31 research outputs found
The reality of construction
Stemming from a reflexion on the distrust or denigration of images that characterizes many
philosophical or religious doctrines, from Moses' and Plato's condemnations, to empirist doctrines
(Bacon, Locke, Hobbes, Hume), this paper proposes a general theoretical argument about the
nature of communication and discourse about it. The argument is motivated by some issues in
media studies, but is not limited to them. In fact, we suggest that the media, rather than ruining
communication (via the manipulation of images), reveal something profound about communication
that was easier to leave implicit in earlier times. Thus they reactivate some of the fears that were
present in various iconodastic traditions.
What is being revealed is closely related to the well-known thesis of the social construction of
reality. Our argument, here, is that this constructed character does not entail any need for
generalized scepticism, and does not call for a hermeneutics of suspicion intent on unmasking
manipulation or artifice. In fact, the social constructedness of social phenomena is in no way
antithetic to their reality. If one recognizes that there is a "construction of reality", one can
recognize as well that there is a reality to the construction, and finally admit with Lewis Mumford
that... "all that can be called 'real' is the outcome of a multitude of sustained transactions and
interrelations between the human organism and the environment".A partir d'une réflexion sur la méfiance ou la réprobation à l'égard des images que manifestent
plusieurs traditions philosophiques ou religieuse, notamment la Loi mosaïque, la théorie platonicienne,
et la tradition des empiristes anglais Bacon, Locke, Hobbes, Hume, cet article propose
une analyse plus générale de la nature de la communication et des discours qui s'y rapportent.
Cette analyse s'appuie sur quelques exemples empruntés au domaine des médias, mais elle ne
porte pas exclusivement sur ce domaine. Elle vise Ă dĂ©montrer que la production d'images Ă
laquelle se livrent les médias, loin d'éliminer la possibilité d'une communication véritable, révÚle
en fait certaines des caractéristiques propres à toute communication. Ces caractéristiques étaient
longtemps restées implicites. Avec l'événement des médias, elles émergent au grand jour,
réactivant les craintes qui sous-tendent les grandes traditions iconoclastes. Ces caractéristiques
renvoient à la thÚse bien connue d'une construction sociale de la réalité. La position défendue ici
est que, loin de devoir mener à un scepticisme généralisé, ou à une herméneutique du soupçon
avant tout soucieuse de démasquer l'artifice ou la manipulation, le caractÚre construit des
phénomÚnes sociaux ne s'oppose en rien à leur réalité. On peut alors parler non seulement d'une
« construction de la réalité » mais aussi d'une « réalité des constructions », et soutenir avec Lewis
Mumford, que ce qu'on baptise le « réel », n'est rien d'autre que le « résultat d'une multitude de
transactions et d'échanges continus entre l'organisme humain et son environnement »
The Analysis of Coordinated Effects in EU Merger Control: Where Do We Stand after Sony/BMG and Impala?
The recent Impala Judgment by the CFI on the Sony/BMG Decision by the Commission represents the most important ruling on collective dominance since Airtours. We review both the Decision and the Judgment and derive implications for the institutional and substantive development of EU Merger Control. Firstly, Impala introduces an ambitious symmetric standard of proof for prohibition and clearance decisions by the Commission. While alleviating fears of an increasing number of false positives in the aftermath of Airtours, this entails the problem of how to deal with cases in which neither the existence, nor the absence of anticompetitive effects can be proven to the required standard. Secondly, the ongoing process of increasing the role of third parties in European Merger Control is fuelled. Thirdly, Impala has the potential to herald a comeback of coordinated effects analysis, further precising the conditions for establishing this kind of anticompetitive effect. Additionally, given the characteristics of the music industry, we criticise a lack of in-depth economic analysis of non-price competition issues, such as innovations and product diversity
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Communication and Community
Contents: Preface. Part I: Introduction. D. Depew, J.D. Peters, Community and Communication: The Conceptual Background. Part II: Interpersonal Relations, Organizations, and Community. G.J. Shepherd, Community as the Interpersonal Accomplishment of Communication. C.H. Adams, Prosocial Bias in Theories of Interpersonal Communication Competence: Must Good Communication Be Nice? S. Shuler, Talking Community at 911: The Centrality of Communication in Coping With Emotional Labor. K.L. Ashcraft, Feminist Organizing and the Construction of "Alternative" Community. L.M. Gossett, P.K. Tompkins, Community as a Means of Organizational Control. G. Cheney, Forms of Connection and "Severance" in and Around the Mondragon Worker-Cooperative Complex. Part III: Media, the Public, and Community. E.W. Rothenbuhler, Revising Communication Research for Working on Community. B. Zelizer, Collective Memory as "Time Out": Repairing the Time-Community Link. H.E. Sypher, B. Collins, Virtual-Online Communities: How Might New Technologies Be Related to Community? T.M. Harrison, J.P. Zappen, T. Stephen, P. Garfield, C. Prell, Building an Electronic Community: A Town-Gown Collaboration. K.R. Stamm, Of What Use Is Civic Journalism: Do Newspapers Really Make a Difference in Community Participation? C.R. Martin, The Limits of Community in Public Journalism. A. Calabrese, Why Localism? Communication Technology and the Shifting Scale of Political Community
Disrupting the media frame at Greenham Common: a new chapter in the history of mediations?
Drawing on Martin-Barbero's insistence on analysing the media's complex processes of social `mediation' and Scannell's insistence on grasping the phenomenal complexity of the media frame and how people interact with it, it is argued that an important, relatively neglected, dimension of the disruptive power of the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp (1981-) has been its challenge to the terms of the media frame, the `struggle for visibility' it represents. This struggle for visibility is examined in two stages - in relation to the early years of intense media coverage and in relation to the later years of media silence. In the concluding section, connections are opened up between Greenham Common and recent, more obviously `mediated' forms of protest action
ACTH-Independent Cushingâs Syndrome with Bilateral Micronodular Adrenal Hyperplasia and Ectopic Adrenocortical Adenoma
Context: Bilateral micronodular adrenal hyperplasia and ectopic adrenocortical adenoma are two rare causes of ACTH-independent Cushingâs syndrome
Dating the Media: Participation, Voice, and Ritual Logic in the Disability Dating Show The Undateables
Interventional television formats centering around the ritual transformation of âordinary peopleâ are not only followed by sizable audiences worldwide but also attract large numbers of aspiring candidates. Although the benefits and consequences of participating in such shows have long been debated within academia and beyond, research into actual experiences of participating in such television productions remains scarce. Based on in-depth interviews with participants of the disability dating show The Undateables, this article focuses on how contributors deal with their position in the production and how their experiences reflect the emancipatory claims of the program. By presenting the production process through the story and from the perspective of three participants, different modes of participation will be discussed, revealing how instances of submission, appropriation, and contestation of the production logic are linked to ideals of representation, notions about empowerment and voice, and to strategies of negotiating normalcy and difference