Michael S. Roth

Bio: Michael S. Roth is an academic researcher from University of California, Los Angeles. The author has contributed to research in topics: Liberal education & Intellectual history. The author has an hindex of 16, co-authored 37 publications receiving 4979 citations. Previous affiliations of Michael S. Roth include Wesleyan University.

The End of History and the Last Man.

Abstract: A combination doll and accessory set wherein the doll has a movable body portion and a movable arm connected to the body portion and adapted to hold a paint brush or the like. The accessory set includes a platen on which paper or the like may be positioned to receive paint from the paint brush. The platen is mounted on a base structure in front of the doll, and a manually actuatable mechanism within the base structure is operatively connected to a mechanism on the doll whereby the mechanism within the platen base structure can be operated by a user, as by a crank. Rotation of the crank rotates the platen and simultaneously moves the doll's body portion and arm back and forth to carry the paint brush therewith alternately between the platen and a paint container positioned alongside the doll but spaced from the platen.

Foucault's "History of the Present"

Abstract: A pastime of growing popularity in recent years has been that of observing the often furious activity of the French intellectual scene. Fascinated by the apparently revolutionary implications of approaching the unconscious, the text, primitives, superstructure/base, and the past in the latest way, American scholars from Baltimore to Santa Cruz have been avidly following (often just a few steps behind) the many twists and turns of their colleagues across the sea. This following often takes the form of a redefinition of what the French are doing in terms that slide more easily through our own vocabularies than the terms in which the French themselves choose to define their projects. This paper will join the growing tradition in attempting a redefinition of some of the implications of Michel Foucault's historical works. It will attempt to answer the question "What is Foucault really doing?" by examining the relationship between "the past" and "the present" in The Birth of the Clinic, The Order of Things, and Discipline and Punish. I shall try to make sense of what Foucault means by writing a "history of the present" by showing the connections between archaeology and criticism in these three works. Foucault himself tried to tell his readers, in part, what he "had really been doing" in his methodological work, The Archaeology of Knowledge (1969), and I shall make some use of his explanations in this paper. However, The Archaeology of Knowledge did not answer some major questions about Foucault's work; questions that have been raised generally in the philosophy of history. The relationship between the inquirer's present with the past which he is examining is placed in the foreground by Foucault's archaeological project; I shall attempt to explicate this relationship as well as briefly to distinguish it from other approaches to the writing of history.

Toward a Theory of Social Practices A Development in Culturalist Theorizing

Abstract: This article works out the main characteristics of `practice theory', a type of social theory which has been sketched by such authors as Bourdieu, Giddens, Taylor, late Foucault and others. Practice theory is presented as a conceptual alternative to other forms of social and cultural theory, above all to culturalist mentalism, textualism and intersubjectivism. The article shows how practice theory and the three other cultural-theoretical vocabularies differ in their localization of the social and in their conceptualization of the body, mind, things, knowledge, discourse, structure/process and the agent.

Political conservatism as motivated social cognition.

Abstract: Analyzing political conservatism as motivated social cognition integrates theories of personality (authoritarianism, dogmatism-intolerance of ambiguity), epistemic and existential needs (for closure, regulatory focus, terror management), and ideological rationalization (social dominance, system justification). A meta-analysis (88 samples, 12 countries, 22,818 cases) confirms that several psychological variables predict political conservatism: death anxiety (weighted mean r = .50); system instability (.47); dogmatism-intolerance of ambiguity (.34); openness to experience (-.32); uncertainty tolerance (-.27); needs for order, structure, and closure (.26); integrative complexity (-.20); fear of threat and loss (.18); and self-esteem (-.09). The core ideology of conservatism stresses resistance to change and justification of inequality and is motivated by needs that vary situationally and dispositionally to manage uncertainty and threat.

Organizational change and development

Abstract: Recent analyses of organizational change suggest a growing concern with the tempo of change, understood as the characteristic rate, rhythm, or pattern of work or activity. Episodic change is contrasted with continuous change on the basis of implied metaphors of organizing, analytic frameworks, ideal organizations, intervention theories, and roles for change agents. Episodic change follows the sequence unfreeze-transition-refreeze, whereas continuous change follows the sequence freeze-rebalance-unfreeze. Conceptualizations of inertia are seen to underlie the choice to view change as episodic or continuous.

On Organizational Becoming: Rethinking Organizational Change

Abstract: Traditional approaches to organizational change have been dominated by assumptions privileging stability, routine, and order. As a result, organizational change has been reified and treated as exceptional rather than natural. In this paper, we set out to offer an account of organizational change on its own terms--to treat change as the normal condition of organizational life. The central question we address is as follows: What must organization(s) be like if change is constitutive of reality? Wishing to highlight the pervasiveness of change in organizations, we talk about organizational becoming. Change, we argue, is the reweaving of actors' webs of beliefs and habits of action to accommodate new experiences obtained through interactions. Insofar as this is an ongoing process, that is to the extent actors try to make sense of and act coherently in the world, change is inherent in human action, and organizations are sites of continuously evolving human action. In this view, organization is a secondary accomplishment, in a double sense. Firstly, organization is the attempt to order the intrinsic flux of human action, to channel it towards certain ends by generalizing and institutionalizing particular cognitive representations. Secondly, organization is a pattern that is constituted, shaped, and emerging from change. Organization aims at stemming change but, in the process of doing so, it is generated by it. These claims are illustrated by drawing on the work of several organizational ethnographers. The implications of this view for theory and practice are outlined.

McQuail's mass communication theory

Abstract: PART ONE: PRELIMINARIES 1. Introduction to the Book Our object of study The structure of the book Themes and issues in mass communication Manner of treatment How to use the book Limitations of coverage and perspective Different kinds of theory Communication science and the study of mass communication Alternative traditions of analysis: structural, behavioural and cultural Conclusion 2. The Rise of Mass Media From the beginning to mass media Print media: the book Print media: the newspaper Other print media Film as a mass medium Broadcasting Recorded music The communications revolution: new media versus old Differences between media Conclusion PART TWO: THEORIES 3. Concepts and Models for Mass Communication Early perspectives on media and society The 'mass' concept The mass communication process The mass audience The mass media as an institution of society Mass culture and popular culture The rise of a dominant paradigm for theory and research An alternative, critical paradigm Four models of communication Conclusion 4. Theory of Media and Society Media, society and culture: connections and conflicts Mass communication as a society-wide process: the mediation of social relations and experience A frame of reference for connecting media with society Theme I: power and inequality Theme II: social integration and identity Theme III: social change and development Theme IV: space and time Media-society theory I: the mass society Media-society theory II: Marxism and political economy Media-society theory III: functionalism Media-society theory IV: social constructionism Media-society theory V: communication technology determinism Media-society theory VI: the information society Conclusion 5. Mass Communication and Culture Communication and culture The beginnings: the Frankfurt School and critical cultural theory The redemption of the popular Gender and the mass media Commercialization Communication technology and culture Mass media and postmodern culture Conclusion 6. New Media - New Theory? New media and mass communication What is new about the new media? The main themes of new media theory Applying medium theory to the new media New patterns of information traffic Computer-mediated community formation Political participation, new media and democracy Technologies of freedom? New equalizer or divider? Conclusion 7. Normative Theory of Media and Society Sources of normative obligation The media and the public interest Main issues for social theory of the media Early approaches to theory: the press as 'fourth estate' The 1947 Commission on Freedom of the Press and the social theory of responsibility Professionalism and media ethics Four Theories of the Press and beyond The public service broadcasting alternative Mass media, civil society and the public sphere Response to the discontents of the public sphere Alternative visions Normative media theory: four models Conclusion PART THREE: STRUCTURES 8. Media Structure and Performance: Principles and Accountability Media freedom as a principle Media equality as a principle Media diversity as a principle Truth and information quality Social order and solidarity Cultural order The meaning of accountability Two alternative models of accountability Lines and relations of accountability Frames of accountability Conclusion 9. Media Economics and Governance Media 'not just any other business' The basics of media structure and levels of analysis Some economic principles of media structure Ownership and control Competition and concentration Mass media governance The regulation of mass media: alternative models Media policy paradigm shifts Media systems and political systems Conclusion 10. Global Mass Communication Origins of globalization Driving forces: technology and money Global media structure Multinational media ownership and control Varieties of global mass media International media dependency Cultural imperialism and beyond The media transnationalization process International news flow The global trade in media culture Towards a global media culture? Global media governance Conclusion PART FOUR: ORGANIZATIONS 11. The Media Organization: Pressures and Demands Research methods and perspectives The main issues Levels of analysis The media organization in a field of social forces Relations with society Relations with pressure and interest groups Relations with owners and clients Relations with the audience Aspects of internal structure and dynamics The influence of personal characteristics of mass communicators Role conflicts and dilemmas Conclusion 12. The Production of Media Culture Media-organizational activities: gatekeeping and selection Influences on news selection The struggle over access between media and society The influence of sources on news Media-organizational activity: processing and presentation The logic of media culture Alternative models of decision-making The coming of convergence culture: consumers as producers Conclusion PART FIVE: CONTENT 13. Media Content: Issues, Concepts and Methods of Analysis Why study media content? Critical perspectives on content Structuralism and semiology Media content as information Media performance discourse Objectivity and its measurement Questions of research method Traditional content analysis Quantitative and qualitative analysis compared Conclusion 14. Media Genres and Texts Questions of genre Genre and the internet The news genre The structure of news: bias and framing News as narrative Television violence The cultural text and its meanings Conclusion PART SIX: AUDIENCES 15. Audience Theory and Research Traditions The audience concept The original audience From mass to market Goals of audience research Alternative traditions of research Audience issues of public concern Types of audience The audience as a group or public The gratifi cation set as audience The medium audience Audience as defi ned by channel or content Questions of audience reach Activity and selectivity Conclusion 16. Audience Formation and Experience The 'why' of media use A structural approach to audience formation The uses and gratifi cations approach An integrated model of audience choice Public and private spheres of media use Subculture and audience Lifestyle Gendered audiences Sociability and uses of the media Normative framing of media use Audience norms for content The view from the audience Media fandom The end of the audience? The 'escape' of the audience The future of the audience The audience concept again Conclusion PART SEVEN: EFFECTS 17. Processes and Models of Media Effects The premise of media effect The natural history of media effect research and theory: four phases Types of communicative power Levels and kinds of effects Processes of media effect: a typology Individual response and reaction: the stimulus-response model Mediating conditions of effect Source-receiver relations and effect The campaign Conclusion 18. Social-Cultural Effects A model of behavioural effect The media, violence and crime Media, children and young people Collective reaction effects Diffusion of innovation and development The social distribution of knowledge Social learning theory Socialization Social control and consciousness formation Cultivation Media and long-term social and cultural change Entertainment effects Conclusion 19. News, Public Opinion and Political Communication Learning from news News diffusion Framing effects Agenda-setting Effects on public opinion and attitudes The elaboration-likelihood model of infl uence The spiral of silence: the formation of climates of opinion Structuring reality and unwitting bias The communication of risk Political communication effects in democracies Effects on the political institution and process Media influence on event outcomes Propaganda and war Internet news effects Conclusion EPILOGUE 20. The Future of Mass Communication Origins of the mass communication idea The end of mass communication? The survival of mass communication The consequences of new media for mass communication Conclusion