Listening

Listening figures in political communication in relation to sound specifically (speech, music, noise, silence) but also as a metaphor more broadly for audiencing and civic action. The entry begins by addressing the paradox that listening is central to the practice of political communication but marginalised in many accounts that privilege the analysis of political expression. It traces some of the reasons for that marginalisation and indicates some of the key ways in which listening features in diverse theories and practices of political communication. In so doing, listening is considered in relation to a wide range of subjects relevant to political communication, including rhetoric, political theory, changing media technologies, public opinion, propaganda and public relations, media literacy, the attention economy, agency and affect, and how listening is invoked in ethical terms as a cypher for values of openness, recognition, empathy, and parity etc.