COMM 1100U Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: E-Democracy, Social Forces, Structuration Theory
13 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
November 30th, 2017
Politics and New Media
Lecture 10
Structuration
• A poess y hih stutues ae ostituted out of hua agey, ee as they
poide the ey ediu of that ostitutio Moso td i Hist et al, p.
• marx says we live in worlds not of our own making
• we can make our own decisions but the social forces around our choices are beyond our
aility to dietly hage e dot get to ake ou iustaes
• eids us that e at hoose aythig, eeythig er do has a context
Remember: Ideology and Hegemony
• Ideology (larger shared ideas and beliefs, structure)
o A set of ideas joied togethe that legitiate ad failitate poe elatios
• Hegemony (the way we sort out what these beliefs are, where we fit and do not fit,
process)
o The atie poess of a doiat soial lass iig the suppot of
subordinate classes for its continued rule . . . occurs when the subordinate class
internalizes the mental structures and routine practices favoured and circulated
y the ulig elite Hist et al, p. 5
The Myth of Digital Democracy
• The Internet is inherently democratic
• The Internet will strengthen democracy
• The Internet will lead to a more democratic future
Reminder: Myth
• The poe of yths is ipotant not only for what they reveal about a society at a
patiula tie ut also fo hat they oeal aout the soial elatios i that ea
(Hirst et al, p. 209)
• Examples: the global village; online equality; anonymity
• Myths can make it more difficult to see how things actually work
What the Myth of digital democracy is hiding
• A limited view of what counts as politics
• A technologically determinist point of view
• A limited understanding of how contemporary power dynamics work
• Keeping things out of the range of things we cant talk about
Digital Technologies and what Counts as Politics
• No longer traditional: not just parties and elections
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