Hegemony of Social Media - Literature review Example

Running Head: Social Media and Hegemony Social Media and Hegemony Name Course Lecture Date Introduction The internet and other advances in information technology have made the world a much better and happier place to live in. Nowadays, life is unimaginable without technology especially social networking technologies. Advances in information technology including internet, television, fax and mobile phones have increased access to information profoundly. Social media is a technology that sees the integration of most internet communication devices to provide a platform where a person can access and send out information from almost anywhere in the planet at any moment. The impact of the internet on social and political structures around the globe can be said to be positive. However, some argue that the internet is aiding westernization of the global and local social and political order. This essay presents and argument that the internet especially social media aids the spread of western over the social and political spheres of different countries over the globe. Western nations led by the US have been accused of using their control of the internet to promote their cultural and political hegemony over other parts of the world. Dahlberg and Siapera (2007) define hegemony as indirect power or influence one nation state or group of nation hold over others. Through these Information technology advances the developed world is able to influence citizens in other countries directly. The developing world is now more exposed to the abundance of information on the internet. Through internet and especially social media, commercial entitie can reach out and influence means of production and consumption in other countries. According to Dahlberg and Siapera (2007), the internet and social networking are precious tools in the spread of western hegemony. They enable western multinational to reach the market directly, they reduce the need for middlemen and they force countries to democratize faster (Dahlberg and Siapera, 2007). The internet phenomenon is sometimes equated to the globalization movement that was seen as an imposition of western values of free trade and capitalism in the world. The internet on its part provided a platform for spreading and support western ideologies underlying globalization. Power of Influence First, Social media is a tool for connecting people on the individual level. Through social media people are able to interact with people from different cultures around the world. For example, a person in Africa can become friends with a person in the UK. Since many people both in the developed world and in the developing world maintain the West is more superior socially and politically, a person with a western friend will be easily influenced to take up western ways. According to Dahlberg and Siapera (2007), social networks bring the world so close together that it is impossible for cultures not to influence each other. Off course, this interaction mostly aids the spread of the culture that is regarded by most people as superior. As a connection tool, the internet is widely used by most companies for marketing communication. Most of the marketing communication that dominate the social media culture are meant to encourage consumerism and are aimed at stimulating the consumption of the excess produced by the industrialized countries. People can access their social media accounts from virtually any location. Aided by internet-browsing mobile devices Westerners are able to spread their westernized ideologies to many people almost instantly. Furthermore, the largest uptake of social media services is for young people who are at the most impressionable stage of their lives. Most young people who use social media cannot imagine their lives without it. One social network platform; facebook has over 1.2 billion users (Lagos, Coopman, Tomhave, 2013). According to Lagos, Coopman, Tomhave (2013), Youtube another social video sharing site is now more popular than any cable television in the world. About one in every four people in the world is social media users while a third of the world’s population have internet access (Lagos, Coopman, Tomhave, 2013). This statistics indicate the powers of the internet to connect more users than ever before and enable westerners to spread their influence more widely. Internet reflects the Founders Ideals Secondly, while some people argue that the tools of the internet are culturally neutral and are there for any country to use freely. The internet medium and social networks are deeply rooted on western ideologies especially those of free markets, free speech and the rights of the individual. These rights are distinctly western and are drawn from the US declaration of individual rights. According to Dahlberg and Siapera (2007), westerners are inherently individualistic and thus they designed internet tools as a way to express individualism and advance individual interests. Lagos, Coopman, Tomhave (2013) argues that social media as envisioned by its founders was a network for the expression and practice of individual rights. The core values of the designers were western and they might not have been aware they were spreading western hegemony by designing it as they did. In fact, social network sites like facebook and twitter represent some of the communication platforms where complete freedom of speech is almost guaranteed. According to Dahlberg and Siapera, E. (2007), Egalitarian and liberal ideals dominate the set of shared values and assumption on the internet. They point out that, the internet was originally a communication network for western computer scientists and scholars and its values mirror those held by this group. Off course, most of these scholars were Americans or other westerners. However, the internet is now a global communication tool and its participants must conform to the values and cultural assumptions of its founders. According to Dahlberg and Siapera (2007), it is almost impossible to use values and assumptions that are unique to each group to communicate on the internet. Every culture that uses Social media is aware about the freedom of speech allowed on social media. In Thailand, the SCT; a discussion forum has enables free speech on many issues in the country to continue unabated (Dahlberg and Siapera, 2007). In contrast, Thais cannot talk freely in other public forums for fear of reprisal. Burma and Thailand represent two countries were democratic, egalitarian and liberal values face violent opposition from ruling authorities. In Thailand, Social media has for decades assisted the clamour for democratic space and the recent political reforms can be owed to the freedom of speech enabled by online discussion forums. In Burma, the government requires citizens to obtain a permit before purchasing a modem. According to Lagos, Coopman, Tomhave (2013) , social media brings about the perception that human right and democracy is universal thus aiding the spread of egalitarianism and liberalism in nations were such ideas are not appreciated. Mark Zuckeberg the owner of facebook is an American who believes in egalitarian and liberal ideals. Indeed, the facebook platform can be said to be the world single largest advertising network for capitalist interests. According to Lagos, Coopman, Tomhave (2013), Zuckerberg has interest in privacy issues, taxation and immigration reforms and will undoubtedly use the social media giant to spread his ideas on the same issues. For example, during the Arab Spring political revolution, facebook, twitter and You tube were the main channels of communication and the world was able to know the human rights violation occurring on Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. Most recently, Syrian citizens were able to broadcast images of mass graves after soldiers had massacred protesting civilians. It can be argued if the owners of the social media platform did not believe in free speech and flow of information they would have bowed to the oppressive governments’ pressure and pulled the videos off their sites. It can be concluded that due to their western origins, the designers and founders of the most popular social media platforms in the world aid the spread of western political and cultural influence intentionally and unintentionally. The power of social media to aid the hegemony of western political ideology can also be found in the treatment of freedom of speech issues by social media platform twitter. During the protest that ousted the Hosni Mubarak’s regime in Egypt, Twitter emphasized its founding philosophy “ the tweets must continue” (Lagos, Coopman, Tomhave 2013) . This was in reaction to the Egyptian government blocking internet communication throughout the country. The social media network maintained that freedom of speech was to be respected and encouraged its users to continue sharing posts on the atrocities that were being committed in the country. However, in a recent incident, Twitter has bowed to pressure from western nations to remove offensive posts. Recently, twitter was forced to block a neo-Nazi account following a request from Germany. According to Lagos, Coopman, Tomhave (2013), twitter was to sensor tweets that do not conform to legal compliance in certain sensitive countries. From these examples is can be argued that social media platform are ready to assist the spread of information that conforms to the expectation of Western powers while blocking ideas opposing Western ideals. Social Media accelerates spread of Consumerism Thirdly, social networks and other advances in information aid the spread of consumer culture and consumerism. According to Paek and Pan ( 2004), consumerism is the economic and social order that brings about a desire to consume goods and services in greater amounts. It creates a desire for people to purchase consumer items they may not desire. Social media fosters consumerism in two distinct ways. First, commercial entities can use social networks to advertise directly to the masses. According to Paek and Pan ( 2004), the apparent exposure to advertising content causes people to accept consumerist values more easily. People become more positive to advertised products and are more likely to purchases them. However, the most profound effect on consumption behaviour comes from social media’s ability to enable people share their lifestyles. On social media people do not only share conversation but also videos, pictures and experiences. A person is able to find out how their friends, celebrities and other people dress, eat and live and holiday. For example, when a friend posts pictures having a great time away on a holiday, the desire to have a holiday increases. Social media sometimes takes the form of a social competition between associates contest on who is living the best life. To win people engage in consumerist behaviour to match or better their friends’ lifestyles. Girls and women will compete on who has the most adorable dresses and shoes. Therefore, social media enhances the spread of consumerism and consumer cultures in places where such ideas were previously unacceptable. However, social media in terms of language has conformed rather than globalized the means of communication. While English is the dominant language in western culture its popularity is social media is rather mooted. Furthermore, social media enable people to communicate using their ethnic or local languages. In some cultures people have developed their own unique language to communicate on social media. Most times this local dialects are a mixture of English and other dominant local languages. In most cases, Social media is diminishing the dominance of English and other mainstream languages as people are free to communicate in whichever language they prefer. Conclusion Social media and the internet provide communication channels that nations can use to exert influence over a third of the world’s population. It is a foregone conclusion that once cultures interact they must influence each other. Today social media is the best platform for the interaction of culture. However, the internet is founded on western ideal and value; mostly egalitarian and liberal values. Therefore, the internet and Social network aid greatly the spread of egalitarian and liberal ideas as they form their founding philosophies. Therefore, social media sites are at the forefront of championing and encouraging freedom of expression and allow people to lobby for the acceptance of some freedoms as universal. Although most of these rights are advocated their positive effects in society are well illustrated by the Arab Spring revolution. A negative effect of social networking is that it aids the hegemony of consumerism over more conservative consumption cultures. This may lead people to consume what they do not need or people living beyond their means. In contrast, the internet has reduced the dominance of foreign languages in communication as people can communicate freely on Social networks using local dialects. References Paek, H. J., & Pan, Z. (2004). Spreading global consumerism: Effects of mass media and advertising on consumerist values in China. Mass Communication & Society, 7(4), 491-515. Dahlberg, L., & Siapera, E. (2007). Radical democracy and the Internet: Interrogating theory and practice. Palgrave Macmillan. Lagos, T. G., Coopman, T. M., & Tomhave, J. (2013). “Parallel poleis”: Towards a theoretical framework of the modern public sphere, civic engagement and the structural advantages of the internet to foster and maintain parallel socio-political institutions. New Media & Society, 1461444813487953. Read More