
Distant Suffering
Morality, Media and Politics
Luc Boltanski(Author)
Cambridge University Press
Published on 28. October 1999
Book
Hardback
266 pages
978-0-521-57389-4 (ISBN)
Description
Distant Suffering, first published in 1999, examines the moral and political implications for a spectator of the distant suffering of others as presented through the media. What are the morally acceptable responses to the sight of suffering on television, for example, when the viewer cannot act directly to affect the circumstances in which the suffering takes place? Luc Boltanski argues that spectators can actively involve themselves and others by speaking about what they have seen and how they were affected by it. Developing ideas in Adam Smith's moral theory, he examines three rhetorical 'topics' available for the expression of the spectator's response to suffering: the topics of denunciation and of sentiment and the aesthetic topic. The book concludes with a discussion of a 'crisis of pity' in relation to modern forms of humanitarianism. A possible way out of this crisis is suggested which involves an emphasis and focus on present suffering.
More details
Series
Language
English
French
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
587 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-57389-4 (9780521573894)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
01/2005
1st Edition
Cambridge University Press
€24.99
Available for download
Persons
Luc Boltanski is a leading French sociologist and professor at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris. Many of his works have been translated into English, including The New Spirit of Capitalism (2005), On Justification (2006), On Critique: A Sociology of Emancipation (2011), Love and Justice as Competences (2012) and Mysteries and Conspiracies (2014).
Author
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Translation
Content
Part I. The Question of the Spectator: 1. The politics of pity; 2. Taking sides; 3. The moral spectator; Part II. The Topics of Suffering: 4. The topic of denunciation; 5. The topic of sentiment; 6. The critique of sentimentalism; 7. The aesthetic topic; 8. Heroes and the accursed; Part III. The Crisis of Pity: 9. What reality has misfortune?; 10. How realistic is action?