Compassion, Morality, and the Media

by Keith Tester

In this timely analysis, Tester (social and historical studies, U. of Portsmith) compares the views of social thinkers and journalists to provide parameters for examining compassion fatigue, whereby people get habituated to dreadful events or suffering through repeated exposure. He contrasts "bystander's journalism" with the "journalism of attachment,"and considers ways in which media may move or manipulate the audience to either moral action such as giving to relief agencies or to "naturalization" of events. Glossary terms appear in bold in the text. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

192 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2001

About the author

Keith Tester has been Professor of Sociology at Hull since 2008, having previously been Professor of Cultural Sociology at the University of Portsmouth. In 2010-2011 he is also Professor of Sociology at Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea; Visiting Professor at the Bauman Institute in the School of Sociology & Social Policy at the University of Leeds; an Honorary Member of the Thesis Eleven Centre for Cultural Sociology at LaTrobe University, Melbourne, Australia (where he has been a Distinguished Visiting Fellow); a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; and a Research Associate of the Institute for the Study of Social Change at University College Dublin. He is also an Executive Committee member of the Histories of Violence web project at the University of Leeds.

Keith studied for his Ph.D at the University of Leeds, and the ‘book of the thesis’ – Animals and Society – was awarded the British Sociological Association Philip Abrams Memorial Prize for Best First Sole-Authored Book in 1992. Keith is on the editorial boards of The Journal of Classical Sociology, Journal of Human Rights and Thesis Eleven.

Keith’s main research interest is in thinking sociologically about the entwinement of culture and morality. For example, thanks to contemporary media we know about suffering in other parts of the world, but what do we do about it? What does this knowledge mean to us? Do the culture industries predetermine what we might know and do? His work raises these kinds of questions through the heritage of critical theory and, especially, the social thought of Zygmunt Bauman. His interest in culture has also resulted in publications on film and art.

Reviews

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful start in looking at compassion fatigue and a good overview of the thinking that is about. He tends to just compare other peoples ideas though. He doesn't make thorough arguments of his own, but to be fair he isn't claiming to.. A good discussion starter.

[Emma Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction to the topics outlining most of the key debates with some good illustration of prominent research.