The Only Constant Is Change: Technology, Political Communication, and Innovation Over Time (2018)
Over the course of American political history, political elites and organizations have often updated their political communications strategies in order to achieve longstanding political communication goals in more efficient or effective ways. But why do successful innovations occur when they do, and what motivates political actors to make choices about how to innovate their communication tactics? Covering over 300 years of political communication innovations, Ben Epstein shows how this process of change happens and why. To do this, Epstein, following an interdisciplinary approach, proposes a new model called "the political communication cycle" that accounts for the technological, behavioral, and political factors that lead to revolutionary political communication changes over time. These changes (at least the successful ones) have been far from gradual, as long periods of relatively stable political communication activities have been disrupted by brief periods of dramatic and permanent transformation. These transformations are driven by political actors and organizations, and tend to follow predictable patterns. Epstein moves beyond the technological determinism that characterizes communication history scholarship and the medium-specific focus of much political communication work. The book identifies the political communication revolutions that have, in the United States, led to four, relatively stable political communication orders over history: the elite, mass, broadcast, and (the current) information orders. It identifies and tests three phases of each revolutionary cycle, ultimately sketching possible paths for the future. The Only Constant is Change offers readers and scholars a model and vocabulary to compare political communication changes across time and between different types of political organizations. This provides greater understanding of where we are currently in the recurring political communication cycle, and where we might be headed.
...MoreReview Oz Frankel (2019) Review of "The Only Constant Is Change: Technology, Political Communication, and Innovation Over Time". Journal of American History (pp. 421-422).
Similar Citations
Book
Ehrlich, Matthew C.;
(2011)
Radio Utopia: Postwar Audio Documentary in the Public Interest
(/isis/citation/CBB001212490/)
Book
Russo, Alexander;
(2010)
Points on the Dial: Golden Age Radio beyond the Networks
(/isis/citation/CBB001035568/)
Book
Kathryn Cramer Brownell;
(2014)
Showbiz politics: Hollywood in American political life
(/isis/citation/CBB017201620/)
Thesis
Kim, Richard S.Y.;
(2010)
Cyber-Surveillance: A Case Study in Policy and Development
(/isis/citation/CBB001567169/)
Book
Downey, Gregory J.;
(2011)
Technology and communication in American history: SHOT/AHA historical perspectives on technology, society, and culture
(/isis/citation/CBB001180004/)
Book
Corrina Laughlin;
(2021)
Redeem All: How Digital Life Is Changing Evangelical Culture
(/isis/citation/CBB828653011/)
Chapter
Jones, Morris;
(2013)
Mainstream Media and Social Media Reactions to the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life
(/isis/citation/CBB001510158/)
Article
Wijfjes, Huub;
(2014)
Spellbinding and Crooning: Sound Amplification, Radio, and Political Rhetoric in International Comparative Perspective, 1900--1945
(/isis/citation/CBB001421228/)
Article
Ward, Ian;
(2014)
Parliament on “the Wireless” in Australia
(/isis/citation/CBB001422012/)
Book
Bridget Griffen-Foley;
(2020)
Australian Radio Listeners and Television Viewers: Historical Perspectives
(/isis/citation/CBB771467087/)
Book
Slotten, Hugh Richard;
(2009)
Radio's Hidden Voice: The Origins of Public Broadcasting in the United States
(/isis/citation/CBB001230678/)
Book
Lenthall, Bruce;
(2007)
Radio's America: The Great Depression and the Rise of Modern Mass Culture
(/isis/citation/CBB001035573/)
Article
Paul M. Dennis;
(2020)
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen: America’s Public Critic of Psychoanalysis, 1947–1957
(/isis/citation/CBB326374446/)
Article
Francisco Pérez-Fernández;
Francisco López-Muñoz;
(2019)
The Kirkbride buildings in contemporary culture (1850–2015): from ‘moral management’ to horror films
(/isis/citation/CBB808007727/)
Book
Joseph Fitsanakis;
(2020)
Redesigning Wiretapping: The Digitization of Communications Interception
(/isis/citation/CBB949296828/)
Book
Gitelman, Lisa;
Pingree, Geoffrey B.;
(2003)
New Media, 1740--1915
(/isis/citation/CBB000301956/)
Book
Ann Gray;
Erin Bell;
(2012)
History on Television
(/isis/citation/CBB042137482/)
Book
Loviglio, Jason;
(2005)
Radio's Intimate Public: Network Broadcasting and Mass-Mediated Democracy
(/isis/citation/CBB000700562/)
Book
Rita Zájacz;
(2019)
Reluctant power : Networks, corporations, and the struggle for global governance in the early 20th century
(/isis/citation/CBB045733020/)
Book
Krysko, Michael A;
(2011)
American Radio in China: International Encounters with Technology and Communications, 1919--41
(/isis/citation/CBB001421278/)
Be the first to comment!