Studied by 1 person
theorists for the digital media and globalisation topic! 🍎
RAYMOND BOYLE
digital convergence (access to everything on one device) has allowed us to experience digital media how we want - its individualised
JAN VAN DIJK
online communities strengthen real communities, they don’t replace them + our identities are increasingly shaped by online communities
DANIEL MILLER
social media is too complex to be understood by simple definitions/quantitative data, so should be researched based on people’s experiences as they shape the platform + social media owners tailor their platforms to audience to continue profit
SCALABLE SOCIALITY [DANIEL MILLER CONT.]
digital convergence allows us to select what social media platforms we use for different social circles (e.g. snapchat for close friends, facebook for family) - also seen in traditional media as small TV channels broadcasted to small areas
MARSHALL MCLUHAN
predicted everyone on the planet would be connected due to digital communications, named the electronic nervous system + this returns us to mechanical solidarity
JEAN BAUDRILLARD
digital communications has made us blur the distinction between reality and fantasy - participatory culture makes us feel connected to people we have never met (has resulted cases like the widespread grief over princess diana’s death)
ANTHONY GIDDENS
if cultural homogenisation occurs, there will be a loss of identity and we will be detraditionalised
EMILE DURKHEIM
social revolutions (e.g. industrial, digital) causes anomie within society + digital media serves to bring communication and networks between us (organic analogy) + the concepts of mechanical and abstract solidarity
MANUEL CASTELLS
social media gives proletariats power over the bourgeoisie as information is easily accessed and ideas are easily shared (knowledge is power)
DEBORAH LUPTON
online spaces are very diverse so there is space online for everyone, good or bad (e.g. body building communities and eating disorder communities) + this fragments communities (divides us)
JOSE VAN DIJCK
social media was designed to create advertisement revenue for owners, not to connect people
YANIS VAROUFAKIS
techno-feudalism is present today, for example billionaires from online companies are at the top of the hierarchy (they would be the monarchy)
DENISE CARTER (2005) : CyberCity
findings:
relationships online were purer and lacked judgement
anonymity helped build trust - they escape ascribed identity
but may not be as real as the next stage of friendship was seen as meeting in real life
HEREVEN
women escape misogyny and sexism online by remaining anonymous
TOM BOELLSTORFF: dangers
virtual worlds are influenced by real life
our norms and values are replicated online
however, what we think of as criminal / immoral is also replicated online e.g. assaulting others on ‘second life’
TOM BOELLSTORFF: disabilities
disabled people benefit from virtual communities
can experience things that they wouldn’t be able to typically like walk, fly, talk to others
they feel more included
JAN VAN DIJK: consumption
we post for the enjoyment of others
RALPH MILIBAND
the role of media is to shape how we think + feel, media owners shape what is published and only approve what fits their agenda
press doesn’t focus on wealth inequalities
capitalism isn’t challenged in media
CORNFORD AND ROBBINS
media owners profit off masses further by ideologically controlling them - this is a cycle
alongside this, new media is the same as traditional media, just quicker
JAMES CURRAN (2003)
media owners are purely motivated by profit: will release biased media based on what is most profitable
e.g. right-wing content, left-wing content
HERBERT MARCUSE
popular culture, especially in media, is a form of social control
popular media encourages people to passively accept life
promotes materialism through celebrity lifestyles, they are distractions from inequality
FOUCAULT: ‘normalisation’
social control occurs through a process of ‘normalising’ something - things we now consider abnormal could become norms we don’t challenge
seen in the gradual commercialisation of digital media
BJORKLUND (1998)
people use online platforms to write their autobiographies as they live their lives
HART (2011)
the edit function on posts allow us to write and rewrite our autobiographies - allows us to reflect on our identities
EICHHORN (2019)
teenagers have gained control over their identities
young people can put images online without adult interference
however this means it is difficult to establish new identities as we cannot remove memories off the internet
CASE (2007)
many young people have 2 versions of ‘self’ online, and the permanence of our posts also means we cannot escape mistakes
BAUMAN: liquid modernity
in the current era, identities are ‘unstable, fragmented or incoherent’
our identities are now shaped by consumer choices - we are what we buy
KRAMARAE
the internet is constructed and controlled by men: the industry is full of masculine bias
this is seen in:
companies controlling our technology
the way information is organised
language used for technology e.g. ‘the information super-highway’
KLEEMAN: wikipedia
studied wikipedia as a male space + how users contribute to the gender stereotypes reinforced on the site, found:
family life of female celebrities features more prominently than male counterparts
Hedy Lamarr’s page focuses on her acting career and not her contributions to science
wiki page for female pornstars was ‘meticulously referenced and organised’, whereas the page for female poets was a ‘sprawling dumping ground’
the process of editing wikipedia is mediated by coding, women tend to be less confident in these skills so they are discouraged from participating
COOPER (2013)
men are more likely to work in IT than women (80% of IT managers are male)
MONA BADIE
canalisation has affected careers: parents expect boys to go into careers like IT or STEM, and expect girls to go into careers like teaching, healthcare or beauty
proven by male dominance in IT and female dominance in cosmetic industry
GREEN + SINGLETON (2013)
most popular social media networks for women in 2013 were mumsnet and facebook
these sites reinforce gender stereotypes, particularly that women should do the ‘emotional work’
NUSSBAUM: instrumentality
the treatment of a person like a tool
denial of autonomy
ownership
LANGTON: objectification
reduction to body/appearance
the treatment of a person based off their appearance
LAURA MULVEY
women have been objectified in media for decades, we are exposed to this more than ever
scopophilia: the pleasure of looking at something (women in this case)
women are the ‘spectacle’, and men are the ‘bearer of the look’
FELTMAN (2018): self-objectification
studied self-objectification by women on Instagram, found:
women want to present themselves as ‘affiliative and attractive’
women believe the aesthetics of their pictures is more important than men do
MCKINNON: pornography
pornography has made everyone (women included) dehumanise women and objectify them further, has fed into the belief that women are objects of sexual pleasure
CINDY GALLOP (2009)
“pornography has become the new sex education”, young people believe violent sex seen in media is how it should occur
negative as the porn industry is created by men for men
porn tends to present a single world view
ORENSTEIN: pornography
young girls have begun comparing themselves to pornstars, they express disconnection with their bodies during sex and feel pressure to do things they felt uncomfortable doing as male pleasure is prioritised
COCHRANE (2013)
women are more aware of the oppression they face against men, and so the internet allows them to protest against misogyny
e.g. #MeToo
SCHUSTER (2017)
there is a generational divide in feminism
older people are unaware of the ‘political energy’ being put in by young feminists online
this causes a divide as there is no united front
SHERRY TURKLE
we have lost the humanity in relationships (friendships, etc) as digital communications have made us lose compromise in communication: this is the ‘Goldilocks effect’
we only speak to others remotely when we want to
however, digi comms are not all bad!
we can speak to others wherever and feel reassurance from them
DANIEL MILLER: 🇧🇷 vs 🇨🇱
studied how class identity is presented in brazil and chile on social media:
🇧🇷
low-income brazilians were more likely to show an ‘aspirational lifestyle’, posting gym pics or by swimming pools when in reality they could not afford it
🇨🇱
low-income chileans were closer with those they share posts with, so less likely to post untruthful images as others know their real lifestyles
JAN VAN DIJK, SHERRY TURKLE: projecting identities
van dijk:
disclosing the right information about our personal identity causes popularity, so our identity is created for the consumption of others
turkle:
online life frees people from their physical identities and enables them to share better versions of themselves
