Michael Schudson
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
academic sociologist working in the fields of journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
and its history, and public culture.
Life
He was brought up in Milwaukee, WisconsinMilwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
. He has an undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
, and a doctorate in sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. From 1976 he was assistant professor at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. In 1980 he joined the faculty of University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
, where he was a Professor of Communication and Adjunct Professor of Sociology until 2009. He is currently a full-time faculty member of The Journalism School
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is one of Columbia's graduate and professional schools. It offers three degree programs: Master of Science in journalism , Master of Arts in journalism and a Ph.D. in communications...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
He received a MacArthur Foundation
MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in the United States. Based in Chicago but supporting non-profit organizations that work in 60 countries, MacArthur has awarded more than US$4 billion since its inception in 1978...
award in 1990.
Advertising, the Uneasy Persuasion (1984)
In the mid 1980s Schudson used the term "capitalist realism" to describe mainstream practices in advertising. Chapter seven of Schudson's Advertisng: The Uneasy Persuasion compares the messages and appeals of advertising to those found in the Socialist RealismSocialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. In his account, the realism of advertising promotes a way of life based on private consumption, rather than social, public achievement.
Books
- Discovering the News: A Social History of American Newspapers (1978) ISBN 978-0465016662
- Advertising, the Uneasy Persuasion (1984) ISBN 978-0465000791
- 'When? Deadlines, Datelines, and History' in Reading the News (1986) ed. Robert K. Manoff ISBN 978-0394746494
- Rethinking Popular Culture: Contemporary Perspectives in Cultural Studies (1991) editor with Chandra Mukerji ISBN 978-0520068933
- Watergate in American Memory: How We Remember, Forget and Reconstruct the Past (1992) ISBN 978-0465090846
- The Power of News (1995) ISBN 978-0674695870
- The Good Citizen: A History of American Civic Life (1998) ISBN 978-0674356405
- The Sociology of News (2003) ISBN 978-0393975130
- Why Democracies Need an Unlovable Press (2008) ISBN 978-074564452X