Knowing about the debate definitely caused me to engage with Dean’s article differently. Since I knew I would be arguing against Dean’s claim, my goal was to identify the missing evidence and unsupported assumptions in her case, in addition to understanding her perspective. As I read and reflected on the article, it was very clear that Dean viewed social media’s role in sociopolitical change as having a settled conclusion.
However, it became evident through the debate that there is not only one, or even two, angles from which to view the issue. My role as a presenter of our group’s rebuttal required me to look at social media’s affect on change from as many perspectives as I could come up with. As the opposition to the idea that social media inhibits sociopolitical change, my group had to first learn Dean’s side of the argument before we could formulate our side of it. Even after all the preparation, there were still points brought up during the debates that I had not considered beforehand.
Observation of both debates reinforced the multi-faceted nature of our subject. Although both debates centered around the same general topic, each one focused on slightly different aspects of the controversy. For example, those of us discussing Dean’s claim focused specifically on the impact of media messages and online activism. Whereas the dialogue on Dean’s perspective focused on the reasons for social media’s effectiveness (or lack thereof), the group debating Castells’ case looked at social media as a tool. The side upholding Castells’ argument chose to emphasize how communication platforms can be a helpful tool, particularly in revolutions, while the opposition pointed out how such platforms could be taken control of to suppress people. The examples used in both debates ranged from more recent news to historical events – like the Arab Spring uprisings and the massacre at Tiananmen Square – and from political events to cultural trends – such as the 2016 US Presidential Election and the ALS ice bucket challenge.
As social media has evolved, so has its usage and society’s behaviors along with it. Inevitably, the continual rise of social media will have implications, both good and bad, for our governments as well as society at large. Whether social media inhibits or enables sociopolitical change is a question that’s far from resolved. However, by examining the issue from every angle, perhaps we can find the key to making social media indisputably conducive to change.
Sources:
Dean, Jodi. “Ch. 1. Technology: The Promises of Communicative Capitalism .” Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies: Communicative Capitalism and Left Politics, Duke University Press, 2009, pp. 19–48.
Castells, Manuel. “The Egyptian Revolution.” Networks of Outrage and Hope , Polity, 2012, pp. 54–94.