[ecrea] new special issue - Power, Multidirectionality and Contingency - Political Struggles over Representation, Decision-Making and Technology

Special Issue:
Power, Multidirectionality and Contingency
Political Struggles over Representation, Decision-Making and Technology
Edited by Vaia Doudaki and Nico Carpentier

COMUNICAZIONI SOCIALI
JOURNAL OF MEDIA, PERFORMING ARTS AND CULTURAL STUDIES
1 January-April 2018

http://www.vitaepensiero.it/scheda-fascicolo_contenitore_digital/nico-carpentier-vaia-doudaki/comunicazioni-sociali-2018-1-power-multidirectionality-and-contingencypolitical-struggles-over-representationdecision-making-and-technology-001200_2018_0001-345679.html

This special issue, focusing on different case studies and drawing from 
different examples, addresses these issues of political struggle, 
contextualized by multidirectionality and contingency. Using different 
starting and entry points (based, inter alia, on journalism studies, 
organizational communication, game studies, discourse theory, visual 
communication), the collection of articles included in this special 
issue sheds light on the logics of political struggle. In particular, 
this special issue allows reflecting on the distinction between 
struggles over and struggles through, very much in line with Plekhanov’s 
distinction between the means and aims of political struggle, and his 
argumentation for the alignment of both in socialist strategy14. The 
articles in this special issue demonstrate that struggle can, on the one 
hand, be associated with conscious acts of re/appropriation or dominance 
over specific issues, discourses, positions (struggle over), but, on the 
other hand, also with the means, tactics, strategies through which 
struggles are waged (struggle through). Furthermore, the special issue 
also allows showing that there are different ‒ albeit interconnected ‒ 
fields over which political struggles are waged, and that there are 
different mechanisms through which political struggles are organized.

The collection offers a snap-shot of the complexity of political 
struggles, the fields over which the struggles are waged, and the 
mechanisms that are used to wage these struggles. Even if many other 
fields and mechanisms can be distinguished, this special issue hopefully 
provides an already rich overview of the different fields and mechanisms 
that play a role in political struggles. Moreover, and even more 
importantly, this special issue shows the omnipresence and variety of 
political struggle in contemporary society, and the relevance of this 
concept for the study of social phenomena in the 21st century

Table of Contents:

An Introduction to Power, Multidirectionality and Contingency. Political 
Struggles over Representation, Decision-Making and Technology
Nico Carpentier & Vaia Doudaki

When the Wrong Kind of Authority Neutralizes Journalism: Cold War 
Enmity, Journalism and the US Presidential Race
Barbie Zelizer

Change Processes, Practices of Authority and Communication: Authority 
Negotiations between Managers and Employees in Two Medical Companies
Therese Monstad

Deconstructing Nationalist Assemblages: A Visual Essay on the Greek 
Cypriot Memorials Related to Two Violent Conflicts in 20th Century Cyprus
Nico Carpentier

De-Naturalizing Antagonistic Nationalism through an Academic 
Intervention. The Reception of Two Photography Exhibitions on the 
Memorialization of the Cyprus Problem
Nico Carpentier, Vaia Doudaki, Yiannis Christidis & Fatma Nazli Koksal

Digital Disconnect and Assemblages of Power: Exploring Technology 
Non-use in the Age of the Post-digital
Claes Thorén & Mats Edenius

Between Global Competition, Marketing, Deviant Play, and Cheating: 
High-End Raiding in ‘World of Warcraft’
Patrick Prax

Interpellated Citizens. Suggested Subject Positions in a Deliberation 
Process on Health Care Reimbursement
Mathieu Berger & Benjamin De Cleen

Lurkers, Opponents and the Struggle for Recognition: Accounts from 
Active Participants in Online Political Discussions
Jakob Svensson

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