Constructing the Political Spectacle PDF
Preview Constructing the Political Spectacle
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/constructingpoliOOedel_0 ConstructingthePoliticalSpectacle Constructing THE Political Spectacle MURRAY EDELMAN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO AND LONDON — The UniversityofChicago Press,Chicago60637 The UniversityofChicagoPress, Ltd., London © 1988 byThe UniversityofChicago All rightsreserved. Published 1988 Printed inthe UnitedStatesofAmerica 0403 02 01 00999897 7 89 10 Chapter2 appeared in the UniversityofMiamiLawReview 42 (September 1987). LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-Publication Data Edelman,MurrayJ. (MurrayJacob), 1919- Constructingthepoliticalspectacle. Includesindex. 1. Politicalpsychology. 2. Symbolism in politics. 3. Soci—olinguistics. 4. UnitedStates Socialconditions 1980- I. Title. JA74.5.E39 1988 320'.01'9 87-16239 ISBN0-226-18399-8 (pbk.) @ The paperusedinthispublication meetsthe minimum requirementsoftheAmericanNationalStandardfor — InformationSciences PermanenceofPaperforPrinted LibraryMaterials,ANSI Z39.48-1984. Contents Acknowledgments vi 1 Some Premises about Politics 1 2 TheConstructionandUsesof Social Problems 12 3 TheConstructionandUsesof PoliticalLeaders 37 4 TheConstructionandUsesof Political Enemies 66 5 TheAmbiguitiesofPoliticalNews 90 6 PoliticalLanguageand PoliticalReality 103 7 The Political Spectacle asTactic andasMystification 120 Index 131 v Acknowledgments Justasthepoliticalspectacleisaconstruction,soisanauthor;my largest debts are owed to writers, teachers, and students who helped shape this bookbyconstructingme, eveniftheyarenot cited. Thecolleagueswhoshapeditmoredirectlythroughtheir trenchant criticisms of all or parts ofthe manuscript include Lance Bennett, James Farr, Martha Fineman, Gerda Lerner, Michael Lipsky, Cathy May, Richard Merelman, Martha Minow, Laurel Munger, Rozann Rothman, and Virginia Sapiro. A John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship furnished support for my first book on political symbolism in the sixties, and a second Guggenheim Fellowship provided some ofthe time to write this one, as did agrantfrom the UniversityofWisconsin ResearchBoard. As a student of political language and symbolism, I am indebted in adifferentway to the countless public officials and representativesofpoliticalcauseswhospendtheirtimegivingme moredatathanIwant,muchofitdisturbingoroutrageous. Lori Schlinkert and Renee Gibson inscribed the manuscript onfloppydisksandreviseditcompetentlyandpatiently. vi SomePremisesaboutPolitics Thepervasivenessofliteracy, television, andradiointhe indus- trializedworldmakesfrequentreportsofpoliticalnewsavailable to mostofthe population, a marked change from the situation thatprevaileduntilapproximatelytheSecondWorldWar.What consequences for ideology, action, and quiescence flow from preoccupation with political news as spectacle? How does the spectaclegenerateinterpretations? Whatareits implicationsfor democratic theory? Those are the questions addressed in this book. There is a conventional answer that can be captured in a sentenceratherthanavolume: citizenswhoareinformedabout politicaldevelopmentscanmoreeffectivelyprotectandpromote theirowninterestsandthepublicinterest.Thatresponsetakesfor grantedaworldoffactsthathaveadeterminablemeaninganda worldofpeople who react rationallyto the facts theyknow. In politics neither premise is tenable, a conclusion that history continuallyreaffirmsandthatobserversofthepoliticalsceneare tempted to ignore. To explore that conclusion is not likely to generate an optimistic bookor a reassuringviewofthe human condition; butI hope this bookwill provide a realistic appreci- ation ofthe link between politics and well-being and a greater chancethatpoliticalactioncanbeeffective. The spectacle constituted by news reporting continuously constructsandreconstructssocialproblems,crises,enemies,and leaders and so creates a succession ofthreats and reassurances. These constructed problems and personalities furnish the con- tentofpoliticaljournalismandthedataforhistoricalandanalytic politicalstudies.Theyalsoplayacentralroleinwinningsupport andoppositionforpoliticalcausesandpolicies. The latter role is usually masked by the assumption that citizens,journalists, andscholars areobserversof"facts"whose meaningscanbeaccuratelyascertainedbythosewhoareproperly trained and motivated. That positivist view is accepted rather than defended today. We are acutely aware that observers and what they observe construct one other; that political develop- 1 ( Chapter(hit incursarcambiguousentitiesthatmeanwhatconcernedobserv- ersconstruethemtomean;andthattherolesandself-conceptsof theobserversthemselvesarealsoconstructions,createdatleastin partbytheirinterpretedobservations.1 This study is an essay in applying that epistemological prin- cipletopolitics.Ratherthanseeingpoliticalnewsasanaccountof events to which people react, I treat political developments as creationsofthepublicsconcernedwiththem.Whethereventsare _noticed andwhattheymean dependuponobservers'situations "and the languagethatreflects and interprets thosesituations. A ! socialproblem,apoliticalenemy,oraleaderisbothanentityand a signifierwith a rangeofmeanings thatvaryinwayswe can at least partly understand. Similarly, I treatpeoplewho engage in politicalactionsasconstructionsintwosenses.First,theiractions . and their language create their subjectivity their sense ofwho , theyare.Second,peopleinvolvedinpoliticsaresymbolstoother I 1 observers: theystandforideologies,values,ormoralstancesand theybecomerolemodels, benchmarks,orsymbolsofthreatand evil. My focus, in short, is upon people and developments with multiple and changing meanings to one another. That perspectiveoffersadifficultanalyticchallengebecauseentitiesdo notremainstablewhileyoustudythemandsubjectsandobjects arecontinuouslyevolvingconstructionsofeachother.Historical evidence and psychological theory nonetheless support these assumptions. In every era and every national culture, political controversy and maneuver have hinged upon conflicting inter- pretations of current actions and developments: leaders are perceived as tyrannical or benevolent, wars as just or aggres- sive^economicpolicies assupportsofaclassorthepublicinter- est, minorities as pathological or helpful. It is precisely such differencesaboutthereferentsolfpoliticallysignificantsigns\that constitutepoliticalandsocialhistory. If political developments depended upon factual obser- vations, false meaningswould bediscreditedintime andacorj.- 1. Tworecentbooks, one byaneminentphilosopherandtheotherbyan eminentpsychologist,expoundtheconceptualframeworkIapplyhereinsome detail: Nelson Goodman, OfMind and OtherMatters (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983); Jerome Bruner,ActualMinds, Possible Worlds (Cam- bridge:HarvardUniversityPress,1985).
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