John Michael

Bio: John Michael is an academic researcher from University of Oxford. The author has contributed to research in topics: Identity (social science) & Skepticism. The author has an hindex of 8, co-authored 21 publications receiving 309 citations.

Anxious Intellects: Academic Professionals, Public Intellectuals, and Enlightenment Values

Abstract: Intellectuals occupy a paradoxical position in contemporary American culture as they struggle both to maintain their critical independence and to connect to the larger society. In Anxious Intellects John Michael discusses how critics from the right and the left have conceived of the intellectual’s role in a pluralized society, weighing intellectual authority against public democracy, universal against particularistic standards, and criticism against the respect of popular movements. Michael asserts that these Enlightenment-born issues, although not “resolvable,” are the very grounds from which real intellectual work must proceed. As part of his investigation of intellectuals’ self-conceptions and their roles in society, Michael concentrates on several well-known contemporary African American intellectuals, including Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cornel West. To illuminate public debates over pedagogy and the role of university, he turns to the work of Todd Gitlin, Michael Berube, and Allan Bloom. Stanley Fish’s pragmatic tome, Doing What Comes Naturally , along with a juxtaposition of Fredric Jameson and Samuel Huntington’s work, proves fertile ground for Michael’s argument that democratic politics without intellectuals is not possible. In the second half of Anxious Intellects , Michael relies on three popular conceptions of the intellectual—as critic, scientist, and professional—to discuss the work of scholars Constance Penley, Henry Jenkins, the celebrated physicist Stephen Hawking, and others, insisting that ambivalence, anxiety, projection, identification, hybridity, and various forms of psychosocial complexity constitute the real meaning of Enlightenment intellectuality. As a new and refreshing contribution to the recently emergent culture and science wars, Michael’s take on contemporary intellectuals and their place in society will enliven and redirect these ongoing debates.

The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History

Abstract: In what case do you like reading so much? What about the type of the the muqaddimah an introduction to history book? The needs to read? Well, everybody has their own reason why should read some books. Mostly, it will relate to their necessity to get knowledge from the book and want to read just to get entertainment. Novels, story book, and other entertaining books become so popular this day. Besides, the scientific books will also be the best reason to choose, especially for the students, teachers, doctors, businessman, and other professions who are fond of reading.

No Respect: Intellectuals and Popular Culture.

Abstract: The intellectual and the popular: Irving Howe and John Waters, Susan Sontag and Ethel Rosenberg, Dwight MacDonald and Bill Cosby, Amiri Baraka and Mick Jagger, Andrea Dworkin and Grace Jones, Andy Warhol and Lenny Bruce. All feature in Andrew Ross's lively history and critique of modern American culture. Andrew Ross examines how and why the cultural authority of modern intellectuals is bound up with the changing face of popular taste in America. He argues that the making of \"taste\" is hardly an aesthetic activity, but rather an exercise in cultural power, policing and carefully redefining social relations between classes.

Media made criminality: The representation of crime in the mass media

Abstract: This is the substantially updated and revised third edition of the highly acclaimed Handbook of Criminology. It is the most comprehensible and authoritative single volume guide to the subject; combining masterly reviews of all the key topics with extensive references to aid further research. In addition to the history of the discipline and reviews of different theoretical perspectives, the book provides up-to-date reviews of such diverse topics as crime statistics, the criminal justice process, race and gender and the media and crime. It is essential reading for all teachers and students of criminology and an indispensable source book for professionals.