Description
Book SynopsisAnalysis of the nationally broadcast radio program "Focus on the Family" that argues that the Christian right's popularity stems from its resistance to the increasing influence of market forces in the welfare state, the electoral system, and the public sphere. The book provides a needed contribution to sociopolitical studies of mass movements.
Trade Review“Apostolidis’s application of dialectical criticism to the evangelical radio program
Focus on the Family is theoretically innovative and politically daring. Reading Christian conservatism as cultural critique, he discerns in its narrative structures the same utopian desire for ethical autonomy that animates ‘left’ criticisms of our post-Fordist social order. No apologist for the New Right but a democratic provocateur, Apostolidis challenges progressives to set aside their secular disdain for evangelicalism and consider how its powerful cultural idiom might provide intellectual and political radicalism with a new voice.”—Lisa Disch, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
“Paul Apostolidis’s excellent study
Stations of the Cross: Adorno and Christian Right Radio provides one of the sharpest analyses yet to appear of the Christian right and its media politics. The book is also an important contribution to critical theory, applying and reconstructing T. W. Adorno’s approach to cultural criticism. Focusing on James Dobson’s
Focus on the Family, Apostolidis skillfully dissects the program’s messages, politics, and effects, producing a first-rate study of contemporary conservative religious culture.”—Douglas Kellner, UCLA
Table of ContentsAcknowledments
Introduction
1. Adorno on Mass Culture and Cultural Criticism
2. Adorno’s Critique of Christian Right Radio in the New Deal Era
3. Christian Professionals and the Fraying Fabric of Health and Human Services
4. Christian Politicians and the Decline of Democratic Accountability
5. Christian Victims in the Backlash Society
6. Negative Dialectics and Political Practice
Appendix A
Complete Listing of
Focus on the Family Broadcasts Selected for Research
Appendix B
Itenerary for Research Visit to Colorado Springs, 21–25 February 1996
Notes
Bibliography
Index
