Over the past decades, waves of political contention involving the use of information and communication technologies have swept across the globe. The phenomenon stimulates the scholarship on digital communication technologies and contentious collective action to thrive as an exciting, relevant, but highly fragmentary and contested field with disciplinary boundaries. To advance interdisciplinary understanding, Shifting Dynamics of Contention in the Digital Age outlines a communication-centered framework that articulates the intricate relationship between technology, communication, and contention. It systematically explores the influence of mobile technology on political contention in China, the country with the world's largest number of mobile and internet users. Using first-hand in-depth interview and fieldwork data, Shifting Dynamics of Contention in the Digital Age tracks the strategic choice of mobile phones as repertoires of contention, illustrates the effective mobilization of mobile communication on the basis of its strong and reciprocal social ties, and identifies the communicative practice of forwarding officially alleged "rumors" as a form of everyday resistance. Through this groundbreaking study, Shifting Dynamics of Contention in the Digital Age presents a nuanced portrayal of an emerging dynamics of contention--both its strengths and limitations- through the embedding of mobile communication into Chinese society and politics.

With a communication-centered framework that brings together communication studies, sociology, and political science, this book explains how people adopt and maneuver mobile technologies as tactics of contention for political mobilization in contentious moments and everyday resistance in contemporary China.

This collection reaches beyond fake news and propaganda, beyond misinformation and charismatic liars, to explore the lesser-publicized cultural forms and practices that serve as a cultural infrastructure for post-truth society and politics. Situating post-truth in specific contexts as a site of contestation or crisis, the book critically explores it as a dynamic and shifting site around which political and cultural practices in specific contexts revolve and overlap. Through a breadth of perspectives, the volume considers a number of overlapping cultural and political developments across varying national and transnational contexts: changing technologies and practices of cultural production that sometimes shift and at other times reproduce authority of traditional institutional truth-tellers; seismic cultural changes in representations, values and roles regarding gender, sexuality, race and historical memory about them, as well as corresponding reactionary discourses in the “culture wars”; questions of authenticity, honesty, and power relations that combine many of the former shifts within an all-encompassing culture of (self-) promotional, attentional capitalism. These considerations lead scholars to focus on corresponding shifting cultural dynamics of popular truth-telling and (dis-) trust-making that inform political culture. In this more global view, post-truth becomes foremost an influentially anxious public mood about the struggles to secure or undermine publicly accepted facts. This nuanced and insightful collection will interest scholars and students of communication studies, media and cultural studies, media ethics, journalism, media literacy, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and politics.

A comprehensive and authoritative introduction to China's political history, contemporary political system, and key policy areas, such as the environment, population management, and public health. Politics in China is an authoritative introduction to how the world's second most populous nation and rapidly rising global power is governed today. Written by leading China scholars, each chapter offers an accessible overview of a key topic in Chinese politics. The opening section provides readers with a firm grounding in China's modern political history, covering the decline and fall of the last imperial dynasty and the rise to power of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and the radicalism of the era of Mao Zedong (1949-76), the dramatic economic reforms carried out by Deng Xiaoping and his disciples (1978 to 2012) and the era of Xi Jinping (2012-present), who has consolidated more personal power than any CCP leader since Mao.The next section sets the framework of politics in the People's Republic of China (PRC) with chapters on the ideology of the CCP, the structure and dynamics of the political system, the role of law and legal reform, and the policies behind the country's spectacular economic transformation. The book then shifts to a discussion of a series of major political issues in China today: reform and resistance in the countryside; changes and challenges in the cities; the arts and culture; the environment and climate change; public health; population policy; and internet politics. The final chapters of the book covers politics in four important areas located on China's geographic periphery: Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The fourth edition of Politics in China has been thoroughly updated and includes a new chapter on the rise and rule of Xi Jinping. It is essential reading not only for students studying the PRC, but also for any reader interested in learning how China has evolved in recent times, how its political system works, and about the most important challenges it faces in years ahead.

Emphasizing the perspective of ordinary users, this book compares the uses of the internet in three centers of the global economy and world politics: China, Europe, and the United States. It examines the internet as the current centerpiece of communication systems encompassing interpersonal communication, mass communication, and social networking. The internet is unique as a medium in that it hosts both "old" media and "new" media. As such, it also integrates the prototypes of one-to-one (interpersonal) and one-to-many (broadcast) along with many-to-many (social media) and many-to-one (surveillance) communication. This book considers how all these media and communicative practices are embedded in social structures, cultural traditions, and historical legacies of place. Comparing conditions in China, Europe, and the United States, the chapters provide an overview of the distinctive regulatory regimes framing the internet and its local uses, the place of the internet in everyday life in each setting, and how the internet serves as a resource for political, economic, and cultural actions and interactions. Linking comparative analysis of media and social systems with ethnographic studies of internet usage on the ground, this book will be of particular interest to students and scholars working in global media, intercultural communication, and internet studies.

Steps back to look at our use of technology and draws some uncomfortable and challenging conclusions about what society may need to do to get the best, not the worst, out of the digital era. Why are our fundamental notions of space and time changing? Why going mobile is the big difference? Can we sustain current levels of communication? And more.

Welcome to Esther Dyson's provocative and visionary new book, "Release 2.0: A Design for Living in the Digital Age. In this eagerly anticipated book, Dyson--an entrepreneur, high-tech industry analyst, government adviser, and the "most powerful woman in the Net-erati," according to the "New York Times Magazine--presents a fascinating exploration of our new digital society. She offers a detailed view of the rapidly expanding digital environment and provides a framework that will allow all of us to think intelligently about its effect on every aspect of our private and public lives. Written with an insider's knowledge and a ready wit, and filled with anecdotes about the movers and shakers behind both products and policy, "Release 2.0 provides readers with a full understanding of the new world of cyberspace and shows how it is transforming the way we work and live. With a perspective at once authoritative and totally accessible, she outlines the choices and questions readers face as active citizens helping to define and shape a new social contract for the digital age. As Dyson explains, "The Net gives awesome power to individuals--the ability to be heard across the world, the ability to find information. But with this greater ability to exercise their rights, or abuse them, individuals will need to exercise greater responsibility for their own actions and for the world they are creating." In "Release 2.0, Dyson charts the implications of the Internet for business, government, education, communities, and individuals, and illuminates the fundamental conflicts in the spread of digital communication: conflicts between personal privacy and society's interest in openness, betweensecurity and freedom, between commerce and community, between government oversight and personal autonomy, between flourishing creativity and the protection of intellectual property. As Dyson makes clear, the digital society will bring profound shifts in the balance of power between producers and consumers, governments and citizens, the mass media and their audiences. Now the challenge, and the opportunity, is for citizens to resolve these conflicts and trade-offs in their own public and private communities. Throughout, Dyson's message is prescriptive and proactive: If we want to make the world a better place, with the advent of the Internet we have both the opportunity and the power to shape the new rules we want to live by. And, to demonstrate, Dyson shares her own short list of rules for being a citizen of the Net--from "Use your judgment," and "Ask questions" to "Be a producer" and "Always make new mistakes"--and invites each of us to create our own rules. Lively, informative, and always challenging, "Release 2.0 will speak to all readers looking to understand and design our new digital society.

In recent years, the Middle East's information and communications landscape has changed dramatically. Increasingly, states, businesses, and citizens are capitalizing on the opportunities offered by new information technologies, the fast pace of digitization, and enhanced connectivity. These changes are far from turning Middle Eastern nations into network societies, but their impact is significant. The growing adoption of a wide variety of information technologies and new media platforms in everyday life has given rise to complex dynamics that beg for a better understanding. Digital Middle East sheds a critical light on continuing changes that are closely intertwined with the adoption of information and communication technologies in the region. Drawing on case studies from throughout the Middle East, the contributors explore how these digital transformations are playing out in the social, cultural, political, and economic spheres, exposing the various disjunctions and discordances that have marked the advent of the digital Middle East.

With unparalleled insight and a keen understanding of the digital revolution's impact on our lives, this book explores the rise of Homo Digitalis, a new era of human existence where screens, algorithms, and data have reshaped how we interact. From the exhilarating thrill of swiping right to the troubling reality of social media-driven envy, this book delves into the paradox of our time: the paradox of impersonal intimacy. We've become experts at connecting with others across the globe while sometimes struggling to communicate with those closest to us. "The Fall of Homo Digitalis" examines how these unprecedented technological advancements have redefined our notions of love, friendship, and human connection. Whether you're a digital native, a concerned parent, or anyone curious about the transformative power of technology on our relationships, this book is a must-read for all those seeking to comprehend the ever-shifting dynamics of love, intimacy, and human connection in the digital age. "The Fall of Homo Digitalis" mirrors our digital selves and guides us toward a more connected and authentic future.