The Informed Citizen
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
THE INFORMED CITIZEN: TECHNOLOGY AND RESPONSIBILITY IN THE INFORMATION AGE Peter G. Cook B. A., Murdoch University, 1978 M.A. (Communication), Simon Fraser University, 1982 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FTJLFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of Communication O Peter G. Cook 1989 SIMON ERASER UNIVERSITY 1989 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL NAME : Peter Geoffrey Cook DEGREE : Doctor of Philosophy (Communication) TITLE OF THESIS: The Informed Citizen: -Technology and Responsibility in the Information Age EXAMINING COMMITTEE: Chairman : Dr. Jan W. Walls Dr. William Leiss Professor Senior Supervisor Prof. Liora Salter - Professor Supervisor Dr. Stephen Straker Associate Professor History Dept., UBC Supemisor Dk. Patrick Smith Associate Professor Department of Political Science, SFU External Examiner Dr. Albert Borgmanh Professor, Department of Philosophy University of Montana External Examiner DATE APPROVED : 1 May 1989 PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis or dissertation (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Title of Thesis/Dissertation: The Informed Citizen: Technology and Responsibility in the Information Age. Author: signature Peter Geoffrey Cook name 1 May 1989 date ABSTRACT This thesis explores the justification and possibility of informed citizenship in the affluent liberal-democratic states. The approach is interdisciplinary, drawing upon literature in communication studies, the philosophy of technology, and political theory. The study focuses on how modem science and technology, and information technology in particular, affect the citizen's parameters of knowledge and action in unprecedented ways. It is argued that the main difficulty for i~rmedcitizenship is not the lack of availability of information as such, but rather the pattern of citizen attention to it, and this pattern is itself an outcome of specific social relations of information. In the affluent liberal-democratic states the social relations of information are primarily geared to privatism, i.e. an orientation to intensive commodity consumption, as a way of life. In this context, information procured through advanced technology serves not only to disclose the problems and suffering of a common world, but also to insulate citizens from these same problems. The thesis argues that as a first step toward a deeper understanding of the prospects for informed citizenship, the concept of information should be reformulated to reflecrits ambiguous status within contemporary technological civilization. The study first of all outlines three perspectives on the citizen inherited fromthe m&m. Enlightenment: the citizen as pursuer of rational self-interest, as a member of a reasoning public, and as an object of technocratic manipulation. The following chapter discusses different approaches within democratic political theory to the question of informed citizenship and in particular the grounds for the citizen's deference to expert knowledge. Then, there is a consideration of the prospects for world citizenship in the light of global technological threats to the conditions for sustaining human life, and the global electronic matrix of instant communication. The next chapter focuses on debates about the role of mass media, and television in particular, in stultifying rather than enhancing informed citizenship. Finally, four themes implicit in the concept of information are highlighted for their relevance to informed citizenship: information as fact, as form, as commodity, and as self-formation. The flood of detailed information and candy floss entertainment simultaneously instructs and stultifies mankind. Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno Photography, telegraphy and the radio have shrunk the world. The populations of the cities witness the misery of the entire earth. One would think that this might prompt them to demand its abolition. But simultaneously, what is close has become the far-away. Now, the horror of one's own city is submerged in the general suffering, and people turn their attention to the marital problems of movie stars. Max Horkheimer But more information is not complete information; if anything, it makes information more and more incomplete. Daniel Bell As modem developments in communication have made for greater realism they have made for greater possibilities of delusion. Harold Innis ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing a thesis can be a solitary occupation. It is startling to discover, therefore, that the number of people who have contributed to its completion is scarcely less than that for a major motion picture. I am particularly grateful to my supervisory committee, William Leiss, Liora Salter, and Stephen Straker, for their patience and support. Invaluable comments on various drafts were also provided by Ian Angus, Simon Dalby, Myles Ruggles, and Nick Witheford. Chen Lanyan offered detailed comments and vital moral support at the critical final stage. Richard Smith and Sharon Bell provided expert technical assistance in the production of the computer-based text. I must also express a special debt to the ethos in the Department of Communication at SFU, which fosters a unique kind of interdisciplinary research. Among many others, I particularly want to thank Roman Onufrijchuk, Bohdan Zajcew, Rohan Samarajiwa, Sut Jhally, Debbie McGee, Lynn Hissey, Bob Anderson, John Mooreland, and Ron Trepanier for conversation and support. Zoe Sofoulis and Melva Forsberg have contributed to my intellectual and spiritual sanity over the years. Material support for my stay in Canada was provided by a Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship. vii Lastly, and so importantly, it was my parents, Bill and Glen Cook, who mounted a decade-long logistical effort to keep me supplied with information, materials, and their own faith in the successful completion of this saga. ... Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS APPROVAL ........................................... ii ... ABSTRACT ........................................ m ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................. vi INTRODUCTION ........................................ 1 The Problematic of Informed Citizenship ..................... 4 The Approach of This Study ............................ 13 Chapter Outline .................................... 16 THE ENLIGHTENED CITIZEN .............................. 21 The Varieties of Enlightenment ........................... 22 Enlightenment and the Informed Citizen ..................... 30 THE DEMOCRATIC CITIZEN AND EXPERTISE .................. 36 J.S. Mill and the Cultivation of Competence .................. 39 Anthony Downs and Rational Ignorance ..................... 51 The Limits of Expertise ............................... 66 THE WORLD CITIZEN ................................... 71 Imagining the World Citizen ............................ 73 World-Preservation and Democracy ........................ 79 The Global Village Revisited ............................ 92 THE INFORMED CITIZEN AND THE MASS MEDIA .............. 105 A.P. Simonds on Being Informed ........................ 109 Media and Enlightenment ............................. 122 Image-Making and the Public Sphere ...................... 135 THE CONCEPT OF INFORMATION .......................... 150 Information as Fact ................................. 152 Information as Form ................................ 163 Information as Commodity ............................ 167 Information as Self-Formation .......................... 181 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................... 190 Chapter One INTRODUCTION It is a truism today that we live in an age of information. One consequence of living in such an intensive information setting is that we are regular witnesses to the problems and suffering of the entire world. Whenever we open a newspaper or watch the television news, it is hard to avoid hearing about war, famine, terrorism, or pollution, to mention just a few examples. An abundance of further information on these topics can also be usually obtained, should we desire, from specialized magazines, libraries and other institutional sources. The relative abundance of political information about local, national, and international issues has important implications for the theory and practice of informed citizenship in the affluent liberal-democratic states. Today the citizen is deluged with more information than ever before. Despite this availability of information, the relatively few empirical studies of the levels of citizen knowledge have tended to show that the bulk of citizens are not well-informed about even the most basic political facts.' Yet even if the citizen does not attend closely to the ' See, for example, Russell W. Neuman, The Paradox of Mass Politics: Knowledge and Opinion in the American Electorate (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986), pp. 14-17. However, it should also be noted that some