scholarly journals “Dear White People Vol. 2”: Social networking as an enforcing tool for racial inequality

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 33-44
Author(s):  
Antonio Gallardo Gracia
Keyword(s):  
Predominantly White ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Ethnically Diverse ◽  
The United States ◽  
White People ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Caucasian Students ◽  
Racial Lines

Recently, social networking sites have been used as a means of spreading an alarming narrative under the premise of freedom of speech, through enraging, provocative and harmful messages. Some of them, posted by powerful and influential people, have empowered a group of individuals who have spoken up and expressed their approval of said messages through increasingly harsher language, as well as violent actions. Some of them were racist in tone, and increasingly widespread on several social media platforms, such as Twitter, where the issue of racial inequality fuels increasing division and hatred. Dear White People is a Netflix series, based on a 2014 film of the same title, depicting Winchester University, an ethnically diverse college in the United States of America, where a conflict along racial lines erupts. At the same University, Samantha White, a junior Media Studies major, begins hosting a radio show called “Dear White People”, addressed to Caucasian students in order to make them aware of what Blackness means in a judgmental, predominantly white society. The aim of this article is to present how influential social networking is in society by using the example of Dear White People Vol. 2, as well as to illustrate how the issue of racism increases in magnitude through a narrative that spreads and encourages individuals to take verbal and physical actions against the black minority.

Rethinking Racial Justice

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Valls
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Equality ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Black Institutions ◽  
American Society ◽  
Racial Lines

American society continues to be characterized by deep racial inequality that is a legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. What does justice demand in response? In this book, Andrew Valls argues that justice demands quite a lot—the United States has yet to fully reckon with its racial past, or to confront its ongoing legacies. Valls argues that liberal values and principles have far-reaching implications in the context of the deep injustices along racial lines in American society. In successive chapters, the book takes on such controversial issues as reparations, memorialization, the fate of black institutions and communities, affirmative action, residential segregation, the relation between racial inequality and the criminal justice system, and the intersection of race and public schools. In all of these contexts, Valls argues that liberal values of liberty and equality require profound changes in public policy and institutional arrangements in order to advance the cause of racial equality. Racial inequality will not go away on its own, Valls argues, and past and present injustices create an obligation to address it. But we must rethink some of the fundamental assumptions that shape mainstream approaches to the problem, particularly those that rely on integration as the primary route to racial equality.

The Myth of the Latin American Race Monolith: Notes for Future Comparative Research on Racial Inequality in the Americas

2021 ◽  
pp. 003464462199600
Author(s):  
Diego Ayala-McCormick
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Census Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Unemployment Rates ◽  
Racial Ideologies ◽  
Racial Lines

It has become common to compare racial inequality in the United States with a “Latin American” pattern of racial inequality in which egalitarian racial ideologies mask stark socioeconomic inequalities along racial lines. However, relatively few comparative studies exist attempting to analyze variations in degrees of racial inequality in the Americas. To stimulate further research in this area, the following study analyzes census data on racial inequality in unemployment rates, educational attainment, homeownership rates, and income in Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the United States. The results suggest that while Brazil is similar to the United States in displaying large levels of racial inequality in the areas measured, Cuba and Puerto Rico display significantly lower levels of racial inequality and Colombia falls in between, undermining conceptions of a monolithic Latin American racial system.

Using Instagram as a Preparation Tool for Study Abroad

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-37
Author(s):  
Simon Park
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
The United States ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Study Abroad Programs ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
English Classes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Group Members

This paper describes the usage of Instagram (the social networking platform) in sophomore English classes at a private Japanese university. Instagram was used to help students prepare for their study abroad semester. Students created private Instagram accounts and used this platform for group exercises with a mixed group of students and staff at potential study abroad sites in the United States of America. The participants posted images and video of their daily lives and routines at their schools, and created posts based on tasks set by the instructor. Group members were then encouraged to ask each other questions and communicate through Instagram. The study found that Instagram usage has the potential to help students prepare linguistically and culturally for study abroad semesters. The paper recommends follow-up studies that use Instagram and other social networking sites to help students prepare culturally and linguistically for study abroad semesters. This has implications for language teachers who are teaching prospective study abroad students or are interested in incorporating technology into their classes, as well as coordinators of study abroad programs interested in modernizing their study abroad orientation programs. この論文では、日本の私立大学の 2 年生の英語クラスでの Instagram（SNS）の使 用法について説明します。 Instagram は、学生が留学の準備をするのを助けるため に使用されました。学生はプライベート Instagram アカウントを作成し、このプラ ットフォームを使用して、米国の潜在的な留学サイトで学生とスタッフの混合グル ープとのグループ演習を行いました。参加者は、学校での日常生活の画像や動画を 投稿し、講師が設定したタスクに基づいて投稿を作成しました。その後、グループ のメンバーはお互いに質問し、Instagram を介してコミュニケーションすることが 奨励されました。調査では、Instagram の使用により、学生が留学学期に向けて言 語的および文化的に準備するのに役立つ可能性があることがわかりました。この論 文では、Instagram やその他の SNS を使用して、学生が留学に向けて文化的および 言語的に準備するのに役立つ追跡調査を推奨しています。これは、将来の留学学生 を教えている、またはクラスにテクノロジーを組み込むことに関心のある語学教 師、および留学オリエンテーションプログラムの近代化に関心のある留学プログラ ムのコーディネーターに影響を及ぼします。

scholarly journals The Commodification of Body Positivity: Constructing a Neoliberal Fat Citizenship

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhiannon Sian Downey
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Social Resistance ◽  
Resistance Movements ◽  
Body Positive ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Content

From inspirational messages to celebrated pictures of cellulite and belly rolls, body positive content has become increasingly popular on social media platforms, particularly on image-based networking sites. With the rapid growth of communication technology, it is not surprising that social networking sites, such as Instagram, have become one of the most dominant and influential mediates to cultivating awareness, foster community, and advocate for social change. Instagram’s transition to an advertising platform, however, has introduced a consumerist structure to user activity for corporations to better direct advertisements at target audiences. A once social movement advocating for the rejection of thin beauty ideals in favour of a more inclusive and positive conception of body image has felt the impact of commoditization on its message and advocates. Through Foucauldian Discourse Analysis, this research study seeks to analyze the impact of Instagram’s transition to a commercialization platform on the self-representation of body positive advocates to better understand the influence of neoliberal and capitalist structures on social resistance movements and strategies.

scholarly journals The Use of Social Media in Public Relations at Non-Governmental Organisations in South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (6(J)) ◽  
pp. 150-161
Author(s):  
G. Nchabeleng ◽  
CJ. Botha ◽  
CA Bisschoff
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Public Relations Practitioners ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Way

Social media can be a useful tool in public relations in non-governmental organisations (NGOs), but do NGOs make use of social media in their quest for service delivery in South Africa? Social networking sites, blogging, email, instant messaging, and online journals are some of the technological changes that changed the way interaction between people and how they gather information. Although social media is mainly used for interactive dialogue and social interaction, the private sector soon realised that the web-based technologies (especially Facebook and Twitter) could also be a competitive business tool. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) soon followed suit however at a slower pace than the general communication growth rate of social media in South Africa. This article examines if social networking sites have any impact on public relations practices of NGOs in South Africa – an environment where both customers and employees still struggle to take full advantage of social media. The critical literature findings increase the understanding of the current and future challenges of social media use in public relations at NGOs in South Africa. The study explores the main differences between traditional and social media, how social media is redefining public relations role, and shed some light on defining public relations practices, identify the uses, limitations and benefits of social media by public relations practitioners in NGOs. Recommendations for future communication research are given. Based on the literature, a qualitative research design collected data using semi-structured, individual interviews. The results revealed that social media platforms such as Facebook do have an effect, and even changed the way in which NGOs communicate. The study also revealed that social media certainly has an impact on public relations relationships. This means that it has become crucial that public relations practitioners at NOGs embrace and take advantage of social media, and that they should also invest in proper electronic platforms to reap the benefits of improved communication internally and externally.

Hyperreality of #BlackLivesMatter Movement on Social Media

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-303
Author(s):  
Ghozian Aulia Pradhana ◽  
◽  
Syaifa Tania ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
African American ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Social ◽  
True Meaning ◽  
Social Media Platforms

This study aims to reveal how hyperreality is reflected in using the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag on social media. The death of an African-American, George Floyd, that involved white police, has sparked outrage and demonstrations in many U.S. states. Issues pertaining to racism sparked in relation to the event, and many people protested demanding justice. The demand for justice then went into a wave of massive global protests both in offline and online realities—the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag was widely used on social media when protests were held. The #BlackLivesMatter hashtag even became a trending topic on several social media platforms, as if everyone was concerned about the issue and aiming for the same purpose. However, we might find several posts that neither reflected nor were related to the case. Some social media users put the hashtag even though their content substance was not related. This phenomenon then led to a condition of hyperreality in questioning reality from a simulation of reality. The method used in this study is content analysis which measures the sentiment of comments on Twitter and Instagram. The study found that social networking sites mobilised online movements even though they were not directly related to the #BlackLivesMatter movement. On the other hand, hashtag activism reduced the true meaning of the social movement. Therefore, the hyperreality in #BlackLivesMatter could not be seen any longer as a form of massive protests demanding justice and ending violence, but merely to gain more digital presence on social media. Keywords: Black lives matter, movement, social media, hyperreality, hashtag activism.

The sharing economy and livestreaming of terror: Co-production of terrorism on social media

2021 ◽  
pp. 65-78
Author(s):  
Yasmin Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Mass Murder ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Recording Device ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Mass Entertainment

In the xenophobic attack on a mosque in New Zealand, the perpetrator filmed the mass murder through a GoPro recording device attached to his head. The attack was streamed live on social networking sites, including a notorious extremist alt-right forum. This livestreaming of the terrorist attack on social media platforms received global condemnation, but it brought renewed scrutiny to the ‘sharing economy’ online and how terrorist attacks can be made for sharing, reposting, and editing of content by users, circumnavigating the removal of such content. This phenomenon widens the co-production of terror through mass audiences’ interaction in real time, positioning terror as mass entertainment. This chapter examines the architecture of the ‘sharing economy’ online and its significance in the production of terror, as well as the moral and ethical considerations it poses for humanity.

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