AHSS*1090 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Disinhibition, Asynchronous Communication, Mcdonaldization
Communication, Technology & Culture
Week 9: Technology and Social Relationships
Technologies of The Self
-Foucault is interested in examining practices of the self, how does the subject
constitute themselves
- “The practices of self, these practices are not nevertheless something that the
subject invents by himself. They are patterns that he finds in his culture and
which are proposed, suggested and imposed on him by his culture, his society
and his social group.” - Focualt
-Permit individuals to transform themselves in order to attain a certain state of
happiness, purity, wisdom, perfection and immortality
-Should not be viewed in isolation – also part of technologies of production, sign
systems and technologies of power
Web 2.0 & Technologies of the Self
-We live in a time of do it yourself biographies
-Earlier media brought a stream of events and experiences from around the world
into the local setting of the subject who had to accept or appropriate the
presented content
-Today, the individual can reach into globally distributed resources of information
-Web 2.0 technologies are centered on the self
Social Media and The Self
-Terrain of friendship is fundamentally altered
-Social networking sites insert themselves between the actual world of friendship
relations and the person who is an actor in that world
-The self will continuously expose its thoughts & deeds to the scrutiny & judgment
of its network
-Major reward in this environment is popularity
-The popular self is the true hero of social networking
-Characteristics - They can see and interpret their interactions with others from a
new perspective
-Informate - Capacity of computers to introduce an additional dimension of
reflexivity to produce a voice which renders events, objects and process visible,
knowable, and shareable in a new way
How We Communicate Content of Thought
-Writing changes consciousness and thought processes
-In oral societies, the focus is on action
-Writing allows for more abstract content
Organization of Thought
-In oral societies, ideas are connected in an associative manner
-Literate society ideas are organized around a main idea to which all subordinate
ideas are Linked
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Foucault is interested in examining practices of the self, how does the subject constitute themselves. The practices of self, these practices are not nevertheless something that the subject invents by himself. They are patterns that he finds in his culture and which are proposed, suggested and imposed on him by his culture, his society and his social group. - focualt. Permit individuals to transform themselves in order to attain a certain state of happiness, purity, wisdom, perfection and immortality. Should not be viewed in isolation also part of technologies of production, sign systems and technologies of power. We live in a time of do it yourself biographies. Earlier media brought a stream of events and experiences from around the world into the local setting of the subject who had to accept or appropriate the presented content. Today, the individual can reach into globally distributed resources of information. Web 2. 0 technologies are centered on the self.
