Republic.com - Hardcover

Sunstein, Cass R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691070253 ISBN 13: 9780691070254

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2001

Synopsis

See only what you want to see, hear only what you want to hear, read only what you want to read. In cyberspace, we already have the ability to filter out everything but what we wish to see, hear, and read. Tomorrow, our power to filter promises to increase exponentially. With the advent of the Daily Me, you see only the sports highlights that concern your teams, read about only the issues that interest you, encounter in the op-ed pages only the opinions with which you agree. In all of the applause for this remarkable ascendance of personalized information, Cass Sunstein asks the questions, Is it good for democracy? Is it healthy for the republic? What does this mean for freedom of speech?



Republic.com exposes the drawbacks of egocentric Internet use, while showing us how to approach the Internet as responsible citizens, not just concerned consumers. Democracy, Sunstein maintains, depends on shared experiences and requires citizens to be exposed to topics and ideas that they would not have chosen in advance. Newspapers and broadcasters helped create a shared culture, but as their role diminishes and the customization of our communications universe increases, society is in danger of fragmenting, shared communities in danger of dissolving. In their place will arise only louder and ever more extreme echoes of our own voices, our own opinions.



In evaluating the consequences of new communications technologies for democracy and free speech, Sunstein argues the question is not whether to regulate the Net (it's already regulated), but how; proves that freedom of speech is not an absolute; and underscores the enormous potential of the Internet to promote freedom as well as its potential to promote "cybercascades" of like-minded opinions that foster and enflame hate groups. The book ends by suggesting a range of potential reforms to correct current misconceptions and to improve deliberative democracy and the health of the American republic.


Chat with Cass Sunstein in a Message Forum hosted beginning April 1, 2001.

About this title

About the Author

Cass Sunstein has written extensively on constitutional law, the First Amendment, and jurisprudence. He is the Karl N. Llewellyn Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Chicago Law School and Department of Political Science and is the author of numerous books, including Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech, The Partial Constitution, After the Rights Revolution, Free Markets and Social Justice, One Case at a Time: Judicial Minimalism on the Supreme Court, and, with Stephen Holmes, The Cost of Rights.

From the Inside Flap

"Cass Sunstein is one of the nation's preeminent legal minds and constitutional scholars. In Republic.com, he presents insightful and far-reaching perspectives on the Internet and its impact on free speech, the marketplace of ideas, and our democracy itself. He offers a lesson worth heeding by us all. The Internet is an effective means for preserving and promoting these cherished principles. But it also has the potential to undermine them--and we must not let that happen."--Senator Edward M. Kennedy

Reviews

The counterintuitive claim that the Internet causes us to become more extremist and close-minded, rather than exposing us to a haphazardly unbiased array of unexpected viewpoints, is the cornerstone of this challenging and dense book. University of Chicago legal scholar Sunstein (Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech) contends that we are witnessing a decline in the influence of "general interest intermediaries" and an increase in highly specialized forums for information Web sites that allow us to "personalize" the news, customized cable TV channels devoted only to fashion, music, sports or other specialized subjects. In such a culture, he argues, we have the seductive ability to see only what already interests us and to filter out any exposure to the different concerns and political opinions of fellow citizens, inadvertently robbing ourselves of a truly democratic conversation. Sunstein posits that the solution to this self-imposed intellectual isolation lies in the seemingly unpalatable but potentially workable realm of government regulation creating cyberspace "town halls," requiring political Web sites to provide links to groups with opposing views. Sunstein's critics will counter that most mainstream media outlets, owned by an increasingly small number of corporate conglomerates, don't provide their audience with a diverse range of programming in the first place. But this will not stop them from finding Sunstein's arguments complex and thoughtful. (Mar.) Forecast: This slim, sleek volume perfectly designed to appeal to Internet-era attention spans will attract browsers, while Sunstein's controversial claims and a national tour will likely garner him some media attention.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Everyone agrees the "marketplace of ideas" makes self-government work, right? Not Sunstein, a University of Chicago law professor who argues that in the Internet age letting people "consume" only the news they want actually imperils the republic. Sunstein proposes some regulation of Web sites, a conclusion following from his two normative tenets of citizenship in a democracy. They are (1) that people should be exposed to opinions and materials they have not chosen, and (2) that most people should have some common experiences. Sunstein believes this no longer obtains because of fragmentation induced by TV, the falling readership of newspapers and general-interest magazines, and the proliferation of special-interest Web sites. The result: "cybercascades" in which like-minded people interact only with themselves. Believing the current communications environment manifests a "market failure" justifying government intervention, Sunstein, by taking on unexamined assumptions about free speech, lights a fire underneath First Amendment absolutists such as the ALA. Written in plain language, not legalese, this is important, controversial current events fare. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691070253
• ISBN 13: 9780691070254
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224