In a fascinating new study entitled "A Tale of Two Blogospheres: Discursive Practices on the Left and Right" researchers affiliated with Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society found that left-wing and right-wing bloggers use technology differently. Left-wingers are more likely to choose a collective approach and form sites with multiple bloggers and that allow reader participation than right-wing bloggers who tend to favor individual blogger sites.
In some ways this isn't surprising because the major ideological distinction between left and right is how the collective and individual are valued, but what does this mean for the future of the internet? And even more importantly, what does this mean for the future of democracy? Can an individual use the power of the internet to influence politics more powerfully than in previous media environments such as print and television? What are the differences in the ways an individual can impact power using network technology? Is the internet just more of the same media power structure in a new form? Or will it develop in a way that allows individuals a new form of power that enables greater social impact by the individual? Can we envision a society with a new form of democratic public sphere in which power is distributed more equally because our individual voices are more powerful?
It seems to me that if the left continues to dominate the blogosphere, it may be possible to develop a society based on a decentralized power structure. It seems to me that the battles we are fighting today - from health care reform to Wall Street reform and to net neutrality - are over how power is distributed across the network of the new political economy we see taking form.
New Study: Liberals More Open Than Conservatives Online
The Sociology of Political Blogs: An Interview with Yochai Benkler
Critical Themes Wrap Up
The 2010 Critical Themes Conference was a huge success, and I'm glad to say that I was able to present some ideas that look at neoliberalism as part of the technological revolution unfolding before our eyes. Here are a few links to articles I've written that are published online, as well as the complete video I excerpted during my presentation. I will continue to post thoughts and articles as I work on the project over the next year.
Related articles online:
The Fiction of Unemployment Numbers
Progressives Need a Narrative that Resonates
Who Broke America’s Jobs Machine?
Let’s Not Pivot to Jobs
Complete video from presentation:
Permalink