At a time when presidential campaigns are shaped to appeal to women voters, when masculinity constructs impinge on wartime leaders, and when the United States appears to move toward the possibility of a woman president, it is vital that communication scholarship addresses the issue of gender and politics in a comprehensive manner. Gender and Political Communication in America: Rhetoric, Representation, and Display takes on this challenge as it investigates, from a rhetorical and critical standpoint, the intersection and mutual influences of gender and political communication as they are realized in the nation's political discourse. Book jacket.
What elements of American political and rhetorical culture block the imagining—and thus, the electing—of a woman as president? Examining both major-party and third-party campaigns by women, including the 2008 campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, the authors of Woman President: Confronting Postfeminist Political Culture identify the factors that limit electoral possibilities for women. Pundits have been predicting women’s political ascendency for years. And yet, although the 2008 presidential campaign featured Hillary Clinton as an early frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination and Sarah Palin as the first female Republican vice-presidential nominee, no woman has yet held either of the top two offices. The reasons for this are complex and varied, but the authors assert that the question certainly encompasses more than the shortcomings of women candidates or the demands of the particular political moment. Instead, the authors identify a pernicious backlash against women presidential candidates—one that is expressed in both political and popular culture. In Woman President: Confronting Postfeminist Political Culture, Kristina Horn Sheeler and Karrin Vasby Anderson provide a discussion of US presidentiality as a unique rhetorical role. Within that framework, they review women’s historical and contemporary presidential bids, placing special emphasis on the 2008 campaign. They also consider how presidentiality is framed in candidate oratory, campaign journalism, film and television, digital media, and political parody.
In Gender and the American Presidency: Nine Presidential Women and the Barriers They Faced, Theodore F. Sheckels, Nichola D. Gutgold, and Diana Bartelli Carlin invite the audience to consider women qualified enough to be president and explores reasons why they have been dismissed as presidential contenders. This analysis profiles key presidential contenders including Barbara Mikulski, Nancy Pelosi, Nancy Kassebaum, Kathleen Sebelius, Christine Gregoire, Linda Lingle, Elizabeth Dole, Dianne Feinstein, and Olympia Snowe. Gender barriers, media coverage, communication style, geography, and other factors are examined to determine why these seemingly qualified, powerful politicos failed to win the White House.
Familiar narratives and simplistic stereotypes frame the representation of women in U.S. politics. Pervasive containment rhetorics, such as the distinction between women as mothers and caregivers and men as rational thinkers, create unique hurdles for any woman seeking public office. While these 'governing codes' generally act to constrain female political power, they can also be harnessed as a resource depending on the particular circumstances (e.g., party affiliation, geographic location and personal style). One of these governing codes, the metaphor, is an especially powerful tool in politics today, particularly for women. By examining the political careers of four of the most prominent and influential women in contemporary U.S. politics_Democrats Ann Richards and Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republicans Christine Todd Whitman and Elizabeth Dole_Karrin Vasby Anderson and Kristina Horn Sheeler illustrate how metaphors in public discourse may be both familiar narratives to embrace and boundaries to overturn.
Since its development shaped by the turmoil of the World Wars and suspicion of new technologies such as film and radio, political communication has become a hybrid field largely devoted to connecting the dots among political rhetoric, politicians and leaders, voters' opinions, and media exposure to better understand how any one aspect can affect the others. In The Oxford Handbook of Political Communication Kate Kenski and Kathleen Hall Jamieson bring together leading scholars, including founders of the field of political communication Elihu Katz, Jay Blumler, Doris Graber, Max McCombs, and Thomas Paterson,to review the major findings about subjects ranging from the effects of political advertising and debates and understandings and misunderstandings of agenda setting, framing, and cultivation to the changing contours of social media use in politics and the functions of the press in a democratic system. The essays in this volume reveal that political communication is a hybrid field with complex ancestry, permeable boundaries, and interests that overlap with those of related fields such as political sociology, public opinion, rhetoric, neuroscience, and the new hybrid on the quad, media psychology. This comprehensive review of the political communication literature is an indispensible reference for scholars and students interested in the study of how, why, when, and with what effect humans make sense of symbolic exchanges about sharing and shared power. The sixty-two chapters in The Oxford Handbook of Political Communication contain an overview of past scholarship while providing critical reflection of its relevance in a changing media landscape and offering agendas for future research and innovation.
Gender, Heteronormativity and the American Presidency places notions of gender at the center of its analysis of presidential campaign communications. Over the decades, an investment in gendered representations of would-be leaders has changed little, in spite of the second- and third-wave feminist movements. Modern candidates have worked vigorously to demonstrate "compensatory heterosexuality," an unquestionable normative identity that seeks to overcome challenges to their masculinity or femininity. The book draws from a wide range of archived media material, including televised films and advertisements, public debates and speeches, and candidate autobiographies. From the domestic ideals promoted by Eisenhower in the 1950s, right through to the explicit and divisive rhetoric associated with the Clinton/Trump race in 2016; intersectional content and discourse analysis reveals how each presidential candidate used his or her campaign to position themselves as a defender of traditional gender roles, and furthermore, how this investment in "appropriate" gender behaviour was made manifest in both international and domestic policy choices. This book represents a significant and timely contribution to the study of political communication. While communication during presidential elections is a well-established research field, Aidan Smith’s book is the first to apply a gendered lens over such an extended historical period and across the political spectrum.
Women, Feminism, and Pop Politics: From "Bitch" to "Badass" and Beyond examines the negotiation of feminist politics and gendered political leadership in twenty-first century U.S. popular culture. In a wide-ranging survey of texts--which includes memes and digital discourses, embodied feminist performances, parody and infotainment, and televisual comedy and drama--contributing authors assess the ways in which popular culture discourses both reveal and reshape citizens' understanding of feminist politics and female political figures. Two archetypes of female identity figure prominently in its analysis. "Bitch" is a frame that reflects the twentieth-century anxiety about powerful women as threatening and unfeminine, trapping political women within the double bind between femininity and competence. "Badass" recognizes women's capacity to lead but does so in a way that deflects attention away from the persistence of sexist stereotyping and cultural misogyny. Additionally, as depictions of political women become increasingly complex and varied, fictional characters and actual women are beginning to move beyond the bitch and badass frames, fashioning collaborative and comic modes of leadership suited to the new global milieu. This book will be of interest to students and scholars interested in communication, U.S. political culture, gender and leadership, and women in media.
As a field of scholarship, gender and politics has exploded over the last fifty years and is now global, institutionalized, and ever expanding. The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics brings to political science an accessible and comprehensive overview of the key contributions of gender scholars to the study of politics and shows how these contributions produce a richer understanding of polities and societies. Like the field it represents, the handbook has a broad understanding of what counts as political and is based on a notion of gender that highlights masculinities as well as femininities, thereby moving feminist debates in politics beyond the focus on women. It engages with some of the key aspects of political science as well as important themes in gender and feminist research (such as sexuality and body politics), thereby forging a dialogue between gender studies in politics and mainstream political science. The handbook is organized in sections that look at sexuality and body politics; political economy; civil society; participation, representation and policymaking; institutions, states and governance as well as nation, citizenship and identity. The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics contains and reflects the best scholarship in its field.
What impact do news and political advertising have on us? How do candidates use media to persuade us as voters? Are we informed adequately about political issues? Do 21st-century political communications measure up to democratic ideals? The Dynamics of Political Communication: Media and Politics in a Digital Age explores these issues and guides us through current political communication theories and beliefs. Author Richard M. Perloff details the fluid landscape of political communication and offers us an engaging introduction to the field and a thorough tour of the d.
2008 Best Reference, Library Journal Political communication began with the earliest studies of democratic discourse by Aristotle and Plato. However, modern political communication relies on an interdisciplinary base, which draws on concepts from communication, political science, journalism, sociology, psychology, history, rhetoric, and others. This two-volume resource considers political communication from a broad interdisciplinary perspective, encompassing the many different roles that communication plays in political processes in the United States and around the world. The Encyclopedia of Political Communication discusses the major theoretical approaches to the field, including direct and limited effects theories, agenda-setting theories, sociological theories, framing and priming theories, and other past and present conceptualizations. With nearly 600 entries, this resource pays considerable attention to important political messages such as political speeches, televised political advertising, political posters and print advertising, televised political debates, and Internet sites. The audiences for political communications are also central, necessitating concentration on citizen reactions to political messages, how the general public and voters in democratic systems respond to political messages, and the effects of all types of media and message types. Key Features Encompasses several channels of political communication including interpersonal and public communication, radio, television, newspapers, and the World Wide Web Provides news media coverage and journalistic analysis of politics, political issues, political figures, and political institutions Concentrates on the field of political communication since the middle of the 20th century Emphasizes political communication from the point of view of the United States, but there is substantial and important research and scholarship on political communication in international contexts Considers the role of communication in governing, incorporating communication activities that influence the operation of executive, legislative, and judicial bodies, political parties, interest groups, political action committees, and other participants in political processes Key Themes Biographies Books, Films, Journals, Television Democracy, Democratization Education and Nonprofit Organizations Elections Government Operations and Institutions Legal and Regulatory Media Events Media Outlets and Programs Role of Media in Political Systems News Media Coverage of Politics, Political Affairs Theoretical Approaches Types of Political Media Political Attitudes Political Campaigns Political Events Political Groups and Organizations Political Issues Political Journalism Theoretical Concepts Women in Politics The Encyclopedia of Political Communication is designed for libraries, undergraduates, and members of the public with an interest in political affairs. Media and political professionals, as well as government officials, lobbyists, and participants in independent political organizations, will find these volumes useful in developing a better understanding of how the media and communication function in political settings.
