Journalism and the “Social Sphere

Reclaiming a foundational concept for beyond politics and the public sphere

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7495677
AutoresKarl He (0000-0003-3027-7492, Deakin University, autor de correspondencia), Robert Gutsche (0000-0001-6132-3493, Florida International University)
Año2017
Volumen19
Número4
Páginas483-498
Fecha de publicación2017-10-26
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournalism Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1461-670X • E-ISSN: 1469-9699
EditorialRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1461670x.2017.1389296
OpenAlexW2766893607
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas22
Referencias citadas64

This article realigns the field of journalism studies to acknowledge within itself the multiple dimensions of social life and, as well, to provide greater clarity on the social and cultural forms and functions of journalism. It reclaims the importance of the “social sphere” as a key foundational concept for journalism studies with its links to collective identity, sociability, social honour, and soft coercion. We argue the relevance of the social sphere has been subsumed over time by the dominance of the “public sphere” and, most recently, has been considered synonymous with the rise of social networking platforms and tools. Here, we recommend that scholarship shifts from the dominant influence of political theory in explanations of journalism's societal function to the value of critical cultural sociology, which reconciles power with the basic human desire for social order within individual–institutional–cultural interactions informed by and through journalism

Epistemology · Journalism · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Public sphere · Scholarship · Social order · Social science · Sociology · Media Studies and Communication · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Media and Politics · Law