Controversial Encounters in the Age of Algorithms: How Digital Technologies are Stifling Public Debate and What to Do About It

by Sine N. Just

Overview

How can we have meaningful public conversations in the algorithmic age?

This book explores how digital technologies shape our opinions and interactions, often in ways that limit our exposure to diverse perspectives and fuel polarization. Drawing on the ancient art of arguing all sides of a case, the book offers a way to revive public debate as a source of trust and legitimacy in democratic societies.

This is a timely and urgent book for anyone who cares about the future of democracy in the digital era.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781529238341
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	01/07/2025
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	230
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sine N. Just is Professor of Strategic Communication in the Department of Communication and Arts at Roskilde University.

Table of Contents

1. The Closing of the Rhetorical Mind

2. Press Play: Organizing Digital Communication

3. The Digital Transformation of the Public Sphere

4. Controversial Encounters of the First Kind: The Theory and Practice of Controversy

5. Controversial Encounters of the Second Kind: Sweet Consensus and Nasty Conflict

6. Controversial Encounters of the Third Kind: Towards Automated Persuasion?

7. Affective Alternatives: Opening the Rhetorical Mind

8. Make Disagreement Good Again

Editorial Reviews

Just delivers a compelling answer to the burning question of how to sustain meaningful encounters with difference in today’s communication landscape. Ancient ideas meet new imperatives in this fresh interdisciplinary take on what rhetoric can do.” Karen Lee Ashcraft, University of Colorado Boulder

From the Publisher