This book examines whether television can be used as a tool not just for capitalism, but for democracy. Throughout television’s history, activists have attempted to access it for that very reason. New technologies provided brief openings, but these were often short-lived. This book elaborate on this history by using ethnographic data upon a new iteration of liberalism, technoliberalism, which sees Silicon Valley technology and the free market of Hollywood end the need for a politics of participation.
This new book examines whether television can be used as a tool not just for capitalism, but for democracy. Throughout television’s history, activists have attempted to access it for that very reason. New technologies—cable, satellite, and the internet—provided brief openings for amateur and activist engagement with television. This book elaborates on this history by using ethnographic data to build a new iteration of liberalism, technoliberalism, which sees Silicon Valley technology and the free market of Hollywood end the need for a politics of participation.
Examines liberalism and video in eight chapters including five historical and ethnographic case studies Presents data based on three years of fieldwork and interviews with television and internet video producers Investigates the politics of several multi-channel internet video networks and examines entrepreneurial self-branding practices
Adam Fish
Cultural Anthropology Technoliberalism Sociology of Media Digital Sociology Internet Studies Sociology
“Adam Fish's ambitious book is at once empirically and theoretically incisive; it charts the rise and fall of 'technoliberalism' as it confronts generation after generation of hopeful new media and their relentless incorporation within capital. It is an essential and creative clarification of the tangle of contemporary technologies, political theories of freedom and equality, and the desires involved in making and consuming media.” (Christopher Kelty, University of California, Los Angeles, USA)