democracy instead."--Clifford G. Christians, author of Media Ethics and Global Justice in the Digital Age
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780252029752
Publisert
2005-05-31
Utgiver
Vendor
University of Illinois Press
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Dybde
23 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
216

Forfatter

Biographical note

David S. Allen is an associate professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He is the coeditor of Freeing the First Amendment: Critical Perspectives on Freedom of Expression.