A surprising bestseller when it was first published in France, this little book by Pierre Bourdieu offers a brilliant critique of television and its consequences for social and political life. Rather than simply denouncing television as a misrepresentation or trivialization of the social world, Bourdieu shows that television journalists are part of a journalistic field that shapes their actions and imposes a particular vision on the public, a vision that is grounded in the very structure of the journalistic field and that, through a variety of mechanisms specific to this field, produces a general disenchantment with politics.
About the Author
Pierre Bourdieu was professor of sociology at the Collège de France and Director of Studies at the École des hautes études en science sociales.
Features
Bourdieu is well known as one of the most original and influential thinkers in the social sciences.
This book is one of the only things he wrote on the media - the bulk of the text is about television and the book includes an important essay about journalism.
This book offers a sharp and original critique of television as the domain of ‘instant experts’ who produce sensationalism and historical amnesia.
The book is a set text for many university courses on television and the media.
