Critical Theory and Social Media: Between Emancipation and Commodification

Description

Social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are enormously popular: they are continuously ranked among the most frequently accessed websites worldwide. However there are as yet few studies which combine critical theoretical and empirical research in the context of digital and social media. The aim of this book is to study the constraints and emancipatory potentials of new media and to assess to what extent digital and social media can contribute to strengthen the idea of the communication and network commons, and a commons-based information society. Based on a critical theory and political economy approach, this book explores: the foundational concepts of a critical theory of media, technology, and society users’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards the antagonistic character and the potentials and risks of social media whether technological and/or social changes are required in order to bring about real social media and human liberation. Critical Theory and Social Media examines both academic discourse on, and users’ responses to, new media, making it a valuable tool for international scholars and students of sociology, media and communication studies, social theory, new media, and information society studies. Its clear and interesting insights into corporate practices of the global new media sector will mean that it appeals to critical social media users around the world. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of figures List of tables Introduction Part I Theoretical foundations 1 Critical theory and dialectics Introduction Foundational concepts of a critical theory of media, technology, and society The dialectics of productive forces and relations of production Conclusion: means of communication as means of production 2 Critical Internet and social media studies Introduction Foundations of Internet and social media studies Towards a critical theory of the Internet and social media Conclusion: ideology and commodity critique 3 Critical (Internet) privacy studies: ideology critique Introduction Foundations of (Internet) privacy studies Towards a critical theory of (Internet) privacy Conclusion: capitalist privacy threats vs. corporate privacy protection 4 Critical (Internet) surveillance studies: commodity critique Introduction Foundations of (Internet) surveillance studies Towards a critical theory of (Internet) surveillance Conclusion: capitalist surveillance vs. counter- surveillance Part II Case study 5 Traditional and critical research of privacy and surveillance on social media Introduction Traditional research of privacy on social media Critical research of surveillance on social media Conclusion: a critical empirical study of privacy and surveillance on social media 6 Empirical results: (dis)advantages of social media Introduction General characteristics of the respondents Advantages of social networking sites Disadvantages of social networking sites Conclusion Part III Techno-social revolution 7 Critical theory, dialectics, and the (dis)advantages of social media Introduction Foundational concepts of a critical theory of media, technology, and society and the (dis)advantages of social media The dialectics of productive forces and relations of production and the (dis)advantages of social media Conclusion 8 Conclusion Technological constraints Technological potentials Social potentials Social contraints (Dis)like Facebook? Communication and network commons Commons-based information society Bibliography Index