Moss, GS orcid.org/0000-0003-3486-7748 (2018) Media, Capabilities, and Justification. Media, Culture and Society, 40 (1). pp. 94-109. ISSN 0163-4437
Abstract
In this paper, I evaluate the ‘capability approach’ developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum as a normative perspective for critical media research. The concept of capabilities provides a valuable way of assessing media and captures important aspects of the relationship between media and equality. However, following Rainer Forst’s critique of outcome- oriented approaches to justice, I argue the capability approach needs to pay more attention to questions of power and process. In particular, when it comes to deciding which capabilities media should promote and what media structure and practices should promote them, the capability approach must accept the priority of deliberative and democratic processes of justification. Once we do this, we are urged to situate the concept of capabilities within a more process-oriented view of justice, focused not on capabilities as such, but on outlining the conditions required for justificatory equality. After discussing the capability approach, I will outline the process-oriented theory of justice Forst has developed around the idea of the ‘right to justification’. While Forst does not discuss media in depth, I argue his theory of justice can provide a valuable alternative normative standpoint for the critical media research.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: | |
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | (c) 2017, The Author(s). This is an author produced version of a paper published in Media, Culture & Society. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | capabilities; capability approach; deliberation; equality; Forst; justice; justification; media; Nussbaum; Sen |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Media & Communication (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 28 Feb 2017 14:48 |
Last Modified: | 26 Jan 2018 16:09 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/0163443717704998 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:112928 |