The Public Brain

Ideology, Social Media and the Neuroscientific Turn

Dr. Joss Hands

"The Public Brain" will explore and challenge the ways in which scientific discourses about the brain have been erroneously used to maintain hierarchies and exclusions in politics and the public sphere, from ancient Greece up to the age of social media.

The book connects the historic understanding of the brain with the history of politics and the public sphere in order to address the current concerns about social media, democratic collapse and technological control. It provides an understanding of our current predicament of ‘post-truth’, political manipulation and fake news, beyond the usual fear mongering or celebratory rhetoric. It offers a way out of this condition, aiming to revive theories of rationality, but in recognition of multiple perspectives, intersectionality and accounting for our digital networked context, in pursuit of a new civility.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International

• Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-78661-604-3 • Hardback • February 2024 • $120.00 • (£92.00)

978-1-78661-605-0 • Paperback • February 2024 • $39.95 • (£31.00)

978-1-78661-606-7 • eBook • February 2024 • $38.00 • (£29.00) (coming soon)

Subjects: Social Science / Anthropology / General, Political Science / Political Process / Media & Internet

The Public Brain

Ideology, Social Media and the Neuroscientific Turn

Hardback

Paperback

Summary

"The Public Brain" will explore and challenge the ways in which scientific discourses about the brain have been erroneously used to maintain hierarchies and exclusions in politics and the public sphere, from ancient Greece up to the age of social media.

The book connects the historic understanding of the brain with the history of politics and the public sphere in order to address the current concerns about social media, democratic collapse and technological control. It provides an understanding of our current predicament of ‘post-truth’, political manipulation and fake news, beyond the usual fear mongering or celebratory rhetoric. It offers a way out of this condition, aiming to revive theories of rationality, but in recognition of multiple perspectives, intersectionality and accounting for our digital networked context, in pursuit of a new civility.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International

• Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-78661-604-3 • Hardback • February 2024 • $120.00 • (£92.00)

978-1-78661-605-0 • Paperback • February 2024 • $39.95 • (£31.00)

978-1-78661-606-7 • eBook • February 2024 • $38.00 • (£29.00) (coming soon)

Subjects: Social Science / Anthropology / General, Political Science / Political Process / Media & Internet

Author

Joss Hands is Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Newcastle University. He was previously Reader in Media and Critical Theory at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge.

Table of Contents

1 – Introduction: Public – Brain - Media
2 – Greece and the Polis Brain
3 – The Revolutionary Brain
4 – The Bourgeois Brain and Public Reason
5 – The Collective Brain and the Commons
6 – The ‘Decline’ of the Public Brain
7 – Flexible Brains and Smart Technology
8 – The Evil Brain and the Dark Web
9 – The Masses and the Classes: The Lever Brain
10 – The Public Brain and its Problems

The Public Brain

Ideology, Social Media and the Neuroscientific Turn

Dr. Joss Hands

The Public Brain

Ideology, Social Media and the Neuroscientific Turn

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