Against Post-Truth

An Empirical-Theoretical Inquiry into News Media
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-09937-6
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 176 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Politics, Media and Political Communication

Against Post-Truth: An Empirical-Theoretical Inquiry into News Media delivers a refreshingly critical perspective on the post-truth debate, challenging the naturalized status of this concept as an epochal crisis in contemporary epistemology, media and politics. By subverting the very logic behind such diagnosis, the book refuses to look at post-truth as a taken-for-granted phenomenon and rather focuses on the way the term was concretely conceptualized and talked of. The book traces the historical trajectory of the neologism, critically dissects its interpretations in academia and media, and analyzes nearly 1,700 articles from Italian and British news outlets in search for the meanings and the subjectivities associated with the term. Drawing on post-structuralist discourse theory and culturalist cognitive sociology, it reveals how the “post-truth discourse” simplifies complex phenomena and identities, overemphasises the deviant side of the debate, builds on problematic premises, and ultimately obscures critical questions about truth, knowledge, and democracy.  Against Post-Truth is crafted in a clear and accessible language and will be of interest to scholars and students in media studies, political theory, philosophy and discourse analysis. It equips readers with conceptual tools to critically deconstruct the common post-truth narratives and provides valuable insights for navigating the challenges and anxieties of our time without falling into simplistic or utopian solutions.

Zielgruppe

Academic, Postgraduate, and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

de Toffoli, Matteo

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Politische Kommunikation und Partizipation
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikation & Medien in der Politik
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Mediensoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Politische Propaganda & Kampagnen, Politik & Medien
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Ideologien

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: What This Book Is (Not) About  Part I - Post-Truth in Theory 1. Post-Truth: Where Are We At? 2. A Change of Perspective 3. From Theory to Use  Part II  Post-Truth in Use 4. Mapping the Debate 5. What’s the Meaning of Post-Truth? 6. Who’s the Subject of Post-Truth?  Part III Post-Truth in Question 7. The Post-Truth Discourse 8. Post-Truth Unmarked 9. Conclusion: Behind and Beyond

Über Autor(innen)

Matteo De Toffoli is a Faculty member in the Philosophy Library at the University of Milan, Italy. He received his PhD in Political Sciences from the University of Pisa, Italy, in 2023. He has published book chapters and journal articles, and is the Assistant Editor of “Glocalism: Journal of Culture, Politics and Innovation”. His research interests include Truth and politics; Post-truth and fake news; Public opinion; Contemporary political thought; Postmodernism; Post-foundational political thought; Poststructuralist
discourse theory; Discourse analysis; Epistemic controversies; Populism and anti-populism.