General (of cont debates)

Question 1

• Globalisation (3)
• Digital communication (6)
• Media Convergence (2)
• ‘Big Data’ (2)

Answer 1

Globalisation:
1. africa 1.8mil, internet 1983, rapid not uniform
2. merging of society, issues have ‘global dimension’; exclusion, marginalisation
3. Giddens 2005 (societal change is rapid), Wiseman 1998 (varying g definitions), Pain 2000 (g > ‘global society’), Kennedy 2000 (‘series of transformations’ occuring), Cohen 1990 (g as ‘intensification of worldwide social relations)

Digital communication:
1. ‘digital revolution’ - analogue/mechanical to digital tech and communication
2. ‘new media’ (1: extension of preexisting media, 2: new tech facilitating new media)
3. ‘global village’, ‘time and distance shrink’, ‘smaller world’
4. ‘virtual communities’, ‘social network’, ‘crossing geographic, political and social lines’, ‘networked global society’
5. digital, techn, g facilitate cultural evolution; but also ostracism, capped social capital (e.g. LinkedIn 20mil 2002; ‘Cyworld’ SK 1999, Facebook, Twitter 15mil, 31mil FB)
6. Carter 2005 (soc anthr, ‘cybercity’ social shift), Boellstorff 2008 (‘second life’, ‘ethnographia’, ‘Tom Bukowski’, rape accusations, ‘moral regulations’), Castells 2000 (power found in networks over gas, oil, electricity - decentralising control)

Media Convergence:
1. varying data centralised (led by social media and tech development), identities formed, now likewise cultures, economies and politics (e.g. ‘digital footprint’)
2. Boyle 2005 (‘the process of digitisation allows media convergence’)

‘Big Data’:
1. large data sets digitally/non-digitally analysing mass patterns and trends (sold by commercial companies)
2. BD forms: volume (issue now of what to keep), velocity (speed), variety (data formats), variability (data trends), complexity, +opportunities and risks

Question 2

• Globalisation and digital communication (Marxism)
  (3)

Answer 2

Summarised: facilitates development of rights and marxist ideologies via global communication/community(ies); poses risk via further suppression of classes and distraction/ISAs&raquo_space; more harm than good, but debatable.

1. Robins 1999 (DG ‘just another form of ideological control’), Bagdikian 2014 (pyramid structure, conrol exterted by fewer as media control streamlining)
2. EG: Rupert Murdock controlling over a fifth of UK news consumption, EG: adults spend more time consuming media than sleeping (Garside 2014), EG: NSA Edward Snowden revealed mass misuse of digital surveillance.
3. Gramsci 1891 (‘cultural hegemony’ serving exploitation), Harvey 1935 (‘time space compression’), Sassen 1947 (‘global cities’ as key nodes of the economy)

Question 3

• Globalisation and digital communication (Feminism)
  (3)

Answer 3

Summarised: facilitates development of feminism and rights for women; poses danger via facilitating spread of patriarchal misogynistic ideologies preexisting in society (and making suppression of and discrimination against women easier - e.g. trafficking, online assault, revenge porn, leaked nudes, digital footprint risk for women)&raquo_space; more threats to overcome, but better tools to overcome them.

1. Haraway 2011 (‘Socialist Review’, cyborgs, women can’t be essentialised, digital environments dictate concept of ‘woman’), Nakamura 2011 (benefits of networks and communities), Arlaccki 1997 (UN efforts to fight crime - ‘one of the biggest undesirable consequences of globalisation’), Hughes 1999 (DC + g mirrors preexisitng issues, worsened by internet with trafficking, sex tourism, online brides)
2. EG: Instagram and Pinterest 70% f users, EG: CEOP 790 kids safeguarded (2013), EG: 18,000+ child exploitation reports and 192 CEs arrested, EG: 180 involved in UK slavery (2013), EG: ‘FemTechNet’, ‘The Girl Guides’, ‘Mumsnet’, Larasi/Blurred Lines, Younis/feminist school society, Chemaly/FB misogyny campaign
3. Fraser 1947, Sassen 1956

Question 4

• Globalisation and digital communication (Postmodernism)
  (3)

Answer 4

Summarised: contrasting positives/negatives; promotes identity development and diversity, but poses potential risk in dangerous content and new forms of privacy/financial/identity risk&raquo_space; more good than evil, but always a risk.

1. postmodernism linked to digital development and globalisation; identity, individuality, diversity
   - Mead, Goffman, Foucault, Bauman (1981), Castells (1971)
2. Collins 2005 (social network chains necessary to understand society; study ‘micro’; offline vs online, catfish tv), Bjorklund 1998 (DC/social media as ‘a new for of autobiography’), Hart 2011 (identity split - offline vs online)
3. Case 2007 (threat to adolescence - digital footprint, audit trails), Elliott 2011 (fragmented identities, inorganic), Foucault 1997 (criminal regulation, behaviour profiles), Miller 2016 (‘Global Social Media Impact Study’ - ethnographic 15 months)

Question 5

• Globalisation and digital communication
  (2 + 3)

Answer 5

Summarised: globalisation and digital communication provide opportunity for new and different self-expression, and with opportunities to develop oneself and autonomy, but also one’s place in society and their community(ies). Although threats of worsening discrimination and marginalisation exist.

• western (and richest) countries influence cultural homogenisation (patriarchy, consumerism, capitalism, secularism, English - resulting in some ‘cultural defence’)
• Negatives: neglectful parenting, lack of kids content regulation, child exploitation, cyber bullying, media influence; vs positives: vast resources, develop self-expression/identity, opportunity to get help and safety via knowledge and aid

1. Ellison 2013 (identity ‘cues’ masked online, new-found identity autonomy), Boyle 2007 (‘digital gen divide’), Turkle 2011 (‘alone together’, false relationships), Granovetter 1973 (‘weak’/’strong’ social ties, strength of social ties dependent on many factors), Zhao 2006 (individualist tech worsens social ties, ‘loneliness epidemic’)
2. Feld 1981 (social networks used to evaluate themselves and others), Howard 2011 (risk of radicalist/fundamentalist spread - ISIS, neo-nazis, evangelicals), Kirkpatrick 2010 (‘The Facebook Effect’ - SM influences change, Row v Wade, BLM, Israel/Palestine, natural disasters), Giddens 1991 (‘reverse colonisation’ - e.g. ‘mexicanisation’ of California, black culture dominanting pop), Hoynes 1997 (g forced digital media companies to accommodate diversity)
3. EG: Ofcom 83% adults online (2014), EG: ONS 79% households below state pension have internet access, vs 37% above, EG: lower classes used less internet (81% vs 94% middle class) + 79% gaming devices vs 6% mc (Mertens 2010), EG: ONS 42% women vs 34% men social media users, EG: benefits vs threats of social media - adultery, abuse, socialising, subcommunities (Miller 2011), EG: disproved consensus of internet leading to loneliness and depression - decreased it (Gant 2002), EG: 500+ found ‘twitter-related conflict’ influenced irl relationsips (Russle 2014).

Question 6

Terminology
(19)

Answer 6

1. New media
2. Media convergence
3. Networked global society
4. Globalisation
5. Homogenisation
6. Global Village
7. Digital revolution
8. Social networks
9. Social capital
10. Big data
11. Consumer habits
12. Digital footprint
13. hegemonic/hegemony
14. feminist/marxist/postmodern discourse
15. Muted group
16. Audit trail
17. Identity processes/identity cues
18. strong/weak social ties
19. Cultural homogenisation/defence