Abstract
The mass media provide a series of arenas in which symbolic contests are carried out among competing sponsors of meaning. Measuring the display of competing interpretations is a way of assessing relative success. The Cold War period involved a long competition within the United States between two competing advocacy networks, each offering a general package on issues of nuclear war and Soviet-American relations. This paper examines how this contest was played out in one particular arena—that of editorial cartoons. Our results suggest certain dilemmas and vulnerabilities in Cold War packages and the strong cultural appeal of Common Security packages in spite of the access and resource handicaps of their sponsors.
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Gamson, W.A., Stuart, D. Media discourse as a symbolic contest: The bomb in political cartoons. Sociol Forum 7, 55–86 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01124756
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01124756