Friday, October 23, 2009

An online thesis

I found a possibly very interesting online thsis rejected by the student himself while looking for follow ups of Edward Berman's The ideology of philanthropy : the influence of the Carnegie, Ford, and Rockefeller foundations on American foreign policy and Foundations and Public Policy: The Mask of Pluralism by Joan Roelofs. The thesis is available here. From the summary:
"The Democracy Manipulation Model outlined in this thesis builds upon Antonio Gramsci’s work on the maintenance of ideological hegemony, and incorporates the Joan Roelofs critical analyses of liberal philanthropy, and William Robinson’s writings on the elite manipulation of popular revolutions. The Model’s central focus on the manipulation of media landscapes draws upon Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s seminal work on the political economy of the mass media, and the thesis utilises Steven Lukes three views of power to describe the dynamics of social engineering. Case studies presented in this thesis examine how elite funding bodies have consciously manipulated all manner of media systems (including organizations that are commonly perceived to be Left-leaning or progressive) in both the US and abroad in an effort to manufacture public consent for elite interests. It is hoped that the Model outlined in this thesis will provide a useful tool for progressive activists struggling to eradicate capitalism and replace it with an alternative, sustainable and equitable form of democratic governance."

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