Janice Peck: The Age of Oprah and the Rise of Neoliberalism

The Age of Oprah and the Rise of Neoliberalism

Drawing on her recent book, The Age of Oprah: Cultural Icon for the Neoliberal Era (2008), Janice Peck will discuss Oprah Winfrey’s rise from mere talk show host to cultural icon of mainstream America. She will explain how tracing the history of Winfrey’s enterprise, and situating it in relation to major currents in American political, economic, and cultural history provides a means to critically examine the intersection of American politics and culture—and the contradictions therein—over the past quarter century.

Janice Peck is an Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at CU-Boulder, where she teaches media studies. She is the author of two books, The Gods of Televangelism: The Crisis of Meaning and the Appeal of Religious Television (1993) and The Age of Oprah: Cultural Icon for the Neoliberal Era (2008), and has published work in many other media topics.

Before becoming an academic, Peck worked as a journalist, editor, and free-lance writer for newspapers, magazines, and radio. She holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of Utah, an M.A. in communication from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D. in communications from Simon Fraser University in Canada.