Ingrid Volkmer

This book introduces a new methodology to assess the way in which journalists today operate within a new sphere of communicative ‘public’ interdependence across global digital communities by focusing on climate change debates. The authors propose a framework of ‘cosmopolitan loops,’ which addresses three major transformations in journalistic practice: the availability of ‘fluid’ webs of data which situate journalistic practice in a transnational arena; the increased involvement of journalists from developing countries in a transnationally interdependent sphere; and the increased awareness of a larger interconnected globalized ‘risk’ dimension of even local issues which shapes a new sphere of news ‘horizons.’ The authors draw on interviews with journalists to demonstrate that the construction of climate change ‘issues’ is increasingly situated in an emerging dimension of journalistic interconnectivity with climate actors across local, global and digital arenas and through physicaland digital spaces of flows.

This book introduces a new methodology to assess the way in which journalists today operate within a new sphere of communicative ‘public’ interdependence across global digital communities by focusing on climate change debates. The authors propose a framework of ‘cosmopolitan loops,’ which addresses three major transformations in journalistic practice: the availability of ‘fluid’ webs of data which situate journalistic practice in a transnational arena; the increased involvement of journalists from developing countries in a transnationally interdependent sphere; and the increased awareness of a larger interconnected globalized ‘risk’ dimension of even local issues which shapes a new sphere of news ‘horizons.’ The authors draw on interviews with journalists to demonstrate that the construction of climate change ‘issues’ is increasingly situated in an emerging dimension of journalistic interconnectivity with climate actors across local, global and digital arenas and through physicaland digital spaces of flows.

Over the last several years, the debate about publics seems to have newly emerged. This debate critically reflects the Habermasian ideal of a (national) public sphere in a transnational context. However, it seems that the issue of a reconstruction of a global public sphere is more complex. In this brilliant and provocative book, Ingrid Volkmer argues that a reflective approach of globalization is required in order to identify and deconstruct key strata of deliberate public discourse in supra- and subnational societal formations. This construction helps to understand the new processes of legitimacy at the beginning of the 21st century in which the traditional conception of a ‘public’ and its role as a legitimizing force are being challenged and transformed. The book unfolds this key phenomenon of global deliberate interconnectedness as a discursive and negotiated dimension within ‘reflective’ globalization, i.e. continuously constituting, maintaining and refining the ‘life’ of the global public and conceptualizes a global public sphere. Offering insightful case studies to illustrate this new theory of the global public sphere, the book will be essential reading for students and scholars of media and communication studies , and social and political theory.

Over the last several years, the debate about publics seems to have newly emerged. This debate critically reflects the Habermasian ideal of a (national) public sphere in a transnational context. However, it seems that the issue of a reconstruction of a global public sphere is more complex. In this brilliant and provocative book, Ingrid Volkmer argues that a reflective approach of globalization is required in order to identify and deconstruct key strata of deliberate public discourse in supra- and subnational societal formations. This construction helps to understand the new processes of legitimacy at the beginning of the 21st century in which the traditional conception of a ‘public’ and its role as a legitimizing force are being challenged and transformed. The book unfolds this key phenomenon of global deliberate interconnectedness as a discursive and negotiated dimension within ‘reflective’ globalization, i.e. continuously constituting, maintaining and refining the ‘life’ of the global public and conceptualizes a global public sphere. Offering insightful case studies to illustrate this new theory of the global public sphere, the book will be essential reading for students and scholars of media and communication studies , and social and political theory.

Wann zuerst hätte ein Buch über ,Jugend und Mode' erscheinen können? Eine interessante, aber äußerst schwierige Frage, wenn man sie historisch-präzis und differenziert zu beantworten sucht. Im groben hingegen liegt die Antwort auf der Hand: den Zusammen­ hang von Jugend und Mode zu beobachten und zu bedenken lohnt sich, seitdem Jugendliche selbst Beiträger zum Mode-Diskurs sind und sich nicht mehr in das fügen, was Eltern ihnen als Kleidung vor­ schreiben. So lange Kinder und Jugendliche wie ihre Eltern in den alterszugeschriebenen Konventionen leben, ist Mode etwas, das die Erwachsenen angeht. Um die Wende zu diesem Jahrhundert späte­ stens hat sich dies, wennzwar allmählich, immer mehr verändert. Wenn die Wandervögel im Zitat der Landsknechtskluft oder in Phantasie-Kostümierungen sich auflehnten gegen den Gehrock ihrer Pauker, die Schuluniform und die Matrosenanzüge, so schufen sie damit erstmals ihre eigene Mode, als Herausforderung an die Über­ lieferung und das Standesdenken. Seitdem hat sich diese Bewegung erheblich beschleunigt, und jetzt ist es soweit, daß in diesem Buch die Behauptung aufgestellt werden kann: es sind heute junge Men­ schen, die die beachtenswertesten und ästhetisch aufregendsten Mo­ de-Innovationen anbieten, sei es aus Protest gegen gesellschaftliche Zwänge oder einfach aus Spiellust. Dies kennzeichnet ihre beson­ dere Stellung im Lebenszyklus: sollte es eine eigenständige Kinder­ mode geben (und es gibt sie wohl), so haben doch die Kinder wenig zu ihr beigetragen: sie bekommen sie verordnet. Ebenso geht es den Erwachsenen: die verschiedenen Berufe fordern verschiedene Klei­ dungsstile, und dies reicht bis in die Freizeit.