Harvey 1

Tayanna Harvey

Dr. Colombo

UWRT 1104

February 15, 2017

Research Question:
Should we Allow Popular Culture and Media to Influence our Political Views
Research Journal Entry #1
Citation:
Caspi, Dan. On Media and Politics: Between Enlightened Authority and Social Responsibility. Israel

Affairs, vol. 11, no. 1, 9 Aug. 2006, pp. 2338. Taylor and Francis Online,

doi:10.1080/1353712042000324436.

Main Claim:
1. As political leadership found it difficult to part with the model of recruited media, it was
forced to search for alternative patterns of control that would conform to the principles of
Western democracy.(Caspi)
2. Instead of joining with the growing social media, the government had to find another way
to get to the people without imposing on their rights.

Summary of Source:
In this article, we learn about three different phases of broadcast media victimizing the Israelis
government political figures leading the country. In the first stage, maturation, the country sees
the plans and ideas created for political and economic growth. In the second stage,
implementation, the Israeli government puts in action the revealed plans, some of which tend to
be unpredictable. In the third and final phase, negotiation, the broadcasted results are bargained
between the media and its followers, and the government. These three phases, maturation,
implementation and negotiation, take years but prove the parallel relationship of public medias
use of information on the government and the actual governments rise and fall. This on and off
relationship gives a peak at the responsibility the media holds, and the governments use of this
responsibility.
Evaluation of Source (CRAPP):
This source is reliable according the CRAPP test. I found the article through the UNCC Atkins
Library database and found its information to be relevant to my topic question despite it being
written about another country. Having this other point of view will help me express my ideas and
 Harvey 2

having other world examples to back my up. The purpose of this article was to detail and explain
the impact of social media and how it can affect the government.
Important Quotations:
These relations are analogous with a pendulum swinging between the authoritarian
approach, common in various regimes and in societies situated in the midst of a national
struggle, and between the social responsibility approach, conventional in Western
democracies. (Caspi)
As technology continues to incite the media map, by subdividing and diversifying it, the
economic and professional competition between the various media grows more intense.
This competition constitutes the second force that supports the media contra the political
institution.(Caspi)
In the course of the first few years following the establishment of the State of Israel,
quite original solutions were found for bridging between the new government's needs and
the democratic norms. The preservation of partisan journalism during the first few
decades following the establishment of the state ensured the parties and the political
movements a proper ideological platform.(Caspi)
Following the single-channel broadcasting monopoly which lasted for two and a half
decades, in the second half of the 1980s it looked as though the various conditions for the
launch of another terrestrial television channel were ripe. The television industry could no
longer fully express itself in a single public channel and it operated unrelenting pressure
for the establishment of a commercially financed televison channel.(Caspi)

*Research Journal Entry #2

Citation:
Coleman, Linda S. You'Ve Come a Long Way, Baby: Women, Politics, and Popular Culture by Lilly J.

Goren, Editor. The Journal of American Culture, vol. 32, no. 4, 2 Dec. 2009, pp. 364365.

doi:10.1111/j.1542-734x.2009.00722_22.x.

Main Claim:
1. For them, the individual successes, choices, and diversity found in popular culture
represents isolated change, part of a political and social co-optation of feminismand
such change fails to bring the structural reform needed for real cultural change.
(Coleman)
2. Although we see a slight form of incorporating women in political engagement, there is
still not enough representation to call it actual growth and change.

Summary of Source:
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In this peer reviewed essay, the main points of Youve Come a Long Way Baby: Women
Politics and Popular Culture are brought to light and explained. It is often misunderstood, the
idea of women in politics and where they stand in terms of influence. Television, Film, gender
specific magazines and books, and even music have laid the unstable foundations countries for
generations have grown accustomed to in that women do not actually carry a strong influence in
politics. This, as time has uncovered, is very untrue. As the participation of women in politics
grow, so does this increased influence of the want for more intelligent, involved politicians.
When these politicians are voted into the government, they reach out to more female political
figures for their input and use them to increase their following. This article examines both sides
of this relationship, as it redeems positive for both sides.
Evaluation of Source (CRAPP):
I found this article through the UNCC Atkins Library database, and the material is current and
relevant to my topic and question because in our most recent election, there was this large debate
as to whether or not women should have a larger role and representation in our nations
government. The purpose of the article was to take a look at how far women have come in our
government, but shows that there is a lot more to go.
Important Quotations:
There is, as well, a greater comfort with paradox and a hoped for trangressive use of the
feminine.(Coleman)
The empowering possibilities of women living up to their potential are attractive, but
how do women discover their potential if the world still rejects women not on the basis of
competence but on the basis of others' unwillingness to accept female competence.
(Coleman)

Research Journal Entry #3

Citation:
Farah, Caesar E. Popular Culture in the Arab World: Arts, Politics, and the Media - By Andrew

Hammond. Historian, vol. 71, no. 3, 2009, pp. 584585. Wiley Online Library,

doi:10.1111/j.1540-6563.2009.00246_4.x.

Main Claim:
1. The underlying premise of his narrative is that the failure of the Arab world's
government to unite the region politically has been mitigated nevertheless by the
blossoming of a vibrant popular culture, which has strengthened the sense of a shared
Arab identity. (Farah)
2. The Arabian government inability to get the region under its control has allowed popular
culture to give Arabian individuals their own sense of identity.
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Summary of Source:
In this article, author Andrew Hammond writes about his accounts while in his decade long stay
in Egypt and Saudi Arabia as a correspondent. Most of what he writes is from his personal
observation but he gives a great amount of support from historical backgrounds and current
events. This give us readers an inside view from the medias perspective, but does not limit us to
biased information. He opens with a simple outline of just what popular culture is in Arabic
culture, which, like Americas includes commercial cinema, pop music, television and film, and
more commonly in the Arab world, popular religions. We notice a trend of large numbers of
individuals being influenced by the government to change religion, as if it is the government that
is influencing the media in this case. This opposing view was necessary to see my topic from a
different perspective and see its results.
Evaluation of Source (CRAPP):
I came across this article via UNCC Atkins Library database. This recent article gives my topic
another point of view from a different country. The information is relevant despite it being a
different region because all around the world, you can see the same effects from social media on
politics and it's important to give different examples to broaden your beliefs.
Important Quotations:
He sees in the Arabic language a key to Arab identity, and does a remarkable job of
highlighting the essential aspects of its evolution over the centuries in support of current
trends to standardize its use throughout the Arabic-speaking world and beyond into the
Islamic dimension. (Farah)
Similarly, his keen observation of current Islamic trends, which he sees as 1,001 Islams
converging, distinguishing between the true faith and the politicized trends thereof,
proves again his sense of discernment and understanding of what motivates the extremists
and jihadists.(Farah)

Research Journal Entry #5

Citation:
Kushin, Matthew James, and Masahiro Yamamoto. Did Social Media Really Matter? College

Students' Use of Online Media and Political Decision Making in the 2008

Election. Mass Communication and Society, vol. 13, no. 5, 20 Nov. 2010, pp. 608

630. Taylor and Francis Online, doi:10.1080/15205436.2010.516863.

Main Claim:
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1. During its history, the internet has developed into a key political information
source.(Kushin and Masahiro)
2. Over time, there has been a rising supply of knowledge on political affairs found on the
web.
Summary of Source:
In this article, we as readers learn the claims that support the rise of the usage of social
media overtime in political participation. When we take a look at the influence social media
possessed in elections preceding the 2008 election, its presented by comparison to the 2008
election of the lack of assistance from social media. Due to the introduction of social media
platforms such as YouTube in 2005 and Twitter in 2006, over the course of twelve years, the
individual Americans who received their information from the internet grew 1000% as the
reliance on the web became the prominent theme for younger adults. Users of the web and social
media are not only able to pursue information about current political affairs, but are able to put
out their own personal opinions and interact with others expressions.
Evaluation of the Source:
This source is reliable. It was published in 2010 as a peer reviewed article I found through the
UNCC Atkins Library database. Although it was written almost seven years, I found the
information to be relevant to the start of my research. It is well thought out and unbiased article
with claims, tests and stats written into it.
Important Quotations:
The growth of online political behavior has been facilitated partly by the recent emergence of
new interactive, media-rich Web sites.
Existing empirical evidence indicates that Internet use is positively associated with political
outcomes including situational political involvement, political efficacy, knowledge, and
participation
Attention to social media was expected to be positively related to political self-efficacy and
situational political involvement as media-rich interaction between citizens and political actors
on social media afford users the perception of increased engagement with the campaign.

Research Journal Entry #6

Citation:
Seib, Philip M. Real-Time Diplomacy: Politics and Power in the Social Media Era. New York,

Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

Main Claim:
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1. Information will reach people, and when it does, it will-in many cases-prove to be
liberating and empowering (Seib 16)
2. Individuals use the information they gain to gain a sense of identity.

Summary of Source:
For the Middle East, 2011 was a crucial year for their government due to the constant uprisings
and events testing what they had in place. However these uprisings somehow proved that despite
the civilians beliefs and/or understandings, democracy was still in place. The events happened
continuously and social media had no problem keeping up with them. The author looks at how
out of time the government could be in comparison to how quickly the media and it users react.
This book takes the connection between diplomacy in the people, and evaluates how politicians
should take advantage of the social medias quick engagement, as opposed to allowing it to
control the government and its potential results.
Evaluation of Source (CRAPP):
This source is reliable, according to the CRAPP test. I found this book through our UNCC Atkins
Library database, and its purpose is, like my others, to show how quickly the media can get a
hold of information. In smaller, seemingly less developed countries, social media can still be a
major platform and influence on how they run things. This source was written in 2015 and the
information is relevant to my topic because it shows how politicians are trying to gain control of
the social media influence.
Important Quotations:
During much of the twentieth century, speed steadily encroached on diplomatic process
as radio, then television, and then the internet were increasingly relied upon by the public
and policy makers as principal sources of information.(Seib 2)
Their structure evolves according to the capacity of the network to self-configure in
an endless search for more efficient networking arrangements.(Seib 10)
In the aspirations and discontent of that rising generation can be found the driving force
behind the Arab revolutions, which Ben Ali and other Arab autocrats
underestimated.(Seib 19)
Research Journal Entry #7
Citation:
Street, John. Celebrity Politicians: Popular Culture and Political Representation. The British Journal

of Politics and International Relations, vol. 6, no. 4, ser. 2004, 7 Nov. 2004, pp. 435452. Sage

Journals, doi:10.1111/j.1467-856x.2004.00149.x.

Main Claim:
 Harvey 7

1. The capacity to claim to speak politically as a celebrity is determined by a number of

conditions and structures, as well as by the affective bond which is created by the
relationship between the celebrity and their admirers(Street 16)
2. Celebrities carry a large power to voice their own personal opinions on current events
with the following of their fans and supporters.

Summary of Source:
Due to our most recent election and its results, I felt it was necessary to find a source in relation
to just how these star politicians like Donald Trump are created. This article focuses on the two
parts of the Celebrity Politician- the Celebrity and the Politician. The celebrity uses their
popularity to broadcast and present their often popular opinion while the politician uses their
name to represent their affiliation with a certain claim or group. Through this article, we
understand the underlying issue with having these celebrity politicians represent the government,
is that they often times dont have any legitimate connection to politics. This article doesnt say
that they all dont, because there are a select few legitimate representatives, but it does allow the
reader to decide if social media creates the candidate, or if the candidate is created based on the
media.

Evaluation of Source (CRAPP):

This source, though written 12 years ago, does seem reliable and is relevant to my topic. I found
it through the UNCC Atkins Library database and the purpose allowed me to define just what a
political figure would be under the social media light.
Important Quotations:
In this article, I want to address such concerns about celebrity politics, rst by briey
documenting its rise, the reaction to it and the causes for it, and then by asking about its
signicance and implications for ideas of political representation.(Street 3)
These criticisms of celebrity politics are premised on a set of assumptions about, inter
alia, the proper nature and character of political representation.(Street 7)
One suggestion is that these stars are in touch with popular sentiment, a claim that
itself derives from assumptions about how the celebrity and their admirers are related. It
is a claim about fandom. (Street 14)

Research Journal Entry #8

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Citation:
Street, John. Politics and Popular Culture. Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1997.

Main Claim:
1. In reality, populism is itself as much the product of political judgement and interest as
are imposed choices. (Street 16)
2. Popular culture doesnt impose on our ability to make choices ourselves.

Summary of Source:
In this book, we take a look at those who view social media as a form of self-expression and
those who view it as a form of manipulation. The author uses his own versions of popular
culture, including music, film, and his own writings and film as examples as to show just how
popular culture is not there to control the minds of its users, but to allow them to be more
accepting of their own personal opinions and ideas. He also explores the potential ideas of
manipulation with popular culture. He argues that if people do not use the media seriously, then
actual current events about the government could be mistaken and easily misunderstood. This
could be seen by some as manipulation, especially if the government knows that many people
dont take the media seriously.
Evaluation of Source (CRAPP):
I came across this source on the UNCC Atkins Library database. Although it was written almost
twenty years ago, the information is still relevant to todays events because the media has the
same impact on some as it does today. The purpose of the book was to allow readers to think
about the importance of freedom of expression through popular culture, and also allows them to
think about the potential risks of not using it correctly and taking it seriously, and that is
important to this day.
Important Quotations:
The content and character of popular culture is a legacy of a complex chain of events,
marked by the operation of the political institutions and political ideologies that organize
them(Street 6)
Each of the competing accounts is underpinned by a set of political judgements which
implicitly separate high from low culture, the elite from the popular.(Street 8)
Popular culture makes us feel things, allows us to experience sensations, that are both
familiar and novel. It does not simply echo our state of mind, it moves us.(Street 9)