Media Solidarities
Emotions, Power and Justice in the Digital Age
- Kaarina Nikunen - University of Tampere, Finland
What does it mean when images of refugees’ plight are shared on social media? Or when we respond to emotive NGO fundraising campaigns, or are heartened by do-good reality TV shows? Do these narratives offer incentives for genuine social change or only momentary feelings of individual satisfaction?
Drawing on social theory, political economy and cultural studies, Media Solidarities explores the way in which media can both enable and obstruct meaningful bonds of solidarity and positive social change. Written in a highly approachable style, it ties theory to contemporary world events and media discourses through a series of examples and case studies. The book offers an analytical toolkit to critically understand media narratives of representation, participation and production and to challenge our perceptions of our selves and society.
It will be fascinating reading for students in media and communications, politics, sociology, human geography and cultural studies.
A rare book that steps back from the achievement of thunderous protest to properly appreciate mediated solidarities as the fragile outcome of injury, cooperation, and joy in the everyday.
Do digital media feed into our narcissism or can help us forge solidarities with vulnerable others? At a time of mass mobilities and great human need, this question highlights one of the biggest political and ethical challenges of our times. Drawing on extensive research on the digital mediation of migration, Kaarina Nikunen offers a compelling, original and sophisticated response to this urgent question, inviting us to rethink how social media may be shaping our emotional and moral commitments to the world beyond ourselves.
