What is free speech?

Faramerz Dabhoiwala

'Free Speech!' is a clarion call all over the world, yet what it means today is more contested than ever. Many cultures regard it as dangerous: in China, India, and across the Islamic world, unorthodox views about politics, sex, and religion are repressed and people are often punished for expressing them. Even in the western world, where it is held up as a core value, there is widespread discord and disagreement about what freedom of expression means. Amidst perennial imbalances of power, continually evolving cultural taboos, dramatic new technologies and a fast-changing global media landscape, where free speech comes from, and how we might think about it, are critical questions. Through the lens of history, this title shows us that freedom of speech is not an absolute from which societies and regimes have drifted or dissented at different times, but something more complicated and interesting.

Author(s): Dabhoiwala, Faramerz
Binding: Hardback
Date of Publication: 27/03/2025
Pagination: 496 pages
Series: N/A
Imprint: Allen Lane
Published By: Allen Lane
Book Classification: History of ideas|Ethical issues: censorship|Social & cultural anthropology|Human rights, civil rights|Social & cultural history
Dimensions: 241x165x42
Weight: 713
ISBN13\EAN\SKU: 9780241347478