Why Voice Matters: Culture and Politics After Neoliberalism - Paperback

by Nick Couldry (Author)

For more than thirty years neoliberalism has declared that market functioning trumps all other social, political, and economic values. In this book, Nick Couldry passionately argues for voice, the effective opportunity for people to speak and be heard on what affects their lives, as the only value that can truly challenge neoliberal politics. But having voice is not enough: we need to know our voice matters. Insisting that the answer goes much deeper than simply calling for ′more voices′, whether on the streets or in the media, Couldry presents a dazzling range of analysis from the real world of Blair and Obama to the social theory of Judith Butler and Amartya Sen.

Why Voice Matters breaks open the contradictions in neoliberal thought and shows how the mainstream media not only fails to provide the means for people to give an account of themselves, but also reinforces neoliberal values. Moving beyond the despair common to much of today′s analysis, Couldry shows us a vision of a democracy based on social cooperation and offers the resources we need to build a new post-neoliberal politics.

Author Biography

Nick Couldry is Professor of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He is the author of seven books including Media Consumption and Public Engagement (Palgrave Macmillan 2007). Inside Culture (SAGE, 2000).

He was Visiting Scholar at The Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, in 2008. He will in late March 2009 be Visiting Professor at University of Toulouse (Sciences-Po) and in September 2009 Visiting Professor in the Department of Communication at Roskilde University. Also in 2009 he will lecture and lead a seminar in Uppsala University′s Summer Symposium in June on ′Relocating Ethics′ and in July give keynote addresses at the ANZCA annual conference (Brisbane) and the ICA Regional Conference on global Journalism (Melbourne).