The Only Constant Is Change Technology, Political Communication, and Innovation Over Time

"The overarching goals of political communication rarely change, yet political communication strategies have evolved a great deal over the course of American history. As this book argues, these changes (at least the successful ones) occur during brief periods of dramatic and permanent transformation, are driven by political actors and organizations, and tend to follow predictable patterns each time. Covering over 300 years of such changes - what it identifies as Political Communication Revolutions - the book shows how this process of change happens and why. To do this, Ben Epstein, following an American Political Development approach, proposes a new model that accounts for the technological, behavioral, and political factors that lead to revolutionary political communication changes over time. In this way the book moves beyond the technological determinism that characterizes communication history scholarship and the medium-specific focus of much political communication work. The book identifies the political communication revolutions that have, in the United States, led to four, relatively stable political communication orders over history: the elite, mass, broadcast, and (the current) information orders. It identifies and tests three pattern phases of each revolution, ultimately sketching possible paths for the future"--