From Voice to Influence: Understanding Citizenship in a Digital Age - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 022626226X ISBN 13: 9780226262260

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2015

Synopsis

How have online protests—like the recent outrage over the Komen Foundation’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood—changed the nature of political action? How do Facebook and other popular social media platforms shape the conversation around current political issues? The ways in which we gather information about current events and communicate it with others have been transformed by the rapid rise of digital media. The political is no longer confined to the institutional and electoral arenas, and that has profound implications for how we understand citizenship and political participation.

With From Voice to Influence, Danielle Allen and Jennifer S. Light have brought together a stellar group of political and social theorists, social scientists, and media analysts to explore this transformation. Threading through the contributions is the notion of egalitarian participatory democracy, and among the topics discussed are immigration rights activism, the participatory potential of hip hop culture, and the porous boundary between public and private space on social media. The opportunities presented for political efficacy through digital media to people who otherwise might not be easily heard also raise a host of questions about how to define “good participation:” Does the ease with which one can now participate in online petitions or conversations about current events seduce some away from serious civic activities into “slacktivism?”

Drawing on a diverse body of theory, from Hannah Arendt to Anthony Appiah, From Voice to Influence offers a range of distinctive visions for a political ethics to guide citizens in a digitally connected world.

About this title

About the Author

Danielle Allen is the Director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics and James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University. The recipient of a MacArthur fellowship, she is the author or editor of many books.

Review

“For anyone who thinks that the Internet has created a whole new order, From Voice to Influence ought to be essential reading. This is a very important and valuable book, rich with fascinating case studies and pertinent data.” (Peter Levine, Tufts University)

"From #blacklivesmatter to the DREAMer movement, from Occupy Wall Street to the Arab Spring, recent social movements have raised questions about how networked participation and civic expression are shaping what counts as politics in the twenty-first century. From Voice to Influence assembles a multidisciplinary mix of key thinkers to ask hard questions about the shifting nature of the public sphere, the values of deliberation and expression, the continued importance of disinterestedness and cosmopolitanism, the nature of civic agency, and the impact of new technologies of media production and circulation. Each contribution here is original, provocative, thoughtful, and grounded, and each helps us to understand more fully what it means to come of age as a civic agent in today’s media landscape.”
(Henry Jenkins, coauthor of By Any Media Necessary: The New Activism of Digital-Age Youth)

“Recommended. . . .The importance of early contributions to this field makes this an important title.” (Choice 2016-04-25)

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 022626226X
• ISBN 13: 9780226262260
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 376
• Editor: Allen Danielle, Light Jennifer S.