Introduction to Politics and Economics

What is Politics?

• Politics is the means of giving form to the life of a people
• It is the activity of striving to share power or influence the distribution of power
• This can occur among states or among groups within a state

What is Economics?

• Economics comes from the Greek "oikos" for house and "nomos" for law
• Initially, economics referred to household management
• Economics is the study of human decision-making in the face of scarcity
• It is a social science aimed at satisfying needs and wants through resource allocation

What is Political Economy?

• Political economy originally referred to a tradition of economic thinking that addressed resource production, distribution, and consumption
• For Adam Smith, it was the study of political decision-making, concerned with government activities to aid economic growth
• "What economy is in a family, political economy is in a state"

Political Economy of Communication

• It is a social exchange of meaning that measures or marks a social relationship
• Communication is more than data or information transmission; it is the social production of meaning
• Political economy is the study of social relations, particularly power relations, that mutually constitute resource production, distribution, and consumption, including communication resources

What is Power?

• Power is the chance to realize one's own will in communal action, even against resistance
• Power is the ability to control people, processes, and things, even in the face of resistance
• Power is a capacity or ability to create and act

Politics, Economy, and Society

• Resource allocation involves political, not just economic, decisions with moral consequences that permeate social life
• Political economy examines the social whole, including economic, political, social, and cultural areas of life
• It asks how power and wealth are related and how they are connected to cultural and social life

Moral Philosophy

• Political economy supports a range of moral positions, but tends to favor the value of extending democracy to all aspects of social life
• This includes income equality, access to education, full public participation in cultural production, and a guaranteed right to communicate freely

Critical Political Economy

• Critical political economy sees knowledge as the product of comparisons with other bodies of knowledge and social values
• It examines how the political and economic organization of media industries affects the production and circulation of meaning and connects to the distribution of symbolic and material resources

Areas of Political Economy

• Production: the manner of media communications production and the conditions that influence production practices
• Content: the goods manufactured by cultural industries that play a pivotal role in organizing images and discourses
• Audience: the interrogation of the consumption of ideological images by groups of people sold to advertisers as a niche market

Questions in Political Economy

• How do media relate to power sources in society?
• Who is represented in media and how?
• Whose interests are served and prioritized?
• Who has access to communication resources and what can they do with them?
• What symbolic meanings are attached or embedded in media texts?
• How do media contents impact society?

Democracy

• A method of group decision making characterized by a kind of equality among participants
• A system of government where citizens exercise power to rule the state, either directly or through electing representatives
• A universal value based on the freely expressed will of people to determine their political, economic, social, and cultural systems
• Government of the people, by the people, and for the people

Core Characteristics of Democracy

• Citizen rule: power and civic responsibility are exercised by all adult citizens
• Majority rule and minority rights: democracies guard against all-powerful central governments and decentralize to regional and local levels
• Free and fair elections: regular elections open to citizens of voting age
• Citizen participation: citizens have the responsibility to participate in the political system
• Cooperation and compromise: democratic societies commit to values of tolerance, cooperation, and compromise

Freedom of Speech and Expression

• The freedom of speech, expression, and press, as well as the right to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances
• A necessary condition for democracy, allowing citizens to participate fully in public life and criticize government officials or policies

Media and Reality

• Critical questions to ask about the media: who constructs media images, what are their interests and biases, why are we seeing these images, and do work practices skew the pictures we receive?

Media as Power Source

• Power is the capacity to get one's own way when interacting with others
• The media became a central site for impression management and defining social position and status
• The media creates myths, kings, and even enemies

Introduction to Political Economy

• Politics is the means of giving form to the life of a people and striving to share or influence the distribution of power.
• Economics is the study of human decision-making in the face of scarcity, aiming to satisfy needs and wants through the allocation of scarce resources.
• Political economy originally referred to the tradition of economic thinking that addresses the production, distribution, and consumption of resources to sustain human existence.

Definition of Political Economy of Communication

• Political economy of communication is the social exchange of meaning that constitutes a social relationship.
• It is the study of the social relations, particularly power relations, that mutually constitute the production, distribution, and consumption of resources, including communication resources.

Power and its Relationship to Politics and Economy

• Power is the ability to control other people, processes, and things, even in the face of resistance.
• Power is a capacity or ability that each person has to create and act.
• The allocation of resources involves political, not merely economic, decisions that have moral consequences that permeate social life.

Politics, Economy, and Society

• Political economy examines the social whole, including the economic, political, social, and cultural areas of life.
• It asks how power and wealth are related and how they are connected to cultural and social life.

Moral Philosophy

• Contemporary political economy tends to favor the value of extending democracy to all aspects of social life.
• This includes the political realm, economic, social, and cultural domains, where supporters of democracy call for income equality, access to education, full public participation in cultural production, and a guaranteed right to communicate freely.

Critical Political Economy

• Critical political economy is critical because it sees knowledge as the product of comparisons with other bodies of knowledge and social values.
• It examines how the political and economic organization of media industries affects the production and circulation of meaning, and connects to the distribution of symbolic and material resources.

Areas of Political Economy

• Production: the manner in which media communications are produced and the conditions that influence production practices.
• Distribution: the marketing strategies and accessibility of media content.
• Consumption: the audience behavior and reception of media content.

Questions in Political Economy

• How do media relate to power sources in society?
• Who is represented in media and how?
• Whose interests are served and prioritized?
• Who has access to communication resources and what can they do with them?
• What symbolic meanings are attached or embedded in media texts?
• How do media contents impact society?

Media and Politics

• Democracy is a method of group decision-making characterized by a kind of equality among the participants at an essential stage of the collective decision-making.
• Freedom of speech and expression is essential for democracy, as it enables citizens to participate in public life and criticize unwise or oppressive government officials or policies.

Media as Power Source

• The media has become the most important cultural resource, as it is the central site for impression management and defining social position and status.
• The media creates myths, kings, and even enemies, and has the power to shape social reality.