Rethinking the Spectacle: Guy Debord, Radical Democracy, and the Digital Age - Hardcover

Penner, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0774860502 ISBN 13: 9780774860505

Publisher: UBC Press, 2019

Synopsis

Spectacle is usually considered a superficial form of politics, which tries to distract and deceive a passive audience. It is difficult to see how this type of politics could be reconciled with the democratic requirement of active and informed agency. Rethinking the Spectacle reexamines the tension between spectacle and political agency using the ideas and practices of Guy Debord and the Situationist International as a point of departure. Drawing on radical democratic theory and examining case studies such as the 2011 Occupy movement, Devin Penner concludes that spectacle can and should be used to mobilize the public for egalitarian purposes.

About this title

About the Author

Devin Penner is assistant professor in the Department of Political Studies at Trent University.

Review

Spectacle is usually considered a superficial form of politics, which tries to influence viewers by shocking, distracting, emotionally overwhelming, or even deceiving them. It is difficult to see how this type of politics could be reconciled with the democratic requirement of active and informed agency.

In Rethinking the Spectacle, Devin Penner re-examines the tension between spectacle and political agency in our digital society and explores the nature of spectacle and radical democracy. Penner uses the theories and practices of Guy Debord and the organization of social revolutionaries he co-founded, the Situationist International, as a point of departure, offering both a critical review of Situationist ideas and a way to develop their radical democratic potential in the current political climate. Penner asserts that we cannot assume witnesses to spectacle are merely passive consumers, as Debord claimed. Emphasizing the importance of thinking about the connection between spectacles and broader democratic processes, the book includes an assessment of various models of social and political organization and an in-depth look at the 2011 Occupy movement.

Ultimately, Rethinking the Spectacle concludes that spectacles can be used to mobilize the public for egalitarian purposes, but we must ensure they enhance rather than replace democratic dialogue.

Edition details

• Publisher: UBC Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 0774860502
• ISBN 13: 9780774860505
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 210