In-Your-Face Politics: The Consequences of Uncivil Media - Hardcover

Mutz, Diana C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691165114 ISBN 13: 9780691165110

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2015

Synopsis

How political incivility broadcast in close-up by the media affects public opinion

Americans are disgusted with watching politicians screaming and yelling at one another on television. But does all the noise really make a difference? Drawing on numerous studies, Diana Mutz provides the first comprehensive look at the consequences of in-your-face politics. Her book contradicts the conventional wisdom by documenting both the benefits and the drawbacks of in-your-face media.

"In-your-face" politics refers to both the level of incivility and the up-close and personal way that we experience political conflict on television. Just as actual physical closeness intensifies people's emotional reactions to others, the appearance of closeness on a video screen has similar effects. We tend to keep our distance from those with whom we disagree. Modern media, however, puts those we dislike in our faces in a way that intensifies our negative reactions. Mutz finds that incivility is particularly detrimental to facilitating respect for oppositional political viewpoints and to citizens' levels of trust in politicians and the political process. On the positive side, incivility and close-up camera perspectives contribute to making politics more physiologically arousing and entertaining to viewers. This encourages more attention to political programs, stimulates recall of the content, and encourages people to relay content to others.

In the end, In-Your-Face Politics demonstrates why political incivility is not easily dismissed as a disservice to democracy―it may even be a necessity in an age with so much competition for citizens' attention.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"More Americans get their news from audiovisual channels than ever before, and In-Your-Face Politics shows why the practice of democracy is suffering as a result. Mutz impressively reveals how visual news formats tend to polarize partisans and diminish trust in government. So long as engaging citizen attention remains a central challenge of democratic governance, her book offers a warning and a way forward that anyone concerned about the future of news would do well to heed."--Scott L. Althaus, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

"In this compelling, entertaining, and evidence-driven work, one of the world's foremost specialists on political communication explores the fact that people mistakenly but understandably apply traditional, in-person norms of social interaction to televised political content. By elucidating the consequences of this mismatch, Mutz fundamentally alters our basic understanding of the political arena."--John R. Hibbing, coauthor of Predisposed: Liberals, Conservatives, and the Biology of Political Differences

"In-Your-Face Politics is political science at its best. Mutz combines wit and humor, historical perspective, and rigorous science to show that incivility on televised political programs increases people's interest in and knowledge about politics, although at the cost of weakening their trust in government. 'Ultimately,' Mutz concludes, 'we are left with the dilemma of how to create political programming that is both interesting and informative to watch, yet not likely to damage public attitudes in a significant way.' This book should be required reading for legislators, members of the media, and citizens who value informed public engagement."--James H. Kuklinski, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

"This book is a model of exemplary social science: it investigates a politically salient issue, exploits an arsenal of methodological issues, and is written in a lucid and lively style. An entertaining and instructive study of politics and media, and the effects of mass communications and close-up camera perspectives, it will interest political scientists and all those concerned with public affairs."--Paul Sniderman, Stanford University

"With the rise of increasingly aggressive presentations in media outlets--talk radio, TV, and the web--In-Your-Face Politics is a timely work. Employing a rich array of data using multiple methods, this book is first rate, well done, and likely to be influential."--George E. Marcus, Williams College

About the Author

Diana C. Mutz is the Samuel A. Stouffer Professor of Political Science and Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, where she serves as director of the Institute for the Study of Citizens and Politics at the Annenberg Public Policy Center. Her books include Population-Based Survey Experiments (Princeton), Hearing the Other Side, and Impersonal Influence.

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0691165114
• ISBN 13: 9780691165110
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288