Now, I’m not going to say that that’s not the case (and risk hordes of angry teenagers pelting me with tomatoes) but I will bring up the idea that there isn’t exactly as much freedom on Facebook as you might think. My argument centres around Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci’s definition of hegemony.
Basically, hegemony refers to the ability of the dominant class to impose their way of seeing the world onto the subordinate classes. To bring this idea a little closer to home, we can look at an example.
Since we live in a capitalist western society, the dominant class tends to consist of rich people, and who could be richer than the huge multi-national conglomerates orchestrating financial domination?
Take a company like
The subordinate class would of course be you and me. We’re the peons who shop there because we can’t afford to buy a solid oak desk when a particle board one will do. We’re all subject to the will of the Wal-Mart board of governors, hoping that they’ll see fit to grant the masses a few new, cheap designs to choose from.
This dominance means that what we deem to be cool is a direct result of the ideology that companies like Wal-Mart propagate. They put value on the easy, fast, and cheap mentality, encouraging us to “buy a new one” whenever possible.
In terms of Facebook, the effect of hegemony is quite noticeable. That we value this impersonal communication speaks to the growing desire perpetuated by corporations to “sit at home with all our stuff.” The built-in games, news feeds, gifts, marketplace and videos all contribute to the capitalist mentality by encouraging people to stay in and act as passive consumers.
Think about it—why do you need to send virtual gifts to your friends? So you can practice buying them real ones of course! What about the games? Well, don’t you want to buy other software to feed your gaming addiction? And videos, well! The movies are a short drive away. After all, with this economic downturn, Hollywood’s hurting…
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the more you are talking online, the less you are talking in person. The more time you spend at your computer the less time you are spending out in the world enjoying it and nature. Excellent post- It's all a conspiracy!
ReplyDeleteHaha. Think about it long enough and EVERYTHING seems like a conspiracy.
ReplyDeleteBut then again, it's not so much a conspiracy as it is an unconscious adoption of the dominant ideology by the masses. I think it would be wrong to say that big corporations or governments or what have you set out to control how people think, but our desire to fit in, be cool etc. forces us to conform anyway.
So much for personal agency!