
Stations of the Cross
Adorno and Christian Right Radio
Paul Apostolidis(Author)
Duke University Press
Published on 2. June 2000
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-0-8223-2541-3 (ISBN)
Description
Since the 1970s, American society has provided especially fertile ground for the growth of the Christian right and its influence on both political and cultural discourse. In Stations of the Cross political theorist Paul Apostolidis shows how a critical component of this movement's popular culture-evangelical conservative radio-interacts with the current U.S. political economy. By examining in particular James Dobson's enormously influential program, Focus on the Family-its messages, politics, and effects-Apostolidis reveals the complex nature of contemporary conservative religious culture.
Public ideology and institutional tendencies clash, the author argues, in the restructuring of the welfare state, the financing of the electoral system, and the backlash against women and minorities. These frictions are nowhere more apparent than on Christian right radio. Reinvigorating the intellectual tradition of the Frankfurt School, Apostolidis shows how ideas derived from early critical theory-in particular that of Theodor W. Adorno-can illuminate the political and social dynamics of this aspect of contemporary American culture. He uses and reworks Adorno's theories to interpret the nationally broadcast Focus on the Family, revealing how the cultural discourse of the Christian right resonates with recent structural transformations in the American political economy. Apostolidis shows that the antidote to the Christian right's marriage of religious and market fundamentalism lies not in a reinvocation of liberal fundamentals, but rather depends on a patient cultivation of the affinities between religion's utopian impulses and radical, democratic challenges to the present political-economic order.
Mixing critical theory with detailed analysis, Stations of the Cross provides a needed contribution to sociopolitical studies of mass movements and will attract readers in sociology, political science, philosophy, and history.
Public ideology and institutional tendencies clash, the author argues, in the restructuring of the welfare state, the financing of the electoral system, and the backlash against women and minorities. These frictions are nowhere more apparent than on Christian right radio. Reinvigorating the intellectual tradition of the Frankfurt School, Apostolidis shows how ideas derived from early critical theory-in particular that of Theodor W. Adorno-can illuminate the political and social dynamics of this aspect of contemporary American culture. He uses and reworks Adorno's theories to interpret the nationally broadcast Focus on the Family, revealing how the cultural discourse of the Christian right resonates with recent structural transformations in the American political economy. Apostolidis shows that the antidote to the Christian right's marriage of religious and market fundamentalism lies not in a reinvocation of liberal fundamentals, but rather depends on a patient cultivation of the affinities between religion's utopian impulses and radical, democratic challenges to the present political-economic order.
Mixing critical theory with detailed analysis, Stations of the Cross provides a needed contribution to sociopolitical studies of mass movements and will attract readers in sociology, political science, philosophy, and history.
Reviews / Votes
"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, UCLAMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
North Carolina
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 42 mm
Weight
953 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8223-2541-3 (9780822325413)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
06/2000
1st Edition
De Gruyter
€198.99
Available for download
Person
Paul Apostolidis is Assistant Professor of Politics at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington.
Content
Acknowledments
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
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