an article by Cassian Sparkes-Vian (University of the West of England, UK) published in Critical Sociology Volume 45 Issue 3 (May 2019)
Abstract
The existence of propaganda is inexorably bound to the nature of communication and communications technology.
Mass communication by citizens in the digital age has been heralded as a means to counter elite propaganda; however, it also provides a forum for misinformation, aggression and hostility.
The extremist group Britain First has used Facebook as a way to propagate hostility towards Muslims, immigrants and social security claimants in the form of memes, leading to a backlash from sites antithetical to their message.
This article provides a memetic analysis, which addresses persuasion, organisation, political echo chambers and self-correcting online narratives; arguing that propaganda can be best understood as an evolving set of techniques and mechanisms which facilitate the propagation of ideas and actions. This allows the concept to be adapted to fit a changing political and technological landscape and to encompass both propaganda and counter-propaganda in the context of horizontal communications networks.
Showing posts with label meme. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meme. Show all posts
Thursday, 2 May 2019
Tuesday, 15 November 2016
Cheats, charity cases and inspirations: disrupting the circulation of disability-based memes online
an article by Bree Hadley (Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, QLD, Australia) published in Disability & Society Volume 31 Issue 5 (2016)
Abstract
With the increasing part online self-performance plays in day-to-day life in the twenty-first century, it is not surprising that critiques of the way the daily social drama of disability plays out in online spaces and places have begun to gain prominence. In this article, I consider memes as a highly specific style or strategy for representing disability via social media sites.
I identify three commonly circulating categories of meme – the charity case, inspiration and cheat memes – all of which offer representations that people with disabilities find highly problematic.
I then investigate the ways in which disabled people have begun to resist the representation and circulation of these commonly circulating categories of memes, via the production of counter or parodic memes.
I focus, in particular, on the subversive potential of these counter memes, within disability communities online and within broader communities online.
Abstract
With the increasing part online self-performance plays in day-to-day life in the twenty-first century, it is not surprising that critiques of the way the daily social drama of disability plays out in online spaces and places have begun to gain prominence. In this article, I consider memes as a highly specific style or strategy for representing disability via social media sites.
I identify three commonly circulating categories of meme – the charity case, inspiration and cheat memes – all of which offer representations that people with disabilities find highly problematic.
I then investigate the ways in which disabled people have begun to resist the representation and circulation of these commonly circulating categories of memes, via the production of counter or parodic memes.
I focus, in particular, on the subversive potential of these counter memes, within disability communities online and within broader communities online.
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