Murray Edelman holds a unique and distinguished position in American political science. For decades one of the few serious scholars to question dominant rational-choice interpretations of politics, Edelman looked instead to the powerful influence of signs, spectacles, and symbols of culture on political behavior and political institutions. His first, now classic, book, "The Symbolic Uses of Politics," created paths of inquiry in political science, communication studies, and sociology that are still being explored today.
In this book, Edelman continues his quest to understand the influence...

A book in the field of political science.

The Politics of Misinformation is an examination of how concentrations of social and economic power result in public languages of politics that are necessarily image-based, vague, and misleading in their denial of undemocratic tendencies. As a result, public discourses of democracy tend to be populistic, emotional, and likely to emphasize images of progress rather than structural inequalities in their formulations of public problems. In short, neither typical problem definitions nor solutions invite critical popular understanding or involvement in democratic politics.

The Politics of Misinformation is an examination of how concentrations of social and economic power result in public languages of politics that are necessarily image-based, vague, and misleading in their denial of undemocratic tendencies. As a result, public discourses of democracy tend to be populistic, emotional, and likely to emphasize images of progress rather than structural inequalities in their formulations of public problems. In short, neither typical problem definitions nor solutions invite critical popular understanding or involvement in democratic politics.