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Virtual Communities

Bowling Alone, Online Together

Felicia Wu Song (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

178 Seiten

2009 | New edition
Peter Lang Publishing Inc (Verlag)
978-1-4331-0396-4 (ISBN)

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Does contemporary Internet technology strengthen civic engagement and democratic practice? The recent surge in online community participation has become a cultural phenomenon enmeshed in ongoing debates about the health of American civil society. But observations about online communities often concentrate on ascertaining the true nature of community and democracy, typically rehearsing familiar communitarian and liberal perspectives. This book seeks to understand the technology on its own terms, focusing on how the technological and organizational configurations of online communities frame our contemporary beliefs and assumptions about community and the individual. It analyzes key structural features of thirty award-winning online community websites to show that while the values of individual autonomy, egalitarianism, and freedom of speech dominate the discursive content of these communities, the practical realities of online life are clearly marked by exclusivity and the demands of commercialization and corporate surveillance. Promises of social empowerment are framed within consumer and therapeutic frameworks that undermine their democratic efficacy. As a result, online communities fail to revolutionize the civic landscape because they create cultures of membership that epitomize the commodification of community and public life altogether.

The Author: Felicia Wu Song is Assistant Professor in the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University.

Erscheint lt. Verlag	11.8.2009
Reihe/Serie	Digital Formations ; 54
Reihe/Serie	Digital Formations ; 54
Verlagsort	New York
Sprache	englisch
Maße	160 x 230 mm
Gewicht	480 g
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Allgemeines / Lexika
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Kommunikationswissenschaft
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Spezielle Soziologien
ISBN-10	1-4331-0396-6 / 1433103966
ISBN-13	978-1-4331-0396-4 / 9781433103964
Zustand	Neuware