The synchronized society : time and control from broadcasting to the Internet / Randall Patnode.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Patnode, Randall, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Television broadcasting--Social aspects--United States--History--20th century.

Television broadcasting.

Television viewers--United States--History--20th century.

Television viewers.

Internet--Social aspects--United States--History.

Internet.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (253 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, New Jersey : Rutgers University Press, [2023]

Summary:

The Synchronized Society traces the history of the synchronous broadcast experience of the 20th century and the transition to the asynchronous media that dominate today. Broadcasting grew out of the latent desire by 19th century industrialists, political thinkers, and social reformers to tame an unruly society by controlling how people used their time. The idea manifested itself in the form of the broadcast schedule, a managed flow of information and entertainment that required audiences to be in a particular place – usually the home – at a particular time and helped to create “water cooler” moments, as audiences reflected on their shared media texts. Audiences began disconnecting from the broadcast schedule at the end of the 20th century, but promoters of social media and television services still kept audiences under control, replacing the schedule with surveillance of media use. Author Randall Patnode offers compelling new insights into the intermingled roles of broadcasting and industrial/post-industrial work and how Americans spend their time.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

1. The Bizarre Model of Broadcasting

2. The Evolution of Time Consciousness

3. Roots of the Synchronized Society

4. The Rationalization of Radio

5. The Synchronized Society

6. Learning to Love the Clock

7. Television and Latter-Day Synchrony

8. The Decline of Synchrony

9. The Arrhythmic Society

10. From Clock to Click

11. Moving Ahead While Looking Backward

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index

About the Author.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-9788-2011-9

1-9788-2013-5

OCLC:

1356005887