Social Media and Social Order

This book addresses the relationship between social media and social order at multiple scales and sites, from city neighborhoods to national politics, to how the data harvested by transnational corporations influence lives worldwide. It provides insights into how diverse social worlds are being reshaped by social media, analysis of what this means, and reflection on how critical publics might constructively respond

The return of the Serbian other: Interpretative repertoires of nationalism and identity politics in online news discourses on Serbia\u27s integration in the European union

After more than a decade of political investment in integration, Serbia is still awaiting full membership into the European Union and thus is kept on the periphery of an imagined European community. In this difficult and uncertain process, Serbs have faced fractured national discourses that are inscribed with new forms of liminality encapsulated in an externally ascribed position of flawed Europeans. This dissertation explores the co-construction of national identities in the context of public debate about the country\u27s integration into the EU on Serbian online news websites. Informed by the theoretical and methodological framework of discursive psychology, this research identified interpretative repertoires activated and constructed in dialogic interaction through news reports and readers\u27 online commentaries on the visa liberalization process between 2009 and 2011. The analysis shows that although discontinuous and asynchronous in character, the employment of particular interpretative repertoires normalizes a limited number of positions of identification through which individuals avow their national belonging. Relying on taken-for-granted claims about current economic hardships, lack of alternatives, and memory of lived collective suffering and unjust expulsion from imagined European community, participants in online dialogues construct a normative category of Serbs as damaged Europeans that challenges state-centered identities ascribed by the news discourse. By appropriating EU\u27s cultural politics and symbolic geography, readers\u27 comments mark territorial migrations of an internal and undesirable Other as moral transgression to advance a preference for fixed, clearly defined, and policed boundaries. Simultaneously, they reinterpret asylum seeking as a normal reaction to abnormal circumstances such as living in a failing Serbian state. Articulated through this form of online communication, these constructs enter the public sphere to equip political elites and Serbian citizens with rational means for everyday nationalism, practical othering, and continued discrimination of already-marginalized groups couched in discourses on state citizenship

Social Media and Social Order

Social Media and Social Order combines a structural analysis of the global impact of social media as contributing to the production of a datafied social order with a series of actor-focused analyses, each examining how roles structured by social media are performed at various sites: enmeshed in European cities, entangled in contested Middle Eastern borders, and embedded in provincial Indian small-town networks. The final section then arcs back to a focus on the general properties of social media networks revealed through two American cases, emphasizing the human costs for the recipients of abuse (legislators of color) and the political costs of participatory propaganda for a deliberative understanding of democracy. A central theme is how the principle of differential treatment embedded in the datafied social order is becoming increasingly widespread across social fields. The book demonstrates how social media are implicated in reshaping social order in ways which align with this principle, including creating new precarious hierarchies of esteem, reinforcing existing social, class and religious hierarchies, opening political discussion to more participants but at the cost of reinforcing local hierarchies and dominant discourses, underlining gendered constructions of national identity, amplifying the abuse received by women and people of color in leadership positions and enmeshing users in the circulation of propaganda which resonates with their preconceptions, thus deepening societal polarization

EU SUGGESTED BEST PRACTICE DOCUMENT: CRITICAL ANALYSIS AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EU-WIDE HATE CRIME LAWS

This document subjects the various EU hate crime provisions to critical policy analysis, weighing up their pros and cons, and defending aspects of them from inappropriate forms of critique, and then draws some policy conclusions based on a sense of best practice. The aim of identifying best practice is to generate reform suggestions in the form of detailed model legislation. This is contained in the final section of this document. A key point considered is the narrow definition of protected groups under current EU measures. The restrictions to racist forms of hate crime and genocide denial contained in the Framework Decision is not central to the political and constitutional cultures of all member states. Indeed, it has not prevented the criminal law implementation measures of some EU Member States from including a number of other grounds, such as disability, anti-Semitism, or sexual orientation. Certain EU bodies have even encouraged this expansive approach to national implementation, with the FRA stating: ‘In the spirit of non-discrimination, it is certainly preferable to widen criminal law provisions to include equally all grounds of discrimination covered by Article 14 of the ECHR or Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.’ This criticism would, in practice, suggest a need for Members State supplementing these categories with one of more the following: gender, social origin, genetic features, language, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, birth, property or other status, disability, age or sexual orientation. Whilst supporting an expansion of the range of groups covered, the following paragraphs issue a cautionary warning against a massive extension to cover all these groups on grounds of both principle and practical consequences

Abstracts from the Twenty-First Annual Conference - Race, Class, and Gender

Abstracts From the Twenty-First Annual Conference National Association for Ethnic Studies Race, Class, and Gender March 3-6, 1993 Red Lion Hotel, Salt Lake City, Uta

(Re)presentations of Disability: Images of Persons with Down Syndrome

Disabled people have been misrepresented by mass media for decades. The result of disability misrepresentation is the perpetuation of negative disability stereotypes and models of disability. Disability representation has rarely been informed by authentic first-hand knowledge about what disability is and who disabled people are. As such, representations of disability have been formed from an outsider perspective most commonly based on ableism. This study seeks to explore the ways in which disabled people choose to represent themselves and if this representation is consistent with or resistant to dominant disability narratives. Borrowing from Critical Disability Studies and the concept of disability life writing, this study utilized qualitative content analysis to analyze the visual images, comments, and hashtags of randomly selected data posted to four publicly accessible Instagram accounts. Findings show disabled people choose to represent themselves in ways that resist dominant disability narratives, allowing for expanded ideas of what disability is and who disabled people are

Forms and Fragments: Enactment of Cultural Identification in an Online Community of Chinese Living Overseas

This research is an interpretive study of the dynamics of cultural identification as enacted by Chinese individuals living overseas who participate in a virtual online community known as Wenxuecity.com. The study draws on intercultural communication theories of identity proposed by Carbaugh, Collier, and Hecht, as well as on my own integrative framework for the analysis of cultural identity, to explore the self-other interaction in identity enactment, the multidimensionality of identity, and the centrality of communication in processes of identification. Through the application of a qualitative analysis of online discourse, I found three primary forms of cultural identification-- perceptual, strategic, and positional cultural identification -- that reveal how online commentators make sense of their individual and group identities. Through online discussion of a variety of topics -- from China\u27s history, East-West tensions, to academic power structures and racial hierarchies in host cultures or media stereotyping and global hegemonic relations -- and using communicative strategies like self-other comparison, advice, and ideological debate, commentators enact both a sense of group cohesiveness as well as their internal, conflictive heterogeneity. Their discourse allows for the exploration of how multiple dimensions of identity -- individuality, sociality, materiality, and spirituality -- intersect to shape the fragmentary character of cultural identification. In the particular case of the group under study, the dominant trends observed reveal that cultural identification is a process characterized by the enactment of a sense of marginalization in host societies, heightened individuality, strategic attachment to or distancing from Chinese cultural membership, and ideological divisions

Universal Design for Belonging: Living and Working with Diverse Personal Names

There is great diversity in the names and naming practices of Canada’s population due to the multiple languages and cultures from which names and name-givers originate. While this diversity means that everyone encounters unfamiliar names, institutional agents who work with the public are continually challenged when attempting to determine a name’s correct pronunciation, spelling, structure and gender. Drawing from over a hundred interviews in London (Ontario) and Montréal (Québec), as well as other published accounts, I outline strategies used by institutional agents to manage name diversity within the constraints of their work tasks. I explain how concern with saving face and being polite can involve microaggressions which contribute to exclusion and disadvantage for people with certain kinds of names. Repeated mistreatment of names, whether intentional or not, negatively affects the integration of immigrants and their sense of belonging in the new society. I argue that the respectful treatment of names is a small but meaningful step toward making multilingual and multi-ethnic societies more welcoming and inclusive. Informed by the principles of Universal Design for Learning, I offer a set of recommendations for normalizing name diversity in work and social life. Il est possible de constater une grande diversité de noms et de pratiques de dénomination au sein de la population canadienne ceci en raison des nombreuses langues et cultures d\u27où proviennent ces noms et ceux qui les donnent. Alors que cette diversité a pour effet que chaque personne aura éventuellement à faire face à des noms peu familiers, on note en particulier que les agents institutionnels, qui travaillent avec le public, sont constamment mis à l’épreuve lorsqu\u27ils tentent de déterminer la prononciation, l\u27orthographe, la structure et le genre corrects d\u27un nom. En se fondant sur plus d\u27une centaine d\u27entrevues réalisées à London (en Ontario) et à Montréal (au Québec), ainsi que sur des comptes rendus ayant fait l’objet de publications, nous présentons des stratégies utilisées par des agents institutionnels dans leur gestion de la diversité des noms en tenant compte de leurs contraintes professionnelles. Nous expliquons que, par souci de « préserver les apparences » et de se montrer poli, ces attentions peuvent donner lieu à des micro-agressions menant à l\u27exclusion et à une iniquité envers les personnes portant certains types de noms. La répétition de mauvais traitements, qu\u27ils soient intentionnels ou non, a pour effet de porter atteinte à l’intégration des immigrants et à leur sentiment d\u27appartenance à la nouvelle société d’accueil. Nous soutenons que le traitement respectueux des noms représente une étape modeste mais significative pouvant mener à l’établissement de sociétés multilingues et multiethniques accueillantes et inclusives. En se fondant sur les principes de la conception universelle de l’apprentissage, nous offrons une série de recommandations pour normaliser la diversité des noms dans le travail et la vie sociale

Queering the Family Space: Confronting the Child Figure and the Evolving Dynamics of Intergenerational Relations in Don DeLillo\u27s White Noise

Criticism surrounding the children of the Gladney family in Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise remains a contested issue. I argue the children and their social environment reflect Lee Edelman’s analysis of the Child figure and its bolstering of reproductive futurism. The Child figure upholds a heteronormative social order that precludes equal rights and social viability for non-normative family structures and those opposed to an inherently conservative ideology. I find the continually evolving family structure elicits new dynamics among its members, offering greater social independence for all, which institutes a stronger familial bond and ensures a greater chance for its vitality. The Gladney family share such a dynamic; this is observed through the specific roles its members perform and the relations among them. Furthermore, I contend the Gladney family represent a model for maintaining group vitality, which is first required for organized political action against our inequitable social order

Calling Out the Trolls: Responses to Witnessing Use of the “Troll” Label as a Defense in an Online Group Context

Although the term “troll” has existed since the 1980s, its meaning has shifted in recent years as social media use has increased. People provide contrasting and imprecise definitions for what constitutes “trolling,” and often apply the term subjectively to describe online discussants who are uncivil, who are deviant, and who and present counter-attitudinal opinions. Exposure to deviance, counter-attitudinal information, and incivility often leads to unwanted psychological effects. In theory, labeling an uncivil, counter-attitudinal deviant as a “troll” proposes that their intention is to disrupt the conversation and upset other discussants, which provides a reason for why incivility is used, and diminishes the threat of counter-attitudinal exposure. Participants were placed into an online discussion about transgender identities; while participants believed they were discussing with real people, they were actually interacting with a scripted computer program. All discussion comments were pro-attitudinal, save one. A 2 X 3 between-subjects design was employed to examine the effects of the civility of the counter-attitudinal comment (civil vs. uncivil) and the label used against this counter-attitudinal discussant (no label vs. rude label vs. troll label). Incivility exposure overall produced higher ratings of anger, attitude certainty, intentions to participate, and identification with the discussion group. The rude label overall decreased attitude certainty, while the troll label overall increased identification with being a person with their pre-existing attitude. In the uncivil condition, participants were marginally more willing to participate again when the troll label was applied, when compared to the two other label conditions. The intersecting influences of gender, pre-existing attitudes, and suspicions about the deception used are discussed