Systems from Hell
Problem Definition and the Literary Portrayal of Failure in Our Public Policy and Social Institutions
Published on 1. December 2024
300 pages
979-8-8558-0026-5 (ISBN)
Description
This book approaches contemporary fiction as a medium for policy advocacy, one whose narrative devices both link it to, and distinguish it from, other forms of public discourse. Using the framework of political agenda setting, David A. Rochefort analyzes the rhetorical function of problem definition played by literary works when they document and characterize social issues while sounding the call for systemic reform. Focusing on a group of noteworthy realist novels by American authors over the past twenty years, this study maintains that fictional narrative is a potentially influential instrument of "empathic policy argument." The book closes by examining the agenda-setting dynamics through which a social problem novel can contribute to the process of policy change.
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Additional editions
David A. Rochefort
Systems from Hell
Problem Definition and the Literary Portrayal of Failure in Our Public Policy and Social Institutions
Book
06/2025
State University of New York Press
€41.90
Shipment within 10-20 days
David A. Rochefort
Systems from Hell
Problem Definition and the Literary Portrayal of Failure in Our Public Policy and Social Institutions
Book
12/2024
State University of New York Press
€108.20
Shipment within 10-20 days
Person
David A. Rochefort is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Northeastern University.
Content
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Telling the Story of Systemic Failure
Part I: Theoretical Considerations
1. The System as Panacea, Uncertain Promise, and Scourge
2. Narrative and Its Political Uses
Part II: Four Social Problem Novels
3. Health Care, But at What Cost?
4. Falling into the Cracks of Our Mental Health (Non)System
5. How Deep the Despair of Life in the Precariat
6. Justice Denied
Part III: Conclusion
7. Empathic Policy Argument, Agenda Setting, and the Culture Wars
Appendix A: A Partial Listing of Social Problem Novels since 2000
Notes
Index
