Between the Center and the Margins: Todd Gitlin and the Politics of Communication

What role does the media play in shaping public life, in guiding the practices of democracy, and in maintaining or disrupting the capitalist economic system? How does the media interact with both social movements (groups of people dedicated to changing one or all of these macrosystems) and public in...

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Main Author: Christopher W. Anderson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Bologna 2025-01-01
Series:Sociologica
Subjects:
Online Access:https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/20699
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author Christopher W. Anderson
author_facet Christopher W. Anderson
author_sort Christopher W. Anderson
collection DOAJ
description What role does the media play in shaping public life, in guiding the practices of democracy, and in maintaining or disrupting the capitalist economic system? How does the media interact with both social movements (groups of people dedicated to changing one or all of these macrosystems) and public intellectuals (people dedicated to thinking about these systems)? How do all three groups relate to each other? And when one group changes — when there are alterations in the structures and practices of the media, intellectuals, or social movements — how do the others change alongside them? These questions and others like them preoccupied American sociologist and communications theorist Todd Gitlin, and through an examination of both Gitlin’s career and his intellectual trajectory we can see some of the answers he provided: both the ways he rose to the challenge of understanding the sociology of late 20th century media, and the ways in which he fell short.
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spelling doaj-art-125d5633a79a486f813b7e4aa901d9b42025-01-23T13:04:34ZengUniversity of BolognaSociologica1971-88532025-01-01183576910.6092/issn.1971-8853/2069919071Between the Center and the Margins: Todd Gitlin and the Politics of CommunicationChristopher W. Anderson0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3893-8411Department of Social and Political Science, University of MilanWhat role does the media play in shaping public life, in guiding the practices of democracy, and in maintaining or disrupting the capitalist economic system? How does the media interact with both social movements (groups of people dedicated to changing one or all of these macrosystems) and public intellectuals (people dedicated to thinking about these systems)? How do all three groups relate to each other? And when one group changes — when there are alterations in the structures and practices of the media, intellectuals, or social movements — how do the others change alongside them? These questions and others like them preoccupied American sociologist and communications theorist Todd Gitlin, and through an examination of both Gitlin’s career and his intellectual trajectory we can see some of the answers he provided: both the ways he rose to the challenge of understanding the sociology of late 20th century media, and the ways in which he fell short.https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/206991960scommunicationideologypublic intellectualssocial movements
spellingShingle Christopher W. Anderson
Between the Center and the Margins: Todd Gitlin and the Politics of Communication
Sociologica
1960s
communication
ideology
public intellectuals
social movements
title Between the Center and the Margins: Todd Gitlin and the Politics of Communication
title_full Between the Center and the Margins: Todd Gitlin and the Politics of Communication
title_fullStr Between the Center and the Margins: Todd Gitlin and the Politics of Communication
title_full_unstemmed Between the Center and the Margins: Todd Gitlin and the Politics of Communication
title_short Between the Center and the Margins: Todd Gitlin and the Politics of Communication
title_sort between the center and the margins todd gitlin and the politics of communication
topic 1960s
communication
ideology
public intellectuals
social movements
url https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/20699
work_keys_str_mv AT christopherwanderson betweenthecenterandthemarginstoddgitlinandthepoliticsofcommunication