This book analyzes why we believe what we believe about politics, and how the answer affects the way democracy functions. It does so by applying social evolution theory to the relationship between the news media and politics, using the United States as its primary example. This includes a critical review and integration of the insights of a broad array of research, from evolutionary theory and political psychology to the political economy of media. The result is an empirically driven political theory on the media’s role in democracy: what role it currently plays, what role it should play, and how it can be reshaped to be more appropriate for its structural role in democracy.
Peter Beattie is Assistant Professor and Assistant Programme Director of the MSSc in Global Political Economy at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China, where he teaches political economy and political psychology. His published work has focused on the role of ideas in politics, and his research has been presented at conferences in Asia, Europe, South America, and the United States.
Author(s): Beattie, Peter
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 366
Acknowledgements......Page 7
Contents......Page 8
Chapter 1 Introduction: Why Democracy Is Not Working......Page 9
Chapter 2 Information: Evolution, Psychology, and Politics......Page 25
1 Memes or Social Evolution Theory......Page 31
2 What Meme/Social Evolution Theory Is Not......Page 34
3 What Social Evolution Theory Provides......Page 37
4 Schemas......Page 39
5 Social Representations......Page 42
6 Memes and Schemas in Social Representations......Page 48
7 Political Ideas......Page 53
8 Conclusion......Page 57
Chapter 3 Evolution: How We Got the Minds We Have Today......Page 70
1 Evolutionary Psychology—What We Know About How Our Minds Came to Be......Page 74
2 What Evolutionary Psychology Is, and Is not......Page 77
3 Human Cooperation: How Evolution Managed to Create and Sustain It......Page 79
4 Aggressive Egalitarians......Page 83
5 The Other Evolution......Page 85
6 Recent Evolution—In Evolution, and Our Understanding of It......Page 89
7 So What? How Evolution Matters to Today’s Societies......Page 92
8 What We Know About Our Evolved Political Psychology......Page 96
9 Evolution, Morality, and Politics......Page 102
10 The Significance of Our Evolutionary Minds......Page 105
Chapter 4 When Our Evolved Minds Go Wrong: Social Psychological Biases......Page 121
1 How Psychology Explains the Brain’s Contribution to Information Ecology......Page 124
2 A Bias Tour of the Human Mind......Page 127
3 Confirmation Bias......Page 133
4 Cognitive Dissonance Reduction......Page 136
5 Meaning Maintenance—Accounting for a Bevy of Biases......Page 139
6 Groupishness and Bias......Page 141
7 Beliefs Persist, Memories Less so......Page 144
8 If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em: System Justification Theory......Page 148
9 But Wait, There’s More: Attitude Inoculation and Counterintuitive Effects......Page 151
10 Moral Rationalization and Conflict......Page 153
11 Self-Deception......Page 155
12 Styles of Thought......Page 157
13 Conclusion......Page 159
Chapter 5 The Transition: Information from Media to Mind......Page 171
1 What the Media Does......Page 172
2 Other Media Effects......Page 178
3 Broad Effects: Cultivation Theory......Page 180
4 Informing the Mind: The Micro Level......Page 185
5 The Bigger Picture: How Does the Media Change Minds?......Page 188
6 Models of Media Influence: Priming......Page 190
7 Models of Media Influence: Framing......Page 191
8 Models of Media Influence: Agenda Setting......Page 194
9 From What to Think About, to What to Think......Page 197
10 The Silent Death Rattle of Media-Centered Democracies......Page 201
11 Ideological Self-Segregation......Page 202
12 Mo’ Media, Mo’ Problems: And Less Knowledge......Page 204
Chapter 6 The Supply Side: What Affects the Supply of Information Provided by the Media......Page 224
1 A Brief History of the Press......Page 225
2 A Brief History of Broadcast Media......Page 231
3 The Fourth Branch of Government and the Marketplace of Ideas......Page 235
4 The Media Oligopoly......Page 237
5 Journalism’s Economic Crisis......Page 240
6 Analyzing the Political Economy of Media—The Neoclassical Way......Page 242
7 Media Bias......Page 245
8 Explanations for Media Bias: Market Determination......Page 251
9 Censorship with American Characteristics: The “Propaganda Model”......Page 253
10 The Ecology of Information in the Media: Key Influences......Page 256
11 Conclusion......Page 263
Chapter 7 Comparing Media Systems: What a Difference Supply Makes......Page 277
1 What Democracy Needs from Its Media......Page 278
2 Commercialism and Its Discontents......Page 281
3 Commercialism Does not Guarantee Pluralism......Page 286
4 Three-Media System Models......Page 289
5 Testing the Three Models of Media Systems......Page 293
6 The Beeb vs. Madison Avenue: Do Public Service or Commercial Media Outperform in Informing?......Page 295
7 Spreading Knowledge: Public Service vs. Commercial Media......Page 297
8 Conclusion......Page 301
Chapter 8 Conclusion: The Invisible Hand and the Ecology of Information......Page 313
1 Social Evolution: Observations for Epistemology......Page 319
2 Power......Page 324
3 Economics......Page 327
4 What This Perspective Suggests About Contemporary Politics......Page 334
5 Outline of an Ideal Media System......Page 338
6 Final Remarks......Page 349
Index......Page 358
