Invisible Crises

by Gerbner, George; Mowlana, Hamid; Schiller, Herbert I.

• ISBN13: 9780813320717
• ISBN10: 0813320712
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-07-01
• Publisher: Westview Pr

Summary

Hidden from public sight and mind today are invisible crises that threaten our democracy and existence more than the crises we know aboutor think we know about. These invisible crises include the promotion of practices that drug, hurt, poison, and kill thousands every day; cults of violence that desensitize, terrorize, and brutalize; the growing siege mentality of our cities; widening resource gaps and the most glaring inequalities in the industrial world; the costly neglect of vital institutions such as public education and the arts; and media-assisted make-believe image politics corrupting the electoral process.Deprived of sustained attention but bombarded by eruptions of surface consequences (often presented as unique events stripped of historical context), people ar bewildered, fearful, angry, and cynical.The contributors to this volumeexploring such unattended crises, analyzing why they are hidden, and focusing on the increasing concentration of culture-power that keeps them from viewmaintain that a profound general crisis of social vision, public communication, and representative government underlies all of the invisible crises.

Author Biography

George Gerbner is professor emeritus at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Hamid Mowlana is professor of communication at American University and president of the International Association of Media Research. Herbert I. Schiller is professor emeritus of communication at the University of California at San Diego. George Gerbner is professor emeritus at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Hamid Mowlana is professor of communication at American University and president of the International Association of Media Research. Herbert I. Schiller is professor emeritus of communication at the University of California at San Diego. George Gerbner is professor emeritus at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Hamid Mowlana is professor of communication at American University and president of the International Association of Media Research. Herbert I. Schiller is professor emeritus of communication at the University of California at San Diego.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Total Control	p. 5
Brave New World Minus 400	p. 7
Information Deprivation in an Information-Rich Society	p. 15
The Hidden Side of Television Violence	p. 34
Speaking Volumes: the Book Publishing Oligopoly and Its Cultural Consequences	p. 35
Technocratic Fantasies	p. 45
Computer-Assisted Crises	p. 47
Freedom, Fun, and Fundamentals: Defining Digital Progress in A Democratic Society	p. 82
Gaps That Divide Us	p. 91
Writing About Poverty in the Age of Plenty	p. 93
Race Relations in the Suburbs	p. 117
Global Fault Lines	p. 129
Beaches Without Bases: the Gender Order	p. 141
The New World Intellectual Order	p. 161
Whose Whispers Are in the Gailer?	p. 181
The Crisis of Political Legitimacy and the Muslim World	p. 185
The Crisis in Mobility	p. 216
The New Tyrannies	p. 219
Let Them Eat Pollution	p. 227
The Silent War: Debt and Africa	p. 245
Global Drug Scourge: the Hidden Story	p. 263
Selected Bibliography	p. 267
About the Book and Editors	p. 281
Index	p. 283
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.