Channel Surfing: Race Talk and the Destruction of Today's Youth (Paperback)

~ Henry A. Giroux (Author) "American youth face a world of increasing poverty and unemployment and diminished social opportunities..." (more)
Key Phrases: The Bell Curve, United States, Dangerous Minds (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The two sections of Channel Surfing, dealing respectively with youth culture and racial politics, may not appear to have much in common with each other at first. But Henry A. Giroux has an underlying class critique that binds them together. Young people are being barraged, he argues, by consumer culture messages that consistently identify them as alienated outcasts. They are also being assaulted by racial messages "targeting black youth as criminals while convincing working-class white youth that blacks and immigrants are responsible for the poverty, despair, and violence that have become a growing part of everyday life in American society." Although the balance between academic jargon and pop culture is somewhat precarious, Giroux's thesis is packed with the consideration of detail that marks useful cultural criticism. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Giroux deserves high marks for presenting all sides of the issues." --Rapport

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (September 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312214448
• ISBN-13: 978-0312214449
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,418,670 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific analysis of the impact of culture on youth, May 12, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Channel Surfing: Race Talk and the Destruction of Today's Youth (Hardcover)

Henry A. Giroux has written a compelling series of essays on the effects of culture on how our society imagines youth. By tracing how our media culture portrays issues of race, Giroux clearly illuminates how entertainment is much more than a diversion for the masses. He argues forcefully and convincingly that our media culture is a powerful teaching technology that affects how society views issues related to race, gender, and youth. Rejecting the notion that media culture can be "read" in an endless variety of ways, Giroux points out how economic and political forces emphasize and promote one "reading" over another and how these limited readings of our media culture have come to influence our perceptions and behavior toward people of color, women, and youth. Focusing on both the "politics of representation" and the "pedagogy of the popular," these essays confront the empty rhetoric of the right (espousing family values while simultaneously cutting social programs) and suggest many helpful strategies and tactics for overcoming the malaise and cynicism that seem to be endemic to our society. Imbued with a vital sense of social justice and dedicated to creating a culture of hope, _Channel Surfing_ is a book that demands attention.

4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ground-breaking philosophy of the war against youth, October 12, 1998

By	Michael A. Males (Oklahoma City, OK United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A lot more people should be buying Giroux's cogent attack on the Left-Right-Center war against adolescents and his articulation of a new imagery of millennial youth.

6 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars giroux needs to try something new, July 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Channel Surfing: Race Talk and the Destruction of Today's Youth (Hardcover)

while the topics are compelling, giroux has written too many collections with essays that contain secondary sources and materials. one gets the feeling he watches a film once or reads one article and then pontificates a frankfurt school-based rant.