chapter 9: community in the network society Flashcards
what do skeptics such as turke see digital media as?
a tech that would draw people away from family and friends and alienate them from society
what did early analysts such as Rheingold see the internet as?
utopian place where new communities could be formed without the constraints of space and time
what is a community?
community is a group of people who live in a bounded geographic area
eg. Soho in NYC and Annex in Toronto
what is a different way of studying community?
smaller units that come together because of shared interests
eg. medical community, the foodie community, etc.
who was the first to study the fundamentals of community and what were the two concepts?
Tonnies
Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
what is gemeinschaft and its 3 characteristics?
“community”
- bonds are strong and meaningful
(eg. family ties that connects ppl in tightly knit groups - members usually belong to few social networks and most socialization occurs within primary social group
- people in this know each other, trust each other and exchange a range of social support
what is gesellschaft (utopian)?
“society” or “association”
- loosely connected through bonds that are often goal-oriented
- people should come together as more direct benefits to be gained from belonging - bonds are not close, as people have little investment in these bonds
- communities are large and not everybody knows everybody else
what is an example of gesellschaft?
nation state
members group tg as result of sharing the same geographic location and national identity
what do these two concepts represent?
ideal archetypes of social relationships
- social groups cant be fully categorized as one but has elements of each other
what is the difference between these two concepts?
Gemeinschaft - represent the utopian society where people are closely connected, share an identity, and engage in reciprocity
Gesellschaft - inferior form of social organization as members are only loosely connected, little willingness for co-operation and collaboration
how has wellman used the term community question?
summarize the debate around how community has changed over time and the role played by technology
addresses how individuals are integrated into a social system and the interpersonal means by which its members have access to scarce resources
what are 3 theoretical views?
- community lost
- community saved
- community liberated
what does the community lost theory entail?
- industrialization is the cause of decline in community resulting from long work hours leaving little time for other activities
- disregards constraints placed on identity formation and self-expression through shared norms and beliefs
- see pastoral community as composed primarily of local social interactions in closely bounded groups
what is turkle of community lost?
form of socialization as alone together and contrasted it with togetherness
- along together as having negative repercussions for socialization and the maintenance of social relations
what does the community saved theory who is opposite to community lost entail?
- how friendship and family networks continue to be dominant forms of social organization even in modern societies
- disregard changes in the structuring of society as a result of modernization by emphasizing the continued existence of geographically bounded ties
when did wellman criticized when discussing this view?
narrow focus on documenting the continued existence of pre-industrialized forms of community without considering the changes that have occurred since IR
what does community liberated entail?
- life is not lost but has undergone radical transformations
- mediated communication can make it possible to maintain simultaneously their immediate family ties and also ties outside their primary group
what does bourdieu define social capital as?
accumulated actual and potential resources to which individuals have access through their memberships in groups and connections to networks
what does social capital entail?
relations provide a collectivity shared capital and credentials that allow people to exchange favours, credits, and resources
sum of valuable resources that can be obtained through a person’s relationships with friends and relatives
what do private effects and public effects entail in terms of social capital being?
private: benefits brought to individuals through their ties
public: positive characteristics of living in densely knit and reciprocal communities
what does putnam say has contributed to the decline of social capital?
technology
argues that with industrialization came increased participation in more individualistic activities, such as watching television
what are the 3 competing perspectives in terms of how ppl view the internet?
- utopian perspective
- dystopian perspective
- supplement perspective
what does the utopian perspective entail?
- Internet as stimulating positive change in people’s lives
- changed our concept of community as it spans geographic boundaries and connects individuals across times and space
what does rheingold define online communications as?
social aggregations that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on those public discussion long enough to form webs of personal relationships
what does the dystopian perspective entail about the internet?
draws people away from their immediate, local environments alientaing them from social engagement and civic participation
smartphones remove ind from their communities and immegate public spaces by enticing them to spend time on screens
what are critiques of these two perspectives?
utopian and dystopian perspectives both provide rather simplistic views of the impact of digital media on the structuring of society
given too much weight to digital media’s ability to rasically transform community
what are the 5 factors we need to consider when how digital media has affected society?
- A user’s previous experience with digital media
- A user’s personal characteristics
- The existence of prior forms of community, whether online or offline
- The type of Internet use
- Life events
what are the two trends of the supplement perspective regarding how the internet has affected society?
- the richer get richer hypothesis
- networked individualism
what does the rich get richer hypothesis entail?
- internet had diff effects on all users
- users who are already socially involved and who have existing social support the Internet will further strengthen and expand these networks
eg. facebook
what does networked individualism refer to or is similar to?
durkheims notion of organic solidarity
“shared understandings around social roles, revealing a cohesive social structure with a strong collective conscious”
mechanical solidarity
what is organic solidarity?
society in which individuals occupy specialized social roles that evolve around labour, social status, and other defining variables
- all have diff specialized skills and all tg create a whole
how does rainie and wellman show that there is a “triple revolution” taking place?
- long-term turn away from being bound up in solidarity groups to manoeuvering among social networks
- proliferation of the personalized Internet as a means to communicate and acquire information with fewer distance constraints
- spread of mobile devices providing always-accessible communication and information
What Tonnies referred to as Gemeinschaft; Durkehim referred to as…..
mechanic solidarity
What Tonnies referred to as Gesellschaft; Durkheim referred to as……
organic solidarity
what are the 3 types of social connectivity
- networked ind (diverse variety of roles within larger works using more digital channels)
- socially connected ind (not networked and differ in scope, magnitude and breadth of networks)
- social limited ind (smaller less diverse networks, more individualized and limited in use of digital media)
who created the idea of public spheres?
Habermas
what is the public sphere used for?
democracy
discursive space in which individuals and groups congregate to discuss matters of mutual interest and, where possible, to reach a common judgment
deliberate about normative standards and develops new frameworks for expressing and evaluating social reality
what are the three areas of the bourgeoisie public sphere?
- Status: public debate to be open, opinions need to be voiced regardless of a person’s status
- Domain of common concern: the issues addressed need to be relevant to larger social group and not restricted to the interests of small, influential groups
- Inclusivity: the issues discussed must be open and accessible to everyone in terms of their content
how does habermas define the notion of ideal speech situation?
rules structure debate and allow all individual the equal and unbiased opportunity to voice their opinion
how does noelle-neumann define the theory of spiral of silence
participants of the public sphere are willing to share their opinions if they believe they are in accordance with those of the majority
what are third places defined by oldenburg?
first place - home with fam and friends
second place - work where ppl spend a lot of time with certain ppl
third place - places ppl vist routinely (coffee places, restaurants etc.)
why are these places good?
- ground people in their neighbourhoods and communities allowing them to interact and develop a sense of place
- important locations for public opinion to form and for civil society to thrive
“new forms of associations that are developed online and the possibilities that they provide for citizens to organize and mobilize”
digital public sphere
what are the main changes that have occured due to digitization of the public sphere?
- Changes and processes occur on a global scale
- Various media converge and blur
- commercialization of the media
what is slacktivism?
practice of supporting a cause in a minimal way with the use of social media, such as signing an online petition
what does nayar argue?
argues that despite the former’s negative connotations, online and offline activism work together
