David L. Altheide is a Regents Professor Emeritus on the faculty of Justice and Social Inquiry in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University, where he taught for 37 years. His work has focused on the role of mass media and information technology in social control. His most recent books are "Gonzo Governance: The Media Logic of Donald Trump" (Routledge, 2023), "Terrorism and the Politics of Fear" (2nd Edition, Rowman and Littlefield, 2017), "The Media Syndrome" (Routledge,2016), "Media Edge: Media Logic and Social Reality" (Lang, 2014), "Qualitative Media Analysis" (2nd edition, Sage, 2012) and "Terror Post 9/11 and the Media" (Lang, 2009).
Altheide received the Cooley Award three times, given to the outstanding book in symbolic interaction, from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction: In 2007 for "Terrorism and the Politics of Fear" (2006); in 2004 for "Creating Fear: News and the Construction of Crisis" (2002); and in 1986 for "Media Power" (1985). Altheide received the 2005 George Herbert Mead Award for lifetime contributions from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, and the society’s Mentor Achievement Award in 2007. In fall 2012, he was a Fulbright Specialist in Germany (Zeppelin University) and a Distinguished Research Professor in Australia (Law Faculty, University of New South Wales). He also received a Fulbright Specialist Award at The Catholic University in Lisbon, Portugal in spring 2017.
Ph.D. Sociology, University of California, San Diego 1974
M.A., Socology, University of Washington 1969
B.A. Central Washington State College 1967
- Recent books:
- Gonzo Governance: The Media Logic of Donald Trump. 2023. Routledge. New York.
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Terrorism and the Politics of Fear. 2nd Edition (August 2017). Rowman and Littlefield. New York.
The Media Syndrome. 2016. Routledge. New York.
Media Edge: Media Logic and Social Reality. 2014. Peter Lang Publishers: New York.
The Present and Future of Symbolic Interactionism, Proceedings of the International Symposium. Pisa 2010, Volume II.2013. Co-editors: Andrea Salvini and Carolina Nuti. Milano, Italy: FrancoAngeli.
Qualitative Media Analysis (2nd Edition). 2013.With Christopher J. Schneider, Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Terror Post 9/11 and the Media. 2009. Peter Lang Publishers: New York.
*Terrorism and the Politics of Fear. 2006. Lanham. MD. Altamira Press (A Division of Rowman and Littlefield). New York. Winner of the 2007 Charles Horton Cooley Award (The Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction)
*Creating Fear: News and the Construction of Crisis. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter, Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter. 2002. Winner of the 2004 Charles Horton Cooley Award (The Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction)
- Recent Publications:
- “Pandemic in the Time of Trump: Digital Media Logic and Deadly Politics.” Symbolic Interaction. 2020: 43 (3): 514-540.
- “The Terrorism Enigma.” In Maximiliano E. Korstanje (editor), Allegories of a Never-Ending War: A Sociological Debate Revolving Around the War on Terror and 9/11. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. 2020: 83-104.
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- ““Media Logic, Fear, and the Construction of Terrorism.” In William Gibson, Natalia Ruiz-Junco, Dirk vom Lehn (editors), The Routledge International Handbook of Interactionism. New York: Routledge. 2021: 277-287.
- “Media, Terrorism, and the Politics of Fear.” In Nelson Ribeiro (editor), Global Transformations in Media and Communication Research. London: Palgrave MacMillan. Forthcoming.
- “Media Logic and Media Psychology.” In Jan Van den Bulck (editor), The International Encyclopedia of Media Psychology. New York: Wiley. Forthcoming.
- “Emotions and the Politics of Fear.” In Katrin Doveling, Christian von Scheve, and Elly Konijn (editors). Handbook of Emotions and the Mass Media, (2nd Edition). London: Routledge. Forthcoming.
- “Capitalism, Hacking, and Digital Media.” In Adrian Scribano, Freddy Timmerman Lopez, and Maximiliano E. Korstanje (editors), Neoliberalism in Multi-Disciplinary Perspective. London: Palgrave MacMillan. 2019: 203-228.
- “The Media Syndrome and Reflexive Mediation.” in Caja Thimm (editor), Media Logic(s). London: Palgrave MacMillan. 2018: 11-40.
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“Deviance and the Mass Media.” In Erich Goode (editor), The Handbook of Deviance. Malden, NY: Wiley Blackwell. 2015: 298- 310.
“The Triumph of Fear: Connecting the Dots About Whistleblowers and Surveillance.” International Journal of Cyber Warfare and Terrorism, 4 (1), 1-7, January-March 2014.
“Media Logic, Social Control, and Fear.” Communication Theory. (Special Issue: “Conceptualizing Mediatization,” Guest editors Andreas Hepp, Nick Couldry, and Thomas Hanitzsch). 2013: 23: 223-238.
“Shielding Risk,” Catalan Journal of Communication and Cultural Studies, 2013 (1): 97-120.
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“Constructing Psychological Terror Post 9/11.” In Samuel Justin Sinclair and Daniel Antonius (editors). Political Psychology of Terrorism. Oxford University Press. 2013: Chapter 16.
“Preface to Volume,” (with Andrea Salvini) In The Present and Future of Symbolic Interactionism,. Proceedings of the International Symposium. Pisa 2010, Volume II, (Pisa, June 3-5, 2010) Co-editors: Andrea Salvini and Carolina Nuti. Milano, Italy: FrancoAngeli: 7-11.
“Media Dramas and the Social Construction of Reality.” In Charles Edgley (ed.), The Drama of Social Life: A Dramaturgical Handbook. Surrey England: Ashgate. 2013: 181-196.
“Media Logic.” In Gianpietro Mazzoleni (editor) Encyclopedia of Political Communication. Malden, NY: Wiley Blackwell. 2015: 750-757.
“Media Logic and Social Power.” Empedocles—European Journal for the Philosophy of Communication. 2013: 3 (2):119-136.
- David L. Altheide. The Terrorism Narrative. International Symbolic Interaction Conference, Pisa, Italy (Jun 2010).
- David L. Altheide. The Relevance of Symbolic Interaction. International Symbolic Interaction Conference, Pisa, Italy (Jun 2010).
- David L. Altheide. Terror Post 9/11. Couch-Stone Symbolic Interaction Conference (Mar 2010).
- David L. Altheide. Media Logic and Media Effects. Seminar, Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen, Germany, (Oct 2009).
- David L. Altheide. Terrorism and the Politics of Fear. University Seminar, Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen, Germany (Oct 2009).
- David L. Altheide. Terror Post 9/11 and the Media. Oberseminar, Institut fuer Sociologie, Universitaet Munchen (Oct 2009).
- David L. Altheide. Moral Panic: From Sociological Concept to Public Discourse,". Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, San Francisco, CA, (Aug 2009).
- David L. Altheide. Mass Media Issues. Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction (San Francisco) (Aug 2009).
- David L. Altheide. The Politics of Fear. Department of Sociology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, (Jun 2009).
- David L. Altheide. "The Mass Media, Fear, and Social Issues". presented to the faculty and students of The Evergreen State College (Oct 2008).
- David L. Altheide. "Fear, Terrorism, and Social Control,". presented to the faculty and students of St. Martin’s College (Oct 2008).
- David L. Altheide. "Creating, Framing and Amplifying Fear,". World Social Summit Conference (on Global Fear) (Oct 2008).
- David L. Altheide. "The Future of Symbolic Interactionism,". Facolta di Sicenze Politiche, University of Pisa (Sep 2008).
- David L. Altheide. "Terrorism and Propaganda,". Peter M. Hall Lecturer, Midwest Sociological Association Meetings (Mar 2008).
- David L. Altheide. "Framing Fear,". Santa Cruz Media Strategy Summit (Jan 2008).
- Altheide, David. Terrorism and the Politics of Fear. Faculty and Students of Northern Arizona University (Nov 2006).
- Altheide, David. Fraud and Rhetoric in Social Control: A Case Analysis of Banking. Colloquium at St. Martin's College (Oct 2006).
- Altheide, David. Professor David Price Colloquium: Using the Freedom of Information Act to Understand Government Surveillance and Repression". School of Justice and Social Inquiry Colloquium (Feb 2006).
- Altheide, David. Reflections on Performance Ethnography: But Is It Sociology?. Couch-Stone Symbolic Interaction Conference (Feb 2006).
- Altheide, David. Terrorism and the Mass Media. Couch-Stone Symbolic Interaction Conference (Feb 2006).
- Altheide, David, Coyle, Michael, Schneider, Christopher. Emergent Qualitative Document Analysis. Couch-Stone Symbolic Interaction Conference (Feb 2006).
- Altheide, David. Terrorism, Propaganda, and the Politics of Fear. Presented to the Department of Sociology, University of California, Riverside (Nov 2005).
- Altheide, David. The Mass Media and Social Change. St. Martin's College, Olympia, WA (Oct 2005).
- Altheide, David. Interactionist Methods In Studying the Media. presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction (Aug 2005).
- Altheide, David, Grimes, Jennifer. A Sociological analysis of the Lack of Media Coverage of The Project for a New American Century and the Iraq War. (With ). Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Pacific Sociological Association, Portland, Or (Apr 2005).
- Altheide, David. The Mass Media, Terrorism, and the Politics of Fear. Presented at the Symposium on the Media and Iraq, University of Washington (Apr 2005).
- Altheide, David, DeVries, Katie. Perps and Junkies: Normalizing Stigma in the Mass Media. Couch-Stone Symbolic Interaction Conference, Denver, CO (Feb 2005).
- Altheide, David, Johnson, John. The Heroic Process and Pat Tillman. Couch-Stone Symbolic Interaction Conference, Denver, CO (Feb 2005).
- Altheide, David. Panel Member: Roundtable on Cyber-methods. Couch-Stone Symbolic Interaction Conference, Denver, CO (Feb 2005).
- Altheide, David. Mass Media and the Politics of Fear. Pacific Lutheran University (Nov 2004).
- Altheide, David. Mass Media and the Politics of Fear. Public Lecture (Nov 2004).
- Altheide, David. Fear of Crime and the Challenge for Crime Analysts. International Association of Crime Analysts (Sep 2004).
- Altheide, David, Coyle, Michael. Smart on Crime: The New Language for Prisoner Release. Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction (Aug 2004).
- Altheide, David, Grimes, Jennifer. The Propaganda Project and the Iraq War. Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (Aug 2004).
- Altheide, David. A New Academic Culture. Communities in Collaboration: Social Science Graduate Research Symposium (Apr 2004).
- Altheide, David. Constructing the Politics of Fear: From Crime to Terrorism. Couch-Stone Symbolic Interaction Conference (Feb 2004).
- Altheide, David. Terrorism, Propaganda and the Politics of Fear. Presented to the School of ". School of Communication seminar, Communication, Terrorism and National Security, ASU (Feb 2004).
- Altheide, David. Crime, Media Logic, and the Discourse of Fear. the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology (Denver, CO) (Nov 2003).
- Altheide, David. Mass Media, Crime and the Discourse of Fear. International Media and Crime Conference, State University II, and Università Cattolica of S.C (May 2003).
- Altheide, David. Culture, Politics and the Media. Symposium on the Sociology of Cultural Institutions, University of Missouri (Apr 2003).
- Altheide, David. News and the Politics of Fear. Evergreen State College
- Crime, Media Culture, International Advisory Board (2010 - Present)
- The Politics of Fear, Community Talks, Tempe Public Library (2009 - Present)
- Faculty Senate, Senator (2009 - Present)
- Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, Mead Award Committee (2009 - Present)
- Lifelong Learning Institute, ASU Polytechnic Campus, Lecture (2008 - Present)
- Lifelong Lerning Institute, ASU Polytech campus, presenter: The Politics of Fear (2008 - Present)
- Critical Studies on Terrorism, Advisory Board (2008 - Present)
- School of Justice and Social Inquiry, Annual Performance Review Committee (2008 - Present)
- Foothills Democrats Civic Breakfast, Presenter: Fear and the Mass Media (2006 - Present)
- Mental Health Association of Arizona, Keynote Address: Mental Illness and the Media: From Stigma to Terrorism (2006 - Present)
- Policy Work Group (1999-2007), Member (2006 - Present)
- Recruitment Committee, Chair (2006 - Present)
- Undergraduate Committee Chair (2002-2007), Chair (2006 - Present)
- The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, Reviewer (2006 - Present)
- Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix, Presenter: "Terrorism and the Politics of Fear." (2005 - Present)
- Contemporary Ethnography, reviewer (2005 - Present)
- Discourse and Society, Advisory Board (2005 - Present)
- Political Communication, reviewer (2005 - Present)
- Qualitative Sociology, reviewer (2005 - Present)
- The Sociological Quarterly, Reviewer (2005 - Present)
- Critical Studies in Mass Communication, Associate Editor (2004 - Present)
- Justice Quarterly, reviewer (2004 - Present)
- Symbolic Interaction, Advisory Editor (2004 - Present)
- Interdisciplinary PhD Degree in Communication, Member (2002 - Present)
- President Crow's Academic Council (2002-09), Membe (2002 - Present)
- Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, Publications Committee (2007 - 2010)
- Annual Performance Review Committee, Member (2009 - 2010)
- Justice Studies Personnel Committee, Member (2009 - 2010)
- Undergraduate Committee, Member (2009 - 2010)
- Academic Senate, Senator (2009 - 2009)
- Ad hoc Sabbatical Reviews, Reviewer (2004)
- American Sociological Review, reviewer (2004)
- Arizona Institute for Peace Education and Research, Lecutre: The Mass Media and the Politics of Fear (2004)
- Contemporary Ethnography, reviewer (2004)
- Critical Studies in Mass Communication, revuewer (2004)
- Graduate College Representative on PhD Defenses, Outside member (2004)
- Interdisciplinary PhD Degree in Communication, Member (2004)
- International Studies Quarterly, reviewer (2004)
- Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, reviewer (2004)
- Law and Social Inquiry, reviewr (2004)
- Policy Work Group (1999-2005), Member (2004)
- Political Communication, reviewer (2004)
- President Crow's Academic Council (2002-04), Membe (2004)
- Qualitative Inquiry, reviewer (2004)
- Qualitative Sociology, reviewer (2004)
- Regents' Professor Selection Committee (2002-05), Member (2004)
- Sociological Perspectives, reviewer (2004)
- The Sociological Quarterly, Reviewer (2004)
- Undergraduate Committee Chair (2002-2005), Chair (2004)
- Various News Media Interviews about fear, violence and social control, Expert (2004)