Enlightenment or Entertainment: The Nurturance of an Aesthetic Public Sphere Through a Popular Talent Show in China

Wu, Jingsi Christina

doi:10.1080/10714421.2011.547410

Cited by 20 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…They thus emphasized the importance of second‐order virtues of media events for social solidarity, irrespective of their substantive content. Relatedly, Ronald Jacobs' theory of the aesthetic public sphere stresses that discussion, critique, and commentary about entertainment frequently have the added value of connecting people to more “important” matters of public debate (Jacobs ; Jones ; McKernan ; Roberge ; Wu ).…”

Section: Overview Of the Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Field of American Media Sociology: Origins, Resurrection, and Consolidation

Brienza

Revers

2016

Sociology Compass

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This contribution is written against the backdrop of the historic dispersal of early American media sociology out from the core concerns of the discipline and into various importer academic disciplines (including communication, journalism, and media studies) and an ever‐growing pervasiveness of media in everyday life which is reflected by a resurgence of sociological scholarship in the United States since the early 2000s. The article divides the field in works that study media inwards – along the threefold dimensions of production and technologies, communication and discourse, reception and effects – and works that study media outwards. We argue that this latter perspective, examining broader theoretical, methodological, and substantive social implications of mass‐mediated communication, is the most promising one for a mature field of American media sociology. On this basis, we conclude with some suggestions regarding possible new, and as of yet understudied, lines of inquiry for future media sociologists.

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Section: Overview Of the Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Field of American Media Sociology: Origins, Resurrection, and Consolidation

Brienza

Revers

2016

Sociology Compass

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“…People who participate in video game discussion boards can have sophisticated discussions about race or other social matters, but the most important thing that motivates their discussions is whether the game they are playing is a good one or not (McKernan, 2015). Internet discussions about reality television in China often involved complex discussions about what legitimate criticism looks like, but they also include lots of debate about who is the best singer (Wu, 2011). Fans of classical music, popular music, and sports are similar in this respect too.…”

Section: En Vomentioning

confidence: 99%

Media, Culture, and Civil Society

Jacobs¹

2016

questionsdecommunication

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Ronald N. Jacobs is Professor of Sociology at the University at Albany, State University of New York. He is co-editor of the American Journal of Cultural Sociology (Center for Cultural Sociology, Yale University). His research covers a wide terrain, ranging from studies of the social organization of the television news room, the history of African-American media, the differences between African-American and "mainstream" news coverage of racial crisis, the history and organization of opinion media, the relationship between news and entertainment media, and the cross-national comparison of different media systems. In this text, Ronald N. Jacobs describes four main premises that underlie his work: the symbolic dimensions of public arenas; the existence of multiple, overlapping publics; the role of media organizations; the importance of identities.Keywords.public sphere, "Strong Program" in Cultural Sociology, media formats and organizations, identities, entertainment media, African-American media Ronald N. Jacobs, Média, culture et société civile Ronald N. Jacobs, Médias, culture et société civile Résumé. -Ronald N. Jacobs est professeur de sociologie, spécialiste des médias, à l'Université d'État de New York à Albany (États-Unis), et co-directeur de la revue American Journal of Cultural Sociology éditée au Centre de sociologie culturelle à l'université Yale. Il s'intéresse aux médias afro-américains, à l'organisation sociale du secteur de la production de l'information, à la couverture médiatique des questions « raciales », à la question de la réception, à la relation entre information et divertissement, à la géopolitique du système médiatique. Dans cet article, Ronald N. Jacobs s'arrête sur quatre postulats qui fondent ses analyses : l'importance du symbolique, dans ses diverses dimensions (narrative, esthétique, etc.) ; la multitude des espaces publics ; le rôle des formats médiatiques et des enjeux organisationnels qui les sous-tendent ; la question des appartenances identitaires.Mots clés.espaces publics, « programme fort » en sociologie culturelle, formats et organisations médiatiques, appartenances identitaires, information et divertissement, médias afro-américains

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“…Recent research on the aesthetic public sphere (Jacobs, 2007, 2012; Wu, 2011) demonstrates how entertainment also carries a particular meaning in civil society. Jacobs (2012) suggests that contemporary political culture distinguishes between the “serious” world of public affairs and entertainment, championing the former as vital to society’s continued prosperity and dismissing the latter as distractive at best and threatening at worse.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More specifically, I demonstrate how The New York Times' understanding of video games as a form of children's entertainment results in the newspaper predominantly describing video games as harmful. Moreover, I show how even the article's counternarrative that insists on video games' artistic merits is also influenced by entertainment's subjugated position in contemporary civil society (Jacobs, 2007(Jacobs, , 2012Wu, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Morality of Play

McKernan

2013

Games and Culture

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Over the last several decades, video games have become one of America's most popular pastimes. Sadly, little academic work has studied media coverage of video games during this transformation. Williams' analysis of news magazines' coverage from 1970 to 2000 offers the only research into this topic. However, the video game industry has significantly changed since 2000. To remedy this gap, I examine video game coverage in The New York Times over the last three decades. During this period, evaluative articles primarily treat video games as a major threat. However, a small subset of articles rejects this portrayal. During the 1980s and 1990s, this alternative account identifies video games' functional benefits. This narrative changes in the 2000s to celebrating video games' artistic merits. My work contributes to the social construction of technology literature in general by documenting how civil society's cultural understanding of children and entertainment influence the specific narratives The New York Times attaches to video games.

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Enlightenment or Entertainment: The Nurturance of an Aesthetic Public Sphere Through a Popular Talent Show in China

Cited by 20 publications

References 17 publications

The Field of American Media Sociology: Origins, Resurrection, and Consolidation

The Field of American Media Sociology: Origins, Resurrection, and Consolidation

Media, Culture, and Civil Society

The Morality of Play

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