Ideology and the Virtual City - Paperback

by Jon Bailes (Author)

'insanely readable...an instant classic for everyone who wants to understand not just games but our reality itself.' Slavoj ZizekIdeology and the Virtual City is an exploration of modern society and the critical value of popular culture. It combines a prescient social theory that describes how 'neoliberal' ideology in today's societies dominates our economic, political and cultural ideals, with an entertaining exploration of narratives, characters and play structures in some of today's most interesting videogames. The book takes readers into a range of simulated urban environments that symbolise the hidden antagonisms of social life and create outlandish resolutions through their power fantasies. Interactive entertainment can help us understand the ways in which people relate to a modern 'common sense' neoliberal background, in terms of absorbing assumptions, and questioning them.

Author Biography

Jon Bailes is an independent researcher and writer whose work focuses on ideology, neoliberalism and popular culture. He has a PhD in European Studies from University college London. His publications include Weapon of the Strong: Conversations on US State Terrorism (Pluto, 2013) (co-authored with Cihan Aksan), plus numerous academic journal essays and online articles. He co-runs stateofnatureblog.com, a website featuring interviews with academics on social and political theory.