ABSTRACT
Rather than begin this book with a potted explanation of Antonio Gramsci’s thought, I want you answer the question ‘Why Gramsci?’ yourself, by ‘doing’ some Gramscian analysis, albeit analysis of a cultural form with which Gramsci himself would have been entirely unfamiliar. Take a piece of participatory media (what is sometimes called ‘open access’ or ‘talkback’ media – one of the ever-widening range of broadcasts in which panels of experts and members of the public discuss and debate the issues of the day). This could be a website message board, a radio phone-in, a television discussion programme or a news item in which journalists interview members of the public on the street. Your chosen programme might deal with an obviously political issue (foreign policy, say, or the health system), but it will not be a pointless exercise if it deals with something that seems more personal or everyday – perhaps a discussion of obesity, a programme about relationships, or a sports phone-in. What I want to suggest is that, despite the heterogeneity of voices taking part in these programmes – their apparent variety and diversity – certain values will be shared amongst the programme makers, the participants and the audience, not least the beliefs that heterogeneous opinion is itself to be applauded, and that the broadcast media provide a neutral forum for its display. I want to suggest further that the ways in which these values are negotiated indicate the equilibrium that is constantly being established between different social and political groups.
