overnments and think
tanks; endless lobbying between lobby firms, such as Canada’s Government Consultants
International and the Earnscliffe Stategy Group; and the numberless formal and informal
contacts between politicians, bureaucrats, and citizens in general.
b. post-materialism and the media
Following Inglehart’s analysis, we know post-materialism refers to an ideology born of the
baby boom generation’s material wealth, and the pursuit of values not related to
immediate economic well-being that are possible once prosperity is achieved. The
“embedded state,” activist in its orientation, becomes a vehicle for that generation’s post-
materialist ambitions. Journalists give public form to this post-materialist ideology, and
through their writings, attract the attention and imagination of baby boomers and
Generation Y.
A major vehicle for the expression of post-materialist values is what the authors call the
“new social movements.” The term refers to those social movements that emerged in the
1960s to become fixtures in Western political culture: environmentalism, peace, feminism,
gay and lesbian politics, human rights, and “Third World” development. It might also be
argued that various movements on the political right—pro-life, pro-capital punishment,
anti-gun control, conservative Christian and traditional values groups—are also “new
social movements” that similarly espouse post-materialist ideology.
Post-materialist va英语论文网 【http://www.51lunwen.org】lues, the state bureaucrats and journalists that articulate them, and the
movements that bring them to the centre of public life, have the power to act with some
independence in society. In neo-Marxist language, they are relatively autonomous forces,
and not directly tied to or merely reflective of economic forces. Singling out journalists
specifically, the authors argue that this independence means that media do shape
people’s behaviour, bringing publics in line with post-materialist ideology. Journalists act to
increase the knowledge and sophistication of the public; they also act as a kind of
unofficial opposition to traditional values (often identified with the older “materialist”
tradition discussed in the table above). Journalists thus practice a kind of “participatory
journalism” insofar as, rather than maintaining a neutral and objective stance, they seek to
actively influence their readers.
3. Alternatives and Applications: Discourse and Social Construction
a. discourse: what it is and why it matters
George Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language” is one of the earliest and most
cited reflections on the nature of political discourse. The Dictionary of Media and
Communication Studies defines discourse as “a form, mode, or genre of language-use.”
Discourse is typically defined as language as it exists above the level of the sentence. The
term discourse assumes that language is not a passive mirror of experience
本文来自：英语论文网 【http://www.51lunwen.org】 |
论文编号：
lw200707250743135170 
