Political Communication: Definition, Processes, Structural Tendencies and Problems, Sintesi del corso di Scienza Politica

Scarica Political Communication: Definition, Processes, Structural Tendencies and Problems e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Scienza Politica solo su Docsity! POLITICAL COMMUNICATION - Provide a definition of political communication as subfield of political science: Political communication is a very broad field that can be dealt with from different points of view and that may involve different aspects. political communication regards the exchange of contents on matters of public interest that involve citizens, social actors, and the mass media. The components of this tentative definition are not self-exclusive—that is, even if one of these components is missing, we can still be facing “a political communication event.” Karl Deutsch, The nerves of government, 1963 importance of communication in government, not just an expression of conflicting interests, but as instrumental to functional ruling; yet the matters it deals with do not imply conflict, henceforth it holds a dubious placement in the field. ^For most scholars, political communication deals with issues abouth which there are conflicting positions. WHAT DIFFERENTIATES POLITICAL COMMUNICATION FROM INSTITUTIONAL & PUBLIC COMMUNICATION? Political communication deals with controversial issues about which conflicting views exist, whereas public or institutional communication regards issues about which there is a wider general agreement. It deals with POWERin society and its distribution across different competing views, actors and interests. Therefore, it always implies an exchange, either it prepares the ground for possible negotiations or yields as its final product an agreement. //according to scholars, three main areas within the broader field: communication processes (deals with analysis of communicative exchange- all those exchange that take place between political acotrs, citizens and mass media), structural tendencies, and production aspects.// - What are the communication processes and what are the two domains at core of it? Communication Processes regard all those communicative exchanges that take place between political actors, citizens and mass-media (it is not necessary for the three to be all present at the same time). Two domains at the core of it: i. study of the content. ii. study of the effects. Harold Laswell and Murray Edelman, qualitative research, importance of symbols and language in political communication. Communication studies: new discipline that focuses on the effects of political communication. Paul Lazarsfeld,1944 the people's choice und 1995 Personal Influence.In the first book he treats the confirmatory role that mass communication has on voters' behavior, while the second book contributed to overcoming the previous view of the so-called powerful media, pointing out how the mass media were acting in a more complicated way than was previously thought: The message does not reach the citizen directly but involves other figures as well, in particular the so-called opinion leaders. - What are the structural tendencies in political communication? The study of structural changes in political communication focuses on all the changes this filed is undergoing. The leading tendency is that of the mediatization of politics: mass media affects the discourse (and even the structures) of politics in a way that is changing political participation. Mazzoleni & Schultz > mediatized politcs is non- autonomous politics, dependant on the media. Currents in the mediatization of politics: Professionalization = traditional mass parties are weakening, they are no longer able to support a candidate in an electoral campaign and have lost the so called affiliation-vote; "electoral-professional" parties are born, which employ professionals (prs and such) and polling; the party system becomes increasingly similiar to a market. (Panebianco) Personalization = single politicians are taking the place so far occupied by parties. It is said to be at least partly a consequence of the americanization of politics. Presidentialization = powers shofting from parliament and government to the single figure of the president. mass media make direct communication between president and electorate easier, leading him to be the focus of public attention. Production aspects include all research that looks at how political communication is conceived and produced. Concerns mainly journalism and its relations to politics. - What are the three phases of political communication? (Blumer, Kavanagh 1999) three mains phases of political communication: Golden Age of Mass parties (WW2 to lates 60s): Peak of Mass Parties, they also performed important communication functions in politics (publishing newspapers, organizing meetings and rallies, general networking). Interpersonal communication was the leading model (local circuits of relationships were very important), party employees the main agents; communication was mostly aimed at reinforcing the existing links and opinions as voters rarely changed their electoral decisions. Widespread use of negative campaigning. Both gov and parties enjoyed a high level of trust, and citizens turned to them in a vast number of situations. Political Values were stable and well rooted in political imagery. The Age of Television: Mass media take the place of interpersonal communication as the main instrument of political socialization. Secularization and greater social mobility weaken the Mass Parties. Communication strategies are no longer aimed at reinforcement. Political system becomes increasingly similiar to a market, and political communication turns into political marketing. The whole structure of politcs is affected by this change: professionalization of politics (political consultant, pollster, fund-raiser, spin doctor). From "labor-intensive" campaigns to "capital-intensive" campaigns. The idea of a "permanent campaign", the new media environment does not allow the communication strategies to be limited to the electoral momentum (support building is a continuous process that cannot be limited just to specific moments in time, such as elections). The continuous flow of opinion polls makes gaining public support easier (by intercepting peoples'wants in that specific moment). Personalization; the political debate moves from ideology and programs to the specific features of individual politicians. Private and public lives of public figures get mixed. Political candidates are basically judjed on their ability to meet the requirements of television discourse (this could be caused not only by the weakening of mass parties and the spread of mass medias, but also by the change of electoral systems in different countries). Mass comunication: TV makes it possible for an individual candidate to come to public attention even without party- backing. Political Communication Today: Fragmentation of both the means of communication and audiences. Increase of medias trhough which the political discourse can be delivered, economic prosperity, are oriented toward post-materialist values. The satisfaction of the first two categories of needs is taken for granted. The reason why parents and children have different value-orientations while co-existing in the same economic and political environment is explained by kardiner and linton's "basic personality structure" theory: the priorities adopted during the forming phases last through life's course. In order to collect data for his study Inglehart identified 12 possible political goals among which samples from wester countries were asked to select those they valued the most; List of Items: a)Material goals: maintain order; fight rising prices; economic growth; strong defense forces; maintain a stable economy and fight against crime; b)Postmaterial goals: allow the citizen more influence in the gov decisions; freedom of speech; give people more say in how things are decided at work and in their community; try to make our cities and countryside more beautiful; less impersonal society; and move toward a society where ideas count more than money. His study was charachterized by both a comparative (same questions applied to different systems at the same time) and longitudinal (same question applied to the same country multiple times over history) designs. - How can the institutionalization of research on political culture be characterized? Inglehart's model becomes a standard tool: (1) a sample survey + (2) a comparative design + (3) a longitudinal design. A number of agencies have been established in recent decades to monitor public opinion orientations and political attitudes. The Eurobarometer program of the European Union was set up in 1973 and since 1974 has supplied twice- yearly data on opinions and attitudes for each member or candidate-member of the Union. Similar survey programs have recently been set up. The New Democracies Barometer, established in 1991, covers 12 East European countries; the Latinobarometer covers 19 countries from 1996 onward; while Afrobarometer covers more than 12 states since 1999. Values Survey and the European Values Survey have conducted five waves in a steadily rising number of countries. After the first wave in 1981, successive waves of data collection were carried out in 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005, covering countries on all continents - What are the limits of survey research? 1)As with all research tool, they offer a simplification of the real world: they tend to emphasize the orientations of mass political cultur rather than the elite's. 2)The wide-ranging comparative design makes it easier to focus on issues of polity and politics rather than policy issues which are more context dependant. 3) FUNCTIONALISM: i. tendency to regard politcs as a clearly distinguishible sphere in respect to the society and the economy, in every different social system. ii. tendency to adopte a more synchronic perspective, thus devoting less attention to the diachronic dimention. 4)BEHAVORISM: based on the individualist and atomist assumption that the whole equals the sum of its units. link between microlevel (sample) and macrolevel (population). + METHODOLOGICAL LIMITATIONS (actual behaviors are not observed but only inferred through interviews; there is the assumption that the several translations of questions and answers are reasonably precise; the sample size of national sample is too limited to represent regional differences; surveys often fail to grasp those "taken for granted" things) - Provide a general definition of public opinion. PUBLIC+OPINION>translated to unitary concept = "will of the people". - What are the three main notions of public opinion? 1) Enlightnment-inspired, habermas theory of the public sphere,