Better Living Through Reality TV: Television and Post-Welfare Citizenship

Combining cutting-edge theories of culture and government with programming examples—including iTodd TV/i, iSurvivor/i, and iAmerican Idol/i—iBetter Living through Reality TV/i moves beyond the established concerns of political economy and cultural studies to conceptualize television's evolving role in the contemporary period.brulbrliA major textbook on the impact of reality and lifestyle television on today’s programming, and on broader social, cultural and political trends brliDraws on a range of examples from iThe Apprentice/i and iAmerican Idol/i to iExtreme Makeover/i and iWife Swap/i brliArgues that reality television teaches viewers to monitor, motivate, improve, transform and protect themselves in the name of freedom, enterprise, and personal responsibility /li/ul