Political Scandal
Power and Visability in the Media Age
1. Edition October 2000
336 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Political scandals have become a pervasive feature of many
societies today. From Profumo to the cash-for-questions scandal,
from Watergate to the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, scandals have come
to play a central role in politics and in the shaping of public
debate. What are the characteristics of political scandals and why
have they come to assume such prominence today? What are the social
and political consequences of the preoccupation with political
scandal in the public domain?
In this major new book Thompson develops a systematic and
wide-ranging analysis of the phenomenon of political scandal. He
shows that the rise of political scandal is linked to the changes
brought about by the development of communication media, which have
transformed the nature of visibility and altered the relations
between public and private life. He analyses the characteristics of
scandals as mediated events and he explains why mediated scandals
in the political field have become increasingly prevalent in recent
years.
Distinguishing between three basic types of political scandal,
Thompson reconstructs the development of sex scandals, financial
scandals and what he calls 'power scandals' in Britain and the
United States, showing how scandals unfold and how they form part
of distinctive political cultures of scandal. In the final chapter,
Thompson develops an original theoretical account of political
scandal and its consequences which highlights the connections
between scandal, reputation and trust.
This book is a path-breaking analysis of a troubling phenomenon
which has become a central feature of public life in our societies
today. It will be of great interest to students of sociology,
politics, and media and cultural studies. It will also appeal to a
wider readership interested in social and political issues.
Preface.
Acknowledgements.
Introduction.
1. What is Scandal?.
2. The Rise of Mediated Scandal.
3. Scandal as a Mediated Event.
4. The Nature of Political Scandal.
5. Sex Scandals in the Political Field.
6. Financial Scandals in the Political Field.
7. Power Scandals.
8. The Consequences of Scandal.
Conclusion.
Notes.
Index.
political life: why the most powerful men are threatened by the
risk of scandals which undermine their power. I won't give away the
argument because it reads like a thriller.' Ulrich Beck,
University of Munich
'This is the most thoughtful, best grounded work ever on the
subject of political scandal. It is indispensable for anyone who
seeks to understand the growing place of scandal-centered politics
in our time.' Michael Schudson, University of California, San
Diego
'This is an incisive and disturbing book. John Thompson goes far
beyond newspaper accounts of scandal. He makes of scandal a subject
which unlocks important secrets about political power. A must
read.' Richard Sennett, London School of Economics
'[A] cool, shrewd and revealing exposé of the apparatus of
scandal ... In a climate of almost perpetual moral indignation,
there is an undeniable frisson to reading a text on scandal that
does not sermonise and denounce dodgy politicians and/or
unscrupulous muckrakers. Thompson's work is virtually a compact
encyclopaedia of modern scandal, but it is above all an overarching
theory of the genre, keeping a detached but sympathetic distance
from heroes, clowns and victims alike ... an illuminating book.'
Andy Martin, The Independent
'Excellent analysis ... from Polity, at the cleverer end of the
trade.' Andrew Marr, booksonline
"What is unique about this work is not just that the author
focuses on the role of the media...but that the author brings many
of these disparate elements together in what is perhaps the first
systematic and comprehensive theory of scandal available to
scholars" C.J.Spiliotes. Canadian Journal of Political
Science
Political Scandal has been awarded the coveted European
Amalfi Prize for Sociology and Social Sciences for
2001.
"Thompson's aim is not simply to re-narrate and codify, rather
to refelct on what scandal's prominence reveals about the character
of power in the "media age", developing a "social theory" of
scandal's "conditions and consequences." The Times Higher
Education Supplement
"This book has a lot to say about mediated political scandals
-including their roots and consequences in liberal democratic
societies- and his author says it very, very well....highly
illuminating journey through media, political and cultural
history.... I cannot recommend this book highly enough for any of
several audiences..." Amy Binder, Social forces
"Thompson's approach to the analysis of political scandal brings
together social science and discourse theories in a dynamic
combination, thus illustrating how discourse analysts can learn
from social scientists, and vice versa. The volume is a very useful
reference for practitioners and students in media, political and
critical discourse analysis." Discourse & Society