The Politics of Misinformation

This book is about how people in power use language to generate and perpetuate misunderstandings.

Murray Edelman (Author)

9780521805100, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 May 2001

152 pages
22.7 x 15.3 x 1 cm, 0.24 kg

"Those deeply pessimistic about contemporary American politics will find great comfort in this volume." Choice

The Politics of Misinformation is an examination of how concentrations of social and economic power result in public languages of politics that are necessarily image-based, vague, and misleading in their denial of undemocratic tendencies. As a result, public discourses of democracy tend to be populistic, emotional, and likely to emphasize images of progress rather than structural inequalities in their formulations of public problems. Similarly, discourses of policy solutions to public problems emphasize assumptions about rationality in policy processes that are equally poor descriptions of most political outcomes. In short, neither typical problem definitions nor solutions invite critical popular understanding or involvement in democratic politics.

1. Images
2. Social change
3. Authority
4. Public opinion
5. Institutions
6. Language
7. Science
8. Crime as an example.

Subject Areas: Political science & theory [JPA], Media studies [JFD], Communication studies [GTC]