Symbolic violence on Facebook?

This is the second article in a three part series, which aims to tease out emerging issues as a result of the increased scale, frequency and intensity of interaction on social networking sites. Whereas the first article entitled, ‘who is monitoring who in a world of online social networking?’ addressed some possible implications at the extreme arising from the emergence of individuals having explicit data on activity in their social network, this article addresses one particular avenue for linking micro (individual), meso (group or class) and macro (society) consequences. French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s theorising on cultural and social capital, and specifically his theory of ‘symbolic violence’, provides the framework for this article.

Following on from the first article presenting figures which demonstrate the speed and increasing pervasiveness of social networking sites on the lives of many, one interesting line of enquiry concerns how ‘desirable’ cultural and social norms propagate as a result of sites such as facebook. Pierre Bourdieu developed his theory of 'symbolic violence' alongside his theory and concepts of cultural and social capital to capture what he saw as the process by which dominant values (or those in position of power within a societal hierarchy) are impressed upon others as desirable and normative, often unbeknownst to the individuals in question. Whereas cultural capital refers to the acquisition and inheritance of specific symbolic language, knowledge, practices and even possessions, social capital refers to the acquisition and inheritance of social connections. According to Bourdieu ‘symbolic violence’ arises through a process of 'miseducation'. Miseducated individuals are left with attaining/attained thought, perception, values and subsequent actions which are seen as desirable and right to hold in society. A simple but pervasive example would be members of society trying to emulate and copy the lifestyles of wealthy and famous members of society.

The crux of the problem with 'symbolic violence' lies in the imposition and reproduction of power differentials within society which ultimately favours the already dominant and powerful. 'Miseducation' serves to legitimate the powerful and dominant groups through 'miseducating' that they 'rightly' hold the desirable and normative social and cultural values and practices. His theory leads us to the question of whether social networking sites like facebook facilitate, enhance or perhaps curb 'symbolic violence’. Does facebook merely represent what is happening offline or does it play a role in changing the nature of social relations?

One possible answer is that it may well augment and enhance ‘symbolic violence’. For if individuals possess connections in their social network with 'less desirable' cultural and social standing, the actions of the dominant online may enforce and enhance their position, by continually miseducating the dominated of their desirable and normative lifestyle and social standing. This can be achieved through the posting of educational qualifications and merits, through the choice and complexity of language used in status updates and conversation and through the posting of videos, photos and events of social activity. Thus, the dominant and powerful may enhance and maintain their social and cultural standing relative to those lower in the various hierarchies, by making it a continual and explicit 'miseducation' of the dominated in their social network. This may be a purposeful activity in some cases but likely a largely unconscious activity. What facebook may do is make various social and cultural hierarchies more explicit on a continual basis, leaving 'dominated' individuals more attentive to their social and cultural standing and perhaps promoting specific discontents and subsequent actions.

The potential with interaction is that individuals becomes more attentive to their cultural standing. Laumann's prestige principle states that individuals prefer connections that have higher social standing, because it grants access to potential resources of others, as well as potentially improves ones social standing by association. Thus, there is likely a tendency for individuals on facebook to have a number of connections with "higher" cultural and social capital than themselves. Interesting empirical data worth gathering would be to ascertain which profiles individual members are interested in outside of their close friends and family.
Is there a correlation between such profiles and the cultural and social capital of these alters? If this is correct, as Laumann's prestige principle would imply, then individuals on facebook have access and maybe continually confronted with people they know, whom they "believe" to have higher cultural capital. Laumann's principle suggests that social networking sites may be a rich ground for miseducation.

One of the hallmarks of social networking sites is the individual’s ability to somewhat 'control' or 'select' their identity portrayal, preferably in a positive light. We don’t necessarily conjure an identity, but reveal aspects of ourselves in a certain manner. It is worth invoking Ervin Goffman Dramaturgy here, and his concept of 'front stage'. 'Front-stage' as opposed to 'back-stage' refers to the public presentation of identity according to self-perceived rightness and how one seeks to anchor identity in a certain light. With regard to 'symbolic violence', those with lower cultural capital may wish to be more attentive to this front stage portrayal. According Nan Lin's theory of social capital, those more likely wishing to move up the social hierarchy are those in the lower to upper middle classes. Instrumental actions are more likely to occur here, in order to move up the social hierarchy. Furthermore, those higher in the social hierarchy wish to maintain and increase their power, and miseducation is one fruitful means to achieve this.

Overall, granted that unless we are looking purely through the lens of rational choice theory, symbolic violence can be useful for understanding the consequences of social networking sites not necessarily as a result of conscious human action. Some of the problems with rational choice theory include the fact that human action can be guided by worldviews; morals, ethics, personal beliefs and norms etc.; which influence human action, how individuals present the 'face' and the degree of congruency between 'front stage' and 'back stage'. Writers who implicitly invoke rational choice leanings in this regard should be questioned. For instance, Andy Oram writing for O'Reilly Radar assume such rational choice in writing that, 'every nugget we release is subjected first, consciously or unconsciously, to a key question: will we get some benefit from the social network commensurate with the value of the information we are about to give our contacts?' (O'Reilly, 2009)

Finally, granted that Social Networking Sites may afford the individual the creation and maintenance of an enlarged social network, the third and final article in this series will address the possible implications for individuals as a result.


Copyright © 2009 Shane McLoughlin. This article may not be resold or redistributed without prior written permission.

Who is monitoring who in a world of online social networking?

This article is the first in a three part series raising issues arising from the proliferation and increasing usage of online social media. Recently Nielson research reported a tripling of the time Internet users spend on social networking sites in the space of a year, with social networking now accounting for 17% of time spent online. Similarly, based on the statistics from Alexa.com, the combined daily reach of 3 popular social network websites (facebook.com, myspace.com and twitter.com) is 24% of daily internet consumption with facebook.com accounting for 17%. This magnitude of growth alone, suggests a significant impact of these networks on the lives of individual members.

Recent reports by both Comscore and Nielson appear to show that social networking and social networking sites are now the most popular online activities;

"social networking was the second most popular online activity in the U.K. based on average time spent per user (4.6 hours), trailing only instant messaging (8.6 hours)" (Comscore, 2009).

Recently released research for the US by Nielson (2009) found that americans spend over 4 1/2 hours (on average per month) on facebook, more than any other site (of the top 10 brands) on the Internet. Thus, both the Nielson and Comscore reports say that Social networking, in particular facebook, is the most popular online activity in both the UK and the States. There is some difference though with Nielson and Comscore regarding time spent on these with Nielson quoting 6 hours for Facebook and Comscore quoting 4.6 hours for social networking sites in aggregate. But if you look at the nielson figures, its shows only facebook manages 6 hours with myspace, bebo hovering around 2 hours. Thus, in reality, the figures for both studies would seem to correlate. And, it seems to indicate that UK users of facebook spend more time on facebook than those in the US.

These figures demonstrate the need for substantive social research on the emerging role of social networking and social media on individuals and society. The next article entitled 'symbolic violence on facebook', will look at facebook through the lens of social capital and cultural capital theories. To begin with though, this article will briefly raise some possible issues and concerns regarding the phenomenon of individuals having increased available 'evidence' of their social network and it's activity.

There are a host of new capabilities emerging with the social web. What technology may now be facilitating is a nation of procumers (granted the figure still ranges between 1 and 5%). For the majority however, what we are now mostly seeing is a nation of monitors. This may even go beyond monitoring the 'background noise' of ones social network, seen as vital in sustaining virtual communities and enhancing offline social relations (Komito, Bates, 2009). What I wish to highlight at the extreme or 'ideal type', are a group of users in surveillance and gathering explicit analytical data; on those interested in their online identity or 'ego', often unbeknownst to the users interested (granted this is not the case for the vast majority of users). It has historically been the case that companies with an online presence should monitor and analyse traffic to their sites for pragmatic instrumental goals of optimising service, targeting users for products. However, now even beyond bloggers catching on to the practice of analysing site traffic, personal users with an online presence are now analysing traffic emerging from within their; 'personal networks' (see Wellman, 2001, 2002, 2003) or 'networks of sociability' (see Castells, 2004). This inevitably opens up questions as to how technologies (imbued with social and cultural values etc.) are in tandem with users; changing the nature of social relations?, changing privacy? and changing the nature of mind, consciousness and identity?. There is indeed a significant and growing body of academic research and literature addressing such questions as the 'impact' of technology on society from a macro to micro level. What I specifically wish to tackle in this article concerns the ability for individuals to explicitly, quantitatively and continuously survey and analyse their social position, social relations and those of others within personal networks. This may go beyond the traditional social monitoring, reflecting and theorising which individuals have (to various degrees) practiced on ones social network. Individuals for the first time in history, now have recorded evidence of their social networks activity, right there in front of them.

For instance, social network sites, now mean individuals can monitor online the relations that one's alters (ties such as friends, acquaintances etc) have with each other. McGuinness (2009) suggests that perhaps this provides an alternative to gathering information on ones ties, through hearsay and gossip. Could this in-turn reduce tainted or biased information that would come from alters? This would indicate increased information certainty. On the other hand, having exposure to tie communications that one isn't a part of, may increase uncertainty about ones importance and stature in one's social network? The issue here is that online social networks may have consequences for social relations on a level previously unseen in society and could make redundant sociological understandings about the dynamics of social relations. But this can go even further:

To take the case of twitter. Users now have several means of monitoring traffic to one's profile and the impact of their tweets. For instance, one can set up an account with one of the tinyurl companies and track traffic to ones posted links. Secondly, individuals can track whether status updates affects the number of people following them. Individuals can watch the diffusion of popular tweets through 'Retweets'. Users can monitor and use analytic tools to analyse their follower count and the demographic data etc. on those followers. This kind of activity by some users on twitter, is likely strongly correlated with their particular use of twitter. For instance, those who take the time to analyse and monitor activity to their profile, likely do so, because there is some value to them beyond mere curiosity. Nontheless, we can see trends emerging, such as programs on facebook that can sidestep privacy rules, by using apps to analyse available data for; 'popularity', 'friends interest in your profile' etc. Such statistics are based on who has posted on each others walls and commented on photos etc.

A larger and larger proportion of Internet users are becoming techno-savy and adept at using available Internet services. The increased interconnectedness of individuals disparate data on the web, and a crop of advancements in online technologies facilitating this, means that individuals can have easy access to information on individuals not in their everyday lives (pipl.com etc.). It is not uncommon for individuals to google a first date, or to monitor those they no-longer see. The past may importantly ground the present, but there may be times when its more helpful to leave past physical relationships in the past. Individuals may diminish consciousness of their present situations, their immediate experience. Here, the consciousness of place gives way to the 'space of flows' (see; Castells, 1998). Individual's attention can be more easily stretched across time and space.

Beyond recorded evidence of ones social relations and alters, we are now seeing software such as twitanalyser emerging that allows individuals analyse online identities. There is the potential for psychological traits, truth, consistency etc. to be gaged based on available information on the web. For the moment, the phenomenon of analysing online identities has been mainly confined to micro-blogging sites 'status updates', but there is no reason why it will stop there. Such information might be of interest to recruiters, workplace managers, schoolground bullies and prospective friends and colleagues. Previously, this kind of analytic data was available on website traffic of interest to those managing websites, whereby e-commerce sites and others found value in having data on traffic locations, referrals etc. Now, everyone can 'know' this kind of information 'if' one wishes.

Questions of the possible consequences of monitoring and quantitatively analysing our ego-centric networks arise:

-Curtails our own intuition and imagination?

-Makes us more instrumental in our social relations?

-Makes us more instrumental to ensuring social presence online?

-Addiction to checking our social network's 'background noise'?

-Reduces the expressive and affective nature of communication?

-Adds complexity to managing our social lives?

-Adds the potentiality of paranoia and uncertainty with ones close ties?

-Means we become grounded in the reality of our social position, reputation and social capital rather than our perceived or imagined position and reputation?

These are just a few of the myriad of possible questions which arise and which can be seen as perhaps positive or negative. We are principally dealing with the potentiality of users having more explicit hard information on others, and ones relations with others. Furthermore, we can now observe how ones action affects those relations in new and altered ways. This seems to point to the notion of a more individualised atomised person, with perhaps greater attentiveness and 'sense' of control(ing) of their relation with 'their' world, inline with trends theorised by Wellman and with observations by Putnam.

Bibliography:

references to follow shortly...

Copyright © 2009 Shane McLoughlin. This article may not be resold or redistributed without prior written permission.

"The knowing look" maneuver

Abstract

In social settings; 'the knowing look' is a particular phenomena which can be considered as part of a range of practiced social skills. It can be a subtle and at times complex phenomena forming part of the 'dance' of social interaction. It may be a more positive or times negative activity, more knowingly or unknowingly practiced by a few or multiple individuals, who may have converging or diverging motivations. It is argued that there may be conceptualised a number of motivations and effects arising with this phenomena and any number of these may combine together as 'motivations' and result in 'effects'. It is argued that providing an indepth understanding of this particular phenomena can be of benefit to professionals and individuals in becoming aware, reflective and vigilant to social situations where this and other social cues are practiced.

Introduction

The 'knowing look', commonly seen as a fleeting shared eye contact and associated facial gesture amongst two or more people, often plays a crucial role in friendship building as well as reflecting a continuing bond amongst close ties. It has been a social cue practiced by humans for generations. Manifesting as a brief gesture in the social 'dance', it is an art in itself, known by many but perhaps practiced by fewer. It's negotiation and timing are crucial in carrying it off as naturally and effortlessly as possible. It can be practiced as part of a conversation between two, or may be practiced in social settings amongst numerous individuals. It can seem an almost spontaneous occurrence arising out of a situation, or it may be more resolutely 'instigated' as an opportunity persists. It is an interesting yet under-analysed phenomena and this brings me to seek to provide a conceptual framework which can throw further light on its raison d'être, as well as to suggest some applied or normative uses from gaining a more indepth understanding. Bearing in mind 'the knowing look' arises as a specifically social phenomena, questions which have helped focus the enquiry include: What is the 'knowing look' activity? Why do people instigate the 'knowing look' activity? How did it arrise? Does it have a purpose? If so, what purpose does it serve? What are the motivations behind its 'instigation' and the effects of its practice?

Proposed conceptual framework

There appears several 'motivations' which may arise with 'the knowing look' and 'effects' which result from its practice. These can be broken down into:

1.Power and Leveraging power
2.Building friendships
3.Consolidating friendships
4.Subtle forms of bullying (ridiculing, isolating etc.)
5.Communicating an understanding, perspective or reality
6.Acknowledging shared understandings, perspective or realities
7.Solidifying understandings, perspectives or realities
8.Expressing concern

It may be the case that a combination of these concepts culminate as a complex cognitive-affective expression manifesting physically as a 'knowing look' which is then realised (either intended or unintended) as a singulation or combination of the above concepts. Importantly, it may be instigated as a more cognitive (thinking) or affective (feeling) expression, and this may be motivated at a more conscious or unconscious level. Also, it may be perscieved and reflected upon by the participants at varying degrees of consciousness. It's practice may be more learned and behavioural, or may be more consciously and contingently instigated.

Leveraging power relates to the idea that there are flows of power amongst social groupings or even perceived flows of power, where individuals consciously or otherwise seek to solidify or extend their power and related stature and influence; through participating in activities which can realise their goals. They may also seek to positively leverage the flow of power amongst a social grouping where they percieve an inbalance, or they may have whats considered negative or malicious underlying motivations. These activities can relate to physical mannerisms, as well as communicative utterances, which serve an instrumental purpose. Of course it must be recognised that there are also learned behaviours and traits as well as non-instrumental mannerisms, expressions and communication which takes place. The important point is that by participating in 'the knowing look' activity, individuals may be consciously or unconsciously seeking to leverage power within the social setting. For example, they may be looking to take (social) power away from the unknowing participant, or in tandem or otherwise, they may be seeking to relatively increase their stature and influence relative to the 'unknowing' participant. Furthermore, they may seek not necessarily to leverage power, but may seek to manifest power as a result of the social cue. The concept of power can be related closely to bullying but also to friendship formation and consolidation.

Building Friendships relates to how individuals use the particular social cue of the 'knowing look' to create or build friendships with the person participating in this activity. This can often closely relate to acknowledging shared realities, which can act as commonality on which to build friendship.

Consolidating Friendships relates to maintaining and strengthening relationships through participating in such social activities. For example, using 'the knowing look' may be an opportunity to solidify or strengthen friendship where there is a perceived weakness in the 'tie' that one wishes to address. Often the 'knowing look' activity may not be 'purposeful' or 'instrumental' as such, some times it may be more accurately envisaged as a reflection of a continuing friendship.

Bullying 'The knowing look' practiced to the exclusion of others within the particular social setting may be a form of psychological bullying. In this instance, the 'activity' or 'practice' may be purposefully or unintentionally a form of bullying. In the case of purposeful bullying; the persons participating in the 'knowing look' (particularly the instigator) may be seeking to (1)ridicule, (2)exclude, (3)isolate or (4)a combination of the first three with a malicious intent in mind. To add to this, if the 'knowing look' was meant to be witnessed by the 'victim', it may be construed as a more explicit form of bullying whereby ridicule or embarrassment etc is sought to be inflicted, or a communication of power is sought to be delivered etc. Furthermore, if the 'unknowing' participant unintentionally witnesses the act, they may be the victim of unintentional bullying. It is useful at this time to reflect on the concepts of positive exclusion (harmless) and negative exclusion (malicious). There are of course many instances of 'the knowing look' which are forms of positive exclusion. The concept of bullying is closely tied to that of Power and leveraging power, and represents leveraging power and diminishing power in a purer form (moving towards an 'ideal type') and with more negative motivations and/or effects.

Communicating understandings, perspectives and realities
The knowing look may be instigated for the specific purpose of communicating with the recipient through subtle sensorimotor behaviour. In this instance the instigator wishes to communicate an understanding, perspective or reality. This can often be used in the act of courting whereby the activity is exclusive to 2 individuals and is not concerned with a third party, but may also be used in acts of consolidating friendships, expressing concern, leveraging power or even bullying etc.

Acknowledging shared perspectives or realities
'The knowing look' is often a social cue practiced in order to acknowledge a shared reality or perspective. It may to a lesser degree entail acknowledging an 'understanding'. For example individuals may capitalise on a shared perspective or understanding for use as a commonality from which to build or consolidate a friendship or relationship. It may be instigated by one individual seeking acknowledgement for an understanding, perspective or reality to which they believe they have, or have bore witness to, or it may be a spontaneous occurrence amongst two or more individuals.

Solidifying realities or perspectives
Similar to acknowledging shared realities or perspectives, the knowing look may be about solidifying or substantiating an understanding, reality or perspective. Individuals may look for confirmation that their understanding, perspective or reality is somehow 'more real' or not merely envisioned by themselves.

Expressing concern
Finally, the Knowing look may be concerned with expressing or communicating a concern for the unknowing individual in question. This may arise as individuals bear witness to communications and behaviourisms from an individual which they 'think' they understand, or which they 'think' they don't understand. This concept is closely tied and is a common motive and effect; in communicating, acknowledging and solidifying understandings, perspectives and realities. It may range from issuing a mere bemusement with the unknowing individual to an expression of deep concern.

Conclusion and discussion

'The knowing look' activity forms as part of a range of social skills which individuals develop and participate in, known cumulatively as social competence. It arises naturally as individuals develop socially through a range of social interaction. Often degrees of social interaction need to be 'maintained' in order for individuals to 'maintain' their ability to successfully initiate and participate in social cues and etiquette's. It is proposed that there may be motivations and effects related to the practice of 'the knowing look'. These may be broken down into 8 concepts, though it must be recognised that many of these concepts are in many instances closely bound to each other, with 'bullying' and 'expressing concern' often strong and common examples of 'power and leveraging power' and 'expressing communicating undestandings etc.' respectively. Significantly, these concepts often combine as motivations and result in planned and unplanned effects. 'The knowing look', may be instigated as a more cognitive (thinking) or affective (feeling) expression, and this may be motivated at a more conscious or unconscious level. Also, it may be perscieved and reflected upon by the participants at varying degrees of consciousness. It's practice may be more learned and behavioural, or may be more consciously and contingently instigated.

It is often the case that individuals who have suffered some form of repression at some point in their lives become 'cunning' as a result of inward development. This may be seen as a 'coping strategy' and an 'attempt' to overcome the oppression (see for example Nietzsche's conscience in Ridley, 1998, p.8). Following on from this last point, there is the hypothesis that some individuals are more attentive to their social abilities and are more active in utilising certain social cues to realise their goals. For example, a recent study argued that "individuals either fearing [social] rejection or suffering actual [social] rejection show increased attention to social cues" (Bernstein et al, 208, p981). Thus, percieved or substantied types of 'repression', or what Bernstein et al coined 'social rejection'; may result in individuals being more sensitive to social cues, and perhaps practicing 'the knowing look' and other subtle social cues in social situations more than others, as well as interpreting and using these for purposes (and in ways) which differ from others. Although it seems likely that as one gets older, such aptness of social cues are developed by anyone participating in social interaction, it may be useful to pay particular attention to children who have developed these abilities faster and are more attentive to this practice more than others. Why is this the case? Conversely, those who are viewed as lacking the ability to read social cues(kinestic) and participate in them; may lack the sufficent socialisation or may suffer from a learning difficulty or disability.

Having more indepth and resonant knowledge about social cues may help enamour professionals in more easily identifing individuals who require attention or even help. For example, having the necessary indepth knowledge and awareness of social cues may provide; school teachers, councilors and other professionals with the ability to be more reflective, aware and vigilant to the phenomena taking place in social settings. This may lead them to more easily identify bullying and forms of negative exclusion. Also, to identify individuals who more actively practice such social cues and do so in certain ways, as well as identifying those who lack the necessary competences.

In an everyday context, having more in depth knowledge of such social cues may allow individuals to be more vigilant to its negative use in social settings, and may allow individuals to reflect on their own use of social cues and whether they be positive or negative.

Overall, it is considered that empirical work ought to be done to further explore the practice of this particular phenomena in various social settings. For example, under the problem of identifying repressed children, it could be considered whether certain children who use social cues in certain ways have developed this social skill more extensively out of a need to do so? Furthermore, professionals who wish to understand and positively act upon a social environment may benefit from being more receptive and reflective to the subtle and nuanced social practices which take place. Understanding the use of practices such as 'the knowing look', may uncover previously unrecognised problems in a social settting.

Bibliography

Bernstein, M et al, (2008) Adaptive Responses to Social Exclusion: Social Rejection Improves Detection of Real and Fake Smiles Psychological Science 19(10): 981-984

Ridley, A (1998) Nietsche's Conscience USA: Cornell University Press


Copyright © 2006-2008 Shane McLoughlin. This article may not be resold or redistributed without prior written permission.