media theory reading circle
THIRD WEEK - (23 August 2026)
This week we will be reading the next three chapters of Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death.(https://ia601905.us.archive.org/32/items/Various_PDFs/NeilPostman-AmusingOurselvesToDeath.pdf).
Read chapters:
4. The Typographic Mind (pgs 44-63)
5. The Peek-A-Boo World (pgs 64-82)
6. The Age of Show Business (pgs 83-98)
Next week (30 August 2026) we will read chapters:
7. "Now . . . This" (pgs 99-113)
8. Shuffle Off to Bethlehem (pgs 114-124)
9. Reach Out and Elect Someone (pgs 125-141)
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WHAT IS THIS?
this is a reading and discussion circle, focused on media theory, spectacle, and the politics, sociology, and anthropology of technology through an STS lens. we will read a wide range of authors and viewpoints, and welcome any additions! We will meet every Sunday at 4PM!
what is STS? STS stands for science and technology studies, an interdisciplinary field focused on the metastudy of science, big Science ™️, technology, and the interplay of those elements in society.
a brief glimpse at authors, pieces, and themes we will discuss include:
•Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death
•Jean Baudrillard, excerpts from Simulacra and Simulation
•Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle, and Comments On The Society of the Spectacle
•Byung Chul-Han, Psychopolitics and The Burnout Society
•Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media
•Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
•Theodore Adorno, excerpts from Minima Moralia and broader cultural industry critiques
•Herbert Marcuse, One Dimensional Man
•Jacques Ellul, The Technological Society
•Martin Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology
•Oswald Spengler, Man and Technics