topic 3: theoretical interpretations of globalisation and digital communication Flashcards
define superstructure
the cultural institutions that are used by the bourgeoisie to control the thoughts and ideas of population (e.g. mass media, religion, education system)
what 5 ways do the Frankfurt School believe the bourgeoisie control and use media?
- DISTRACT us from real problems of capitalism + break down community bonds 🪁
- control our UNDERSTANDING OF REALITY and induce appropriate values amongst the public 💭
- to HARVEST DATA which can be sold 📊
- to control people / SURVEILLANCE 👁
- to make PROFIT 💰
Adorno on distraction from capitalism
media makes ppl less likely to become politically active + class conscious
— digital media takes up time ⏰ and dumbs down thinking 🧠
— trivial media takes precedence (cat videos etc) over important issues
— addictive social media algorithms prevent working class from being politically conscious
spending time online alone divides ➗ proletariat community (divide and rule)
Frankfurt school on media + our understanding of reality
ppl who control media PRESENT IT AS THE ONLY VERSION OF REALITY
— e.g. Facebook is controlled by Mark Zuckerberg who hugely controls what is published
— alternative views are censored 🤬
— fake news is circulated to confuse population: stultifies political action?
Frankfurt school on data harvestation
- when using digital media we leave DIGITAL FOOTPRINT 👣
- big data = millions of records bundled together 📊
- data may be used by companies or sold to others
- CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA illegally harvested data from 50 million Facebook accounts to use in election campaigns
ethical issues:
Cambridge Analytica influenced democracy?
lacking consent?
company profits but individual doesnt: who owns the data?
how does the media control and survey people?
EDWARD SNOWDEN ❄️
- worked for US secret service
- discovered that Western governments were breaking law, illegally spying on citizens’ internet/phone activity
- was OUTRAGED 😡 at fundamental breach of trust + law breaking so leaked thousands of files
- US want to charge him for treason, he hides in Russia
Rise in digital tech hasn’t revolutionised society as much as we think: powerful still control flow of info
marxism on digital media making profit
HUGE profits, BARELY ANY tax
tax evasion: 2016 Google payed less than 1% of taxes, majority of UK pay 30%
Amazon: poor working conditions to maximise profits
wealth makes tech companies rich and powerful: undemocratic redistribution of power from government —> Bezos, Zuckerberg
CASTELLS (positive neo-Marxist interpretations of digital tech)
DIGITAL REVOLUTION: empowers 💪 masses
Arab uprisings: digital social networks helped organise ideas, protests, new forms of info sharing
—> videos of police brutality on youtube
proletariat access more info 🧠 , can organise revolutions
tackles inequalities, more even distribution of power
digital media = tool for change, creating outrage and hope
strengths of Marxist theory abt globalisation + digital tech
- criticises subtle, underlying COVERT forces
- gives alternatives to Eurocentric view
- opens doorway to equality
weaknesses of Marxist theory of globalisation + digital tech
- too deterministic
- overlooks positive aspects
Haraway 1995
- new tech 📱 should be EMBRACED by women: solution to misogyny?
—> future tech e.g. cyborgs break down gender dualities - women were previously left behind in AGRICULTURAL 🥕 and INDUSTRIAL 🏭 revolutions due to structural constraints
- if women don’t step out + assert themselves into digital revolution they risk being sidelined
—> Apple 🍎 health app ♥️ doesn’t include menstrual cycle
—> female astronaut couldn’t do spacewalk bc spacesuit was designed for man so she couldnt see out
(MALE STREAM THINKING PERVADES TECH)
Already happened: the pill, fertility treatments
Ebert (marxism)
HARAWAY = OVERSIMPLIFICATION
- fails to acknowledge that gender inequality maintains capitalism
- ruling class will maintain status quo of gender inequality in tech to maintain capitalism
criticisms of Haraway
— Ebert
— too impractical!! (H replies, saying that she meant metaphorically)
Fourth Wave 🌊 Feminism
metoo
2000 — 2010
Feminist discourse revived
Digital tech gives a voice to the voiceless, lowers risk of essentialising womens’ experiences (assuming all are the same)
#FGM
Everyday Sexism Project
NAKAMURA
ethnic minority women have made especially good use of digital tech
(jobs, networking etc)
Natasha Walter
LIVING DOLLS: negative impact of media on women.
New sexism: women judged on physical appearance more.
—> HYPERSEXUAL CULTURE, OBJECTIFICATION of women
Internet + media allow:
-pornography, sexualised images of women (UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS)
-emphasis on clothes, plastic surgery (EATING DISORDERS)
Increasing pressure to look GOOD for MEN.
increased by digital tech:
most searched term = porn
ratemygirlfriend.com
Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto
Sarkeesian
Tropes vs Women in Video Games blog series
gaming = male-dominated, objectifying/sexualising/trivialising women e.g. Grand Theft Auto
Caroline Criado-Perez
Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
- Siri can find prostitutes but not abortion providers
- Siri can help with heart attacks but not rapes
- Apple health app can’t track periods
- Smartwatches too big for female wrists
- Map apps look for quickest route, not safest
- No seatbelt designed for pregnant people
Arlaccki
government are FAILING to regulate and prevent patriarchal oppression online
e.g. porn access leading to sexual objectification of women
digital tech has increased human trafficking
Stopthetraffic.org 2019:
71% of human trafficking were females
21% of sexual exploitation victims were children
positives of feminist theory
empathy, generally considers oppression of all marginalised groups as well as gender (sexuality, ethnicity. class, disability etc)
weaknesses of feminist theory
many different types, so can be difficult to apply to new topics (e.g. radical and liberal may see something v differently)
Giddens (positives)
— increasing choice = LIBERATING + EMPOWERING 💪
— DETRADITIONALISATION: increased opportunity to discard old oppressive traditions
—> #metoo, #girlsnotbrides ➡️ decline in child marriage + FGM
— postmodernist ideas: increased consumerist choice (from TTT) brings EXPLOSION 💥 OF OPPORTUNITY and HIGHLY PERSONALISED CHOICES
Liberating, exciting, fulfilling.
Katz and Sugiyama 2005
mpact of MOBILE PHONES on YOUTH’S IDENTITY
Phone 📱 = status symbol, signifies cool 😎
US 🇺🇸 + Japan 🇯🇵 interviewed 🎤, people prioritised STYLE over battery life
What we buy defines us.
Boellstroff 2008
— SOCIAL ACTORS: we can now construct and act out new multiple identities
— investigated role-playing games e.g. Second Life
— identities are highly adaptable, endless opportunity
— increased opportunity for new relationships ♥️
freedom of choice can be liberating, but anonymity can be DANGEROUS (virtual rape etc)
Jurgenson
digital dualism (digital and physical are seperate) ➡️ AUGMENTED REALITY (digital and physical enmeshed)
- ‘cyborg’ — techno-human syntheses
- medicine (breast implants, contact lenses)
- communication (increased during lockdown)
- mobile phone increasingly becoming a part of us
Bauman
- increasing uncertainty + instability
- identity is NO LONGER stable, secure, concrete
- fluid, fragmented, short lived
cyberspace is “pretense and alienation 👽, a poor substitute for the real thing”
Facebook, Tinder etc: identities are highly adaptable, ephemeral, superficial
Marxist interpretations of Bauman’s study
RICH PPL 🤑 have more chances to use multiple media sources to flex their online identities
class is still a very real and restrictive barrier
Baudrillard
— SIGNIFIED (reality) ➡️ SIGNIFIER (projected version/image of reality communicated to us)
— media creates false illusion; HYPER REALITY 💭❓
—> Iraq war was manufactured illusion
— in new INFORMATION BLIZZARD 🌨 ❄️ 💨, can no longer distinguish truth + illusion
— power has disappeared 😔 we r stuck in endlessly exchanging meaningless symbols
BUT he lacks empirical evidence and is purely theoretical so may be wrong??
strengths of postmodern interpretation of globalisation
1st theory to be in the SAME TIME FRAME ⏰ as globalisation so most relevant…?
weaknesses of postmodern interpretation of globalisation
it doesn’t explain WHY these changes are occuring
Marxism: it fails to offer critical STRUCTURAL analysis
Philo
- reality defo still exists!!
- we still have digital duality
- we don’t have equal access 🚫🟰 to new forms of identity + consumption: postmodernism exaggerates choice
