e-cohesion? the internet and social capital building in wired cities pauline hope cheong, ph.d. may...
TRANSCRIPT
E-Cohesion? The Internet and Social Capital building in Wired cities
Pauline Hope Cheong, Ph.D.
May 15th. 2008
International and Theoretical Perspectives on Social Cohesion Conference, Brussels
E-Society ?
Goals of this Presentation
proposes a critical framework to assess the relationships between the Internet, social capital and social cohesion, within the contemporary and contested notion of the ‘information society’
critically unpack the relationships between new media and social cohesion by discussing the politically laden implications of the Internet for social capital building
E-Cohesion…. ?
Dominant Paradigm: Social Cohesion founded upon social capital building
transforms
diminishes
Internet Social Capital
Social
Cohesion
supplements
Dominant Paradigm: Social Cohesion founded upon social capital building
transforms
Internet Social Capital
Digital Inclusion
in ‘information society’
Internet framed as ‘cure’
: Technological solution toward maintenance of social cohesion
Dominant Paradigm: Social Cohesion founded upon social capital building
diminishes
Internet Social Capital
Rich ‘presence’,
oral, proximatecommunity
Internet as ‘curse’
: Media as inimical to ‘optimal’ bonding and bridging ties
Dominant Paradigm: Social Cohesion founded upon social capital building
supplements
Internet Social Capital
‘Networked’ online and
offline community
Internet as ‘complement’
: Internet to provide “social affordances’ for “multiplicative social capital”
Alternative perspective: Social Capital as outcome of social inequalities
Social
InequalitiesSocial Capital
Internet as ‘contingent’
: Internet competes with an established habitus in peoples’ everyday ‘communication action contexts’ (Cheong, 2006)
Technological
Capital
Alternative perspective: Social Capital as outcome of social inequalities
Internet as ‘contingent’
• Broadened and Plural view of digital divide (s)
• Social appropriation, existing political climates
• Positive role of debate and contestation for social cohesion
• Virtual public sphere, Cyberactivism, and opposition
• Reframing ‘non’-use, ‘proxy’ use
E-cohesion?… @ www.neighborhood Spaces
DataData
(geo-referenced)(geo-referenced)
Physical Place
Internet Internet codecode
: ‘Augmented spaces’
: ‘Digiplace’
: hybrid ontologies
In Conclusion
Discussed and assessed multiple models to describe the relationships between internet and social capital
Contextual use, ‘non’ & proxy use of internet, amidst political and ideological climate
Evolving role of internet as meta-medium Changing ontological and axiological assumptions of
internet and nucleus of social cohesion
