digital communications and social change Flashcards
What are the benefits of a networked global society in bringing about social change according to Castells?
Digital technology is effective in enabling positive social change
- individuals share information and organise collective action by passing political parties and traditional media
- led to decentralisation of power away from the elite towards the civil society
- people no longer need traditional organisations to mobilise protestors and share information
How did the following sociologists provide examples of social media bringing about positive social change:
Kirkpatrick,
Jurgensen
Digital technology is effective in enabling positive social change
- ‘facebook effect’ book
- collumbian engineer used facebook to organise large protests
- millions of collumbians marched in 27 cities over the country and over 100 major world cities
- social media connected protestors
Digital activism is ineffective and can actually undermine movements for change because it leads to laziness among potential activists as well as acting as a distraction.
Digital technology is ineffective in enabling positive social change
lee
- ‘hashtag is not a movment’
- slacktivism
Chomsky
- marxist
- social media act as a distraction
Many people in the least developed countries do not have internet access.
Digital technology is ineffective in enabling positive social change
95% of the population of Northern Europe are internet users compared to only 23% in Eastern Africa
castells says if people cannot access the iinternet, they cannot be part of the networked global society
In many countries the government uses censorship to prevent protestors from using digital communications to their advantage as well as spreading misinformation on social media about campaigners.
Digital technology is ineffective in enabling positive social change
joyce ‘proof is in the pendulum’ - those in power do not allow protestors to gain ground using digital media
- governments catch up and take control
- 2019 pro democracy protests in Hong Kong
Social media can be used to encourage conflict, rather than peaceful social change.
Digital technology is ineffective in enabling positive social change
- encourages violence and rioting eg Tottenham riots
- terrorist groups use it to their advantge to support, plan and share their activities as well as recruit new membors
- eg Taliban and ISIS
