( en | de | ru )

 

Disambiguation of "Couldry, Nick"

Author of the publication

copydeleteadd this publication to your clipboard
Review of Communication Power, by Manuel Castells

. The British Journal of Sociology, 62 (2): 372--374 (2011)Communication Power leaves unanswered three clusters of questions. First, how exactly are societies ‘configured’ by communication networks? Crucial resources (economic power, military power, legal authority) cannot simply be reduced to network operations, even if they require networks as their means. Castells’ account of the state suggests as much: notwithstanding the state's ‘coordination problems’ (pp. 39–40), its monopoly of violence is ‘decisive’ (as Castells acknowledges (p. 417)), so the state must be more than ‘the default network for the proper functioning of all other non-communication power networks’ (p. 427). Indeed Castells provides examples (China, Russia) of states exercising power over communication networks. Second, is Castells’ analysis of the potential for social change from ‘mass self-communication’ (p. 196) (online social networks, blogs and the like) convincing? What of the time and other resource constraints, and sheer force of habit, that may block many from being permanently active online or orient them overhwlemingly towards non-political contexts? Isn't ‘mass self-communication’ already being coopted into corporate frames? Third, can Castells’ approach adequately explain political and social agency? Yes, media are an important ‘space of powermaking’ (p. 194) but what are the other institutional factors required if media appearances are to divert the actions of interlocking networks of power? Here Castells’ exclusive focus on political power becomes problematic. His examples of ‘insurgent politics’ (including the 2008 Obama campaign, global environmental campaigns) are remote from everyday power contests in the economy (rights in and to work, challenges to corporate authority). He gives few insights into how non-political forms of power (economic and legal) constrain resources and shape individuals’own framings (positive or negative) of their opportunities for political action. Indeed Castells is silent on the biggest political ‘reprogramming’ of all, the global spread of neoliberal discourse since the 1970s..
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-4446.2011.01369_2.x

Please choose a person to relate this publication to

To differ between persons with the same name, the academic degree and the title of an important publication will be displayed. You can also use the button next to the name to display some publications already assigned to the person.

Nick Fandrich

Zur Charakterisierung von amphiphilen Blockcopolymeren aus N-Vinylpyrrolidon und Vinylacetat. Uni Potsdam, (2009)

Nick Rischbieth

Detlef Nick

Peter Nick

Nick Bretl

 

Other publications of authors with the same name

Illusions of Immediacy: Rediscovering Hall's Early Work on Media. Media, Culture & Society, 37 (4): 637--644 (May 2015)Media as Data Extraction: Towards a New Map of a Transformed Communications Field, and . Journal of Communication, 68 (2): 415-423 (April 2018)Conceptualizing Mediatization, and . Communication Theory, 23 (3): 191--202 (2013)Deconstructing datafication's brave new world., and . New Media Soc., (2018)Mediatization or mediation? Alternative understandings of the emergent space of digital storytelling.. New Media Soc., 10 (3): 373-391 (2008)Recovering critique in an age of datafication.. New Media Soc., (2020)Book Review: Sounding Out the City: Personal Stereos and the Management of Everyday Life.. New Media Soc., 3 (3): 385-389 (2001)Digital platforms and narrative exchange: Hidden constraints, emerging agency., , , and . New Media Soc., 17 (6): 919-938 (2015)Review of Communication Power, by Manuel Castells. The British Journal of Sociology, 62 (2): 372--374 (2011)Communication Power leaves unanswered three clusters of questions. First, how exactly are societies ‘configured’ by communication networks? Crucial resources (economic power, military power, legal authority) cannot simply be reduced to network operations, even if they require networks as their means. Castells’ account of the state suggests as much: notwithstanding the state's ‘coordination problems’ (pp. 39–40), its monopoly of violence is ‘decisive’ (as Castells acknowledges (p. 417)), so the state must be more than ‘the default network for the proper functioning of all other non-communication power networks’ (p. 427). Indeed Castells provides examples (China, Russia) of states exercising power over communication networks. Second, is Castells’ analysis of the potential for social change from ‘mass self-communication’ (p. 196) (online social networks, blogs and the like) convincing? What of the time and other resource constraints, and sheer force of habit, that may block many from being permanently active online or orient them overhwlemingly towards non-political contexts? Isn't ‘mass self-communication’ already being coopted into corporate frames? Third, can Castells’ approach adequately explain political and social agency? Yes, media are an important ‘space of powermaking’ (p. 194) but what are the other institutional factors required if media appearances are to divert the actions of interlocking networks of power? Here Castells’ exclusive focus on political power becomes problematic. His examples of ‘insurgent politics’ (including the 2008 Obama campaign, global environmental campaigns) are remote from everyday power contests in the economy (rights in and to work, challenges to corporate authority). He gives few insights into how non-political forms of power (economic and legal) constrain resources and shape individuals’own framings (positive or negative) of their opportunities for political action. Indeed Castells is silent on the biggest political ‘reprogramming’ of all, the global spread of neoliberal discourse since the 1970s..Media, Society, World. Polity, Cambridge, (2012)