March 2000
Jeffrey Scheuer '75, The Sound Bite Society: Television and the American Mind, New York, Four Walls Eight Windows, 1999
The latest addition to the distinguished lineage of American social criticism directed at the impact of television, Jeffrey Scheuer's The Sound Bite Society is both thoughtful and entertainingly scathing in its indictment of the televisual corruption of political discourse in the United States. Scheuer revisits some familiar points in the TV debate with a fresh voice and strong resolve, while also dealing with some of the wider changes in mass media during the "information revolution" of the past decade.
Scheuer's most convincing argument--the one that will draw the most attention to his work--rests on the thesis that television intrinsically simplifies political and social discourse. This point itself is not a novel one, though Scheuer makes it persuasively and comprehensively. He proceeds from this idea, however, to argue that conservative politicians and political causes are the natural beneficiaries of such simplification. Liberalism, he argues, is "serious and complex" and, as a result, inevitably "falters on television." He contends that right-wing politics, by contrast, flourish in what he sees as television's intrinsic superficiality.
This argument is certainly a twist on the oft-repeated and largely spurious claim that the mass media has a "liberal bias," and it offers a comforting explanation for the rise of right-wing politics in the past two decades.
In large measure, I agree with Scheuer's eloquent, passionate, and unquestionably intelligent description of the sorry state of political discourse in contemporary America. Our lack of a vigorous public sphere, of rational political debate that faces complex issues in complex terms, is threatening our democratic future. Current political and social discourse on television and in other mass media does not offer the critically needed forum to exchange these ideas meaningfully. In these terms, a defense of the political and public content of television as it stands is a losing proposition.
However, it seems to me that one important step toward a more robust and democratic public culture would have to involve the cultivation of a new civility in public debate--a backing-off from the scorched earth tactics of the culture wars of the 1970s and 1980s. If so, to begin such an effort by characterizing liberalism as intrinsically complex and conservatism as inherently simplistic--seductive as such a view might be--would not be productive. It is, I might suggest, a limited vantage point from which to start a call for greater complexity in our political discourse.
Pinning the blame on television for simplification (and thus the rise of right-wing politics) only makes this argument more alluring, given the depths of the American left's hostility to television. At the least, such an argument offers the same easy solace to liberals that "false consciousness" does to vulgar Marxian thinkers and, as such, is an illusory comfort that liberalism cannot afford.
Accusing television of being the root cause of any social problem also carries some deep evidentiary burdens, some of which Scheuer is aware of and addresses ably. Among the issues he does not address, however, is a historical one. If television in the United States has led to the relentless simplification of politics, and therefore the rise of conservatism, then was our political culture more complex, subtle, and participatory before the advent of television? And if so, was this golden age more favorable to liberalism? The short decade of the New Deal would seem to support some of Scheuer's argument, but the era before television extends back much further than that.
This work stands proudly alongside classic critiques of television
like Eric Barnouw's Tube of Plenty and Marie Winn's The
Plug-in Drug and is deserving of a wide audience. My own deep
skepticism about antitelevision polemics certainly colors my view of
Scheuer's book, but it does not blind me to its many virtues.
--Timothy Burke
Assistant Professor of History
Other recent books
Leonard Barkan '65, Unearthing the Past: Archaeology and Aesthetics in the Making of Renaissance Culture, Yale University Press, 1999. In this book for art historians, scholars of the Renaissance, and readers interested in history and artistic production, the author rediscovers ancient artwork from the 15th and 16th centuries.
Robert E. Bartkus '68 (ed.), New Jersey Federal Civil Procedure, New Jersey Law Journal Books, 1999. Tackling some of the more arcane aspects of federal procedure and clarifying specific areas, this book examines New Jersey District Court and Third Circuit cases.
Robin (Smith) Chapman '64, The Way In, Tebot Bach, 1999. This collection of poems finds the "way in" through stories, drawing on childhood memory, family conflict, parent-child relationships, and divorce.
Philip Davies SP, U.S. Elections Today, Manchester University Press, 1999. Through the lens of the U.S. election process, the author observes the history and contemporary structure of American politics and government.
Gregory Gibson '67, Gone Boy: A Walkabout, Kodansha International, 1999. The author describes the murder of his 18-year-old son, expanding the inquiry into guns, violence, and the journey to manhood in America.
Alan Gordon '81, Thirteenth Night: A Medieval Mystery, St. Martin's Press, 1999. Drawing on the same sources that Shakespeare used in Twelfth Night, Gordon continues this mystery of misunderstandings and misperceptions.
Eric D. Gordy '88, The Culture of Power in Serbia: Nationalism and the Destruction of Alternatives, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999. Discussing postcommunist transformations, Gordy describes the nationalist authoritarian regime that took hold in Serbia.
Catherine Embree Harris '41, Dusty Exile: Looking Back at Japanese Relocation During World War II, Mutual Publishing, 1999. This tale about the Japanese relocation during World War II describes how a single ethnic group was uprooted from their West Coast homes and forced to live in crowded, hastily built centers.
Aseem Prakash and Jeffrey A. Hart '69 (eds.), Globilization and Governance, Routledge, 1999. Contributors to this collection of essays on globalization examine strategic options available to firms and governments as well as the political, institutional, and economic factors behind specific coping strategies.
Christopher Laszlo '80 and Jean-François Laugel, Large-Scale Organizational Change: An Executive's Guide, Butterworth Heinemann, 2000. In a book exploring the principles by which large organizations reinvent themselves, the authors highlight ways leading companies learn, adapt, and innovate in fast-changing environments.
J. (Peter) May '60, A Concise Course in Algebraic Topology, The University of Chicago Press, 1999. Emphasizing concepts that are central to developing algebraic topology and axiomatic treatments of homotopy theory, this book is aimed at teachers of the subject and advanced graduate students in math.
Rose Laub Coser, Laura S. Anker, and Andrew J. Perrin '93, Women of Courage: Jewish and Italian Immigrant Women in New York, Greenwood Press, 1999. This book highlights the stories of 100 Italian and Jewish immigrant women who settled in New York, exploring the ways they assimilated and differentiated themselves from mainstream American culture.
John Ridland '53 (trans.), John the Valiant, Corvina Books, 1999. This first full translation in rhyming English verse of Sándor Petófi's spirited folk epic János vitéz includes an introduction about Petófi's life and his place in the Hungarian consciousness.
Ralph Lee Smith '51, Songs and Tunes of the Wilderness Road, Mel Bay Publications, 1999. This collection of traditional music for the mountain dulcimer links the people, music, and the Appalachian mountains world.
Brenda (Schwabacher) Webster '58, The Last Good Freudian, Holmes & Meier, 2000. This memoir offers insight into the subculture of psychoanalysis, focusing on ways the author achieved personal autonomy by freeing herself from a lifelong addiction to Freudian analysis.
Andrea Young '76, Life Lessons My Mother Taught Me, Jeremy P. Tarcher, 2000. This tribute to the author's mother--a respected advocate in the civil rights and children's rights movements--traces her legacy of truth, love, integrity, faith, and courage.
Kristin Camitta Zimet '69, Take in My Arms the Dark: Poems, Sow's Ear Press, 1999. Nominated for the 1999 Paterson Poetry Prize and the Library of Virginia Literary Award, the collection of poems includes "Survivor's Christmas," "Wisteria," and "Metamorphosis."
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