This is an unpublished manuscript which discusses the unique nature of digital youth, while taking into account structural features.
http://rapidshare.com/files/122053686/The_Internet_as_an_Informal_Agency.pdf
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
אהבה ברשת - ביקורת לספרו של אהרון בן זאב
הספר נקרא אומנם במקור האנגלי שלו, אולם יש לציין כי הוא תורגם לעברית
בן-זאב, א. 2004 אהבה ברשת : רגשות גולשים באינטרנט. אור יהודה : כנרת, זמורה-ביתן, דביר. לעיון בביקרת הספר שכתבתי .יש להוריד את הקובץ הבא:
Social Construction of Friendship Among Israeli Youth - English Abstract
Friendship Over
the Net: The Social Construction of Friendship Among Israeli Youth in
Computer-Mediated-Communication (CMC)
Abstract:
Advances in
computer technology and computer-mediated communication (CMC) have instigated
and enabled significant change in economies, education, lifestyles and social
relationships worldwide. New information and communication technologies (ICTs),
including instant messaging, chatrooms, newsgroups and cellular phones, are
rapidly spreading and being integrated into everyday life. One of the most
central agents of these transformations are children and adolescents.
Among youth, mass
media activities are dominant and include listening to popular music, chatting
on cellular phones, acquiring fashionable artifacts, viewing television,
playing computer/video games and surfing the Internet. Surveys indicate that
North American youth dedicate nearly half of their waking hours to media
activities (Mastronardi, 2003). These new venues of mass media activities, and
particularly the Internet, evoke social change and new forms of behavior and
relationships for young people.
Youths' friendship
relations play a pivotal part in the lives of adolescents (Corsaro,1997;
Mannarino,1980; Eisenstadt, 1971 [c1956]); these are currently undergoing major
shifts and they require re-examination. This study aims to contribute to this
field and discuss the connections between youth, the computer/Internet and the
construction of friendships in Israel Israel
I argue that
within its unsupervised realm, properties of the Internet (i.e. anonymity,
interactivity and community-building) are linked with the characteristics of
contemporary youth culture (i.e. moratorium, liminality, youthful creativity
and modern forms of peer grouping). The convergence evokes the invention of a
vibrant symbolic language of youth (e.g. linguistic idioms, emoticons and
humorous-iconic representations; Chapter 3); entrepreneurial activities
together with new forms of exchange and gift-giving (Chapter 5); as well as the
creation of online trust relations that are the features of new adolescent
culture (Chapter 4).
To explore the
evasive and informal participation of youth in the virtual realm, a specific
research strategy needed to be explored (Chapter 2). The research utilized
several methods and resources. Its main source was in-depth interviews
conducted with 38 adolescents between the ages of 12-21, between 1998-2003.
These youngsters were identified as computer "virtuosos" (i.e.
youngsters who had attained high levels of expertise in the computer world and
maintained an exclusive youth-computer culture). This group served as a
"critical case study" group, where by exploring the cultural patterns
underlying their everyday practices and symbols I strove to uncover the most
salient features of contemporary youth’s technologically-oriented culture. Most
of the interviews were conducted face-to-face in the private environment of
adolescents’ homes[1],
while sitting together at their personal computers. These interviews enabled me
to investigate their activities and uncovered their preferred chatrooms,
newsgroups, game activities, and more.
Throughout this
study, I describe and analyze three major points of youth cultural
transformation over the net: - creation of new symbolism, the construction of
trust relations and the emergence of youth entrepreneurship (chapters three,
four and five, respectively). The first transformation explores the symbolic
aspect and the creation of new forms of expression, such as: new patterns of
iconography (e.g. avatars, emoticons) or linguistic playfulness (e.g. slang,
idioms, metaphors), derived from fantasy science fiction, sports, etc. These
symbolic means constitute a distinct meta discourse code, which utilizes the
rich resources of the multimedia interface, much in the way that adolescents'
dress and musical styles are meta codes that demonstrate cross-clique
variations.
The second theme
is the construction of trust, and the ways it is redefined by youth's online
relationships (Chapter four). As trust may be defined as “confidence in the
reliability of a person or system” (Giddens, 1990)[2], the new
means of computer-mediated communication poses a challenge to the formation of
trust. In contrast to studies indicating the existence of trust over the net
(e.g. the exchange of individual goods, production of public goods, the
existence of stable social networks, communities, and effective social norms,
see Baym, 2000; Kollock,1999; Parks and Floyd,1996; Raymomd,2001), this study
focuses on the ways in which trust is created and maintained over the net. In
this study, I aimed to shed light on the Internet’s role and potential for
fostering social integration and collective ideals, as well as uncover the ways
youth communicate and fraternize in today’s Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) society. Findings uncovered several tensions and impediments,
including: anonymity, the norms of cybernetic interaction, lies, masks and
un-credible behavior, discontinued relations, spontaneity and the Israeli
public's images of the Internet). The study reveals 5 strategies for the
creation and maintenance of online trust: control over anonymity, continuity
and perseverance, digital exchange (of experiences, advice and sentiments;
"community knowledge" and "digital goods"); the interplay
of online lies and masking; 'technological choices for maintaining trust' among
youth.
The third theme is
the creation of cultural entrepreneurship over the net (Chapter 5). In the
sociological tradition, the role of the entrepreneur and his/her interaction
with surrounding society has been compared to other roles in society such as
the manager, the gambler, the capitalist and even the professional
(Peterson,1981; Schumpeter,1957 [c1943]) which emphasize traits, control,
specialization, creativity and risk taking. These traits concur with the rapid
evolution of ICTs, yet apparently stand in opposition to the structural
condition of youth where youngsters are largely controlled by adult culture and
are encouraged to perform within institutional boundaries (e.g. school, family,
youth movement, army). The question is how are youth socialized (or how do they
socialize themselves) to perform in today's technological culture? The study
demonstrates how youth's unique social networks and friendship alignments
enable experimentation, trial and error, and foster an entrepreneurial culture.
This is performed in various activities where adolescents demonstrate high
levels of social exchange and management of personal resources, including:
collecting, indexing and the constant organization of digital goods such as
music files, movies, games or computer programs, as well as creating cultural
productions, mobilizing human resources and experiencing with various modes of
interchangeable behavior, such as morality (e.g. masking and lying or
disclosure and truth telling), expressivity (e.g. support or verbal abuse) or
interactive relationships (personal/collective; friendly/collegial).
The following
three impact of ICT regarding contemporary youth and friendship relations are
discussed in the next section:
A. Youth Cultures
and Risk Society
B. The Profile of
Digital Youth
C. Virtual
Friendships
A. Youth
Cultures and Risk Society:
Literature dealing
with the sociology of youth since the early 20th century has focused on the
rapid changes in the status of youth, their relations with modernity and their
position in conditions of dramatic social change, in education, employment,
leisure consumption, etc. (Coleman,1961; Davis, 1999; Eisenstadt, 1971 [c1956]; Friedenberg, 1963; Furlong and Cartmel,1997;
Kahane,1997; Miles,2000; Milson,1972; (.
In this framework, youth are described as being threatened by the influence of
postmodern fragmentation, risk, alienation and globalization. In light of these
social threats, “digital youth” may serve as a case study for uncovering the
impact of modernity and the technological society, while serving in what Milson
(1972:24) referred to as a “frontier society”, where they are constantly
standing at the frontier of social change and cultural innovation.
In light of the
rapid social and cultural changes in the post modern era, I argue that informal systems foster trust relations,
especially by adapting to contemporary technological innovations[3]. In spite of occasionally anti normative, or
even what may be viewed as deviant, expressions over the net (e.g. masking and
fibbing, frequent copyright infringements, spreading computer viruses and
“spyware” and the various activities of
hackers), I maintain that the social system over the net fosters trust. Trust
is achieved through the creation of personalized social networks and a social
concept of “online friendship”. In opposition to institutionally-based
friendship arenas (at the workplace or school, for example), these associations
reinforce the net surfers’ sense of personal freedom of choice.
The “Net Society”
(also regarded as “the information society” or “the digital age”) poses new
forms of risks for surfers in general, and “digital youth” in particular.
Popular notions of the Internet often stress online deviance (e.g paedophilia,
“cyber-crime”, hackers, “crackers” or “phreakers”) as sources of risk. This may
be explained in terms of moral panic relating to the position of the Internet
in society. However, this can be explained by exploring the structural
characteristics of net society as demonstrated in the table below.
|
Structural
Characteristic of “Net Society”
|
Social Risk
|
|
1. Extensive
encounter with Technology
|
Anachronism,
social anomie, alienation towards technology (“technophobia”), disorientation
|
|
2. Innovation
and Rapid Technological Change
|
|
|
3. Enhanced
(online) accessibility
|
|
|
4. Self
Determined activity (Individualism)
|
Atomization,
social isolation and alienation
|
The study
demonstrates how groups of adolescents created new strategies to control and
eventually foster social trust, as well as a sense of meaning, personalization
and interpersonal friendliness. This can be viewed in various practices
reviewed throughout the study, including digital exchange, personal control of
anonymity/disclosure, the creation of digital texts, jokes and playful
activities. Through these practices, adolescents transform their computer-based
activities into a personalized and humanized social experience. This is
achieved by inserting animated elements into the cybernetic realm. The study
demonstrates how youngsters transmit meanings from their on- and offline
experiences towards the creation of a cultural environment that includes a
distinct symbolic array of youth’s most commonly-used metaphors, language and
iconography. These means shape the nature of the net and serve to transmit
humanistic and communal meanings over cyberspace. For example, the study
discusses various ways in which online signs and discourse were interpreted by
youngsters as producing humoristic gestures (e.g usage of “absurd” nicknames,
avatars depicting monsters or playful idiomatic texts). These symbolic acts
foster a sense of unconditional receptiveness of the youthful venues towards
their participants and a sense of freedom to participate in this new and vital
culture.
B. The Profile
of Digital Youth
In light of (post)
modern risk society, I ask what the nature and orientation of "digital
youth" is. Findings in this study point to a new form of youthfulness[4]
that can be summed up in six distinct characterizations:
1. Extended
youthfulness
2. Fluid
youthfulness
3. Individuality
and the concept of freedom
4. Active Youth
5. The
Institutionalization of Virtuosity among Youth
6. Pluralistic
youthfulness
1. Extended
Youthfulness -
Postman (1986
[c1982]) viewed changes in technology and mass communication as consuming the
concept of childhood and transforming the child into a "little man".
Accordingly, the Internet can be viewed as an agent for eroding the concept of
youthfulness and integrating adolescents into adult culture. In contrast to
this assumption, the findings of this study demonstrate an augmentation of
youth culture. The study points to the ways youngsters have created a culture
of entrepreneurship, characterized by cultural productivity, exchange and
practices of collecting digital goods. Even properties that could be identified
with the worlds of adults (e.g work ethic, rationality, utilization of
scientific-technological principles and practices) are amalgamated with youthful
meanings (e.g. humor, playfulness).
2. Diffuse
Youthfulness
On the net, one we
can point to a change from a homogenic and integrative grouping of youth to a
more diverse diffuse, low-density social organization of adolescents. This can
be demonstrated in two aspects: online peer groups and online identities.
(a) Online Peer
Groups - In modern society, most venues for youth are controlled by adults
via members of the family or the community (e.g. schools or religious agents).
In contrast, over the net, adult supervision is low. As a result, and due to
the anonymity the Internet facilitates, peer groups are to a large extent not
defined by class, gender, SES or geographical location. In this new realm, the
individual's status is defined by its social virtuosity within the group,
degrees of acquaintance and levels of knowledge in the technology and social
codes of specific groups. The study demonstrates the ways that participants in
observed newsgroups reacted with sympathy, suspicion or rejection towards other
participants in accord with these new sets of norms and social criteria. In
addition, the size and significance of the peer group varies in net culture.
The group itself changes through spontaneous efforts of recruitment, voluntary
engagement and disengagement as well as fashion or the dynamics of software
production[5].
(b) Online
Identities: Playing with identity has been a central theme in the early
stages of CMC research (see Bechar-Israeli, 1995; Danet, 1996; Turkle, 1995).
However, literature has focused little attention on its place in the lives of
youth. Recently, studies incorporated the celebration of youth culture in their
virtual identities, particularly in the study of online textual and graphical
representation blogging, or the creation of homepages (Abbot, 1998; Chandler
& Roberts-Young. 1999; Huffaker and Calvert, 2003;Webb, 2001). Moreover,
studies indicate that teenagers stay closer to their offline identities in
their online expressions of self than has previously been suggested (Huffaker
and Calvert, 2003; for a similar finding among adults in informal virtual
settings see Kendall, 2002); however, these studies did little to explain the
structural changes in the position of youth and youthfulness in light of their
interplay between their online/offline experience.
In this study, I
demonstrate how the concept of identity is challenged in cyberspace. In his
studies on youth, Erikson (1968) viewed adolescence as a transitional stage
towards a stable and integrative formation of identity. In contrast to
Erikson's observations, digital youth has created and negotiated a new and
distinct identity that deviates from offline identities. Accordingly,
collective identities that characterized adolescents offline become vague and
irrelevant in cyberspace. Collective adolescent identities in Israel
In addition, while
research of online identities over the net often emphasized the rich and vivid
representations of net surfers, the analysis of adolescents' perspectives of
the “other” (in terms of reciprocal exchange or social trust) may contribute to
our understanding of youth’s concept of their self-identity in the virtual
realm. The study demonstrated how youths' identity was constructed not only by
their ability to playfully make over their own virtual representations (as a
monster, magician, movie star, etc.) but it also demonstrated how they
experienced various kinds of exchange and (as mentioned above) different types
of knowledge (e.g. popular culture, scientific-technological or personal-expressive
sentiments). The case of digital youth may prove useful for exploring the
formation of diffuse, flexible and changeable identities. As the study
demonstrates, these identities reflect a search for originality, ingenuity, and
innovation.
3. Individuality
and the Concept of Freedom
Kahane (1975)
points to an inherent conflict between youths and adults with regard to
control/autonomy in socializing organizations. Whereas an increase in youth
autonomy may lead to delinquent and anti-social behavior, an abundance of adult
intervention may jeopardize organizations as an attractive and meaningful
socializing agent (Kahane,1975:23-24). Analyzing the Internet as an agent of
socialization bears a similar dilemma. In their online activities, adolescents
are free, to a large extent, from the parental control and supervision that
characterize other socialization institutions. In the Internet one could expect
an uncontrollable behavior, sometimes even deviant, as youth are often vilified
for mass infringements of intellectual property rights, rises in hacker
activity, a major expanse in the distribution and consumption of pornography
etc. The rise of a new form of youthful freedom and peer organization comes
alongside the risk of deviant social boundaries and taboos.
This study points
to the expansion of youth and freedom in online activities[6].
As web savvy technological virtuosos, youngsters select their degree of freedom
and manage to avoid their on- and offline gatekeepers. In addition,
participants choose periods of their lives when they are active or inactive in
various online activities. Accordingly, teens have reported occasional periods
of extensive use of a certain online activity (e.g. chat, multiplayer gaming
[MMOG or MMO], participating in newsgroups), as well as lengthy intervals of
little social activity over the net. This serves as a means for managing their
various social relationships online where surfers may expand, terminate,
strengthen or weaken their social connections and friendships. These relatively
manageable relations stand in opposition to youth's everyday obligations and
associations (e.g. the family, school, extra-curricular activities, youth
movements).
In addition,
activities of freedom have been translated into pragmatic meaning. As observed
and analyzed in the chapter dedicated to digital entrepreneurship, youth seek
opportunities over the net to experience dialogue, music, narrative writing or
gaming while integrating these fields of knowledge into their everyday lives.
In this context, youth socialize themselves on the net. This process offers
them a way to re-constitute their selves as well as to reconstruct their
affiliated virtual groups.
4. Active Youth
Popular notions,
echoed by the social sciences, tend to regard youth as being rebellious by
nature, and accuse them of forging a hedonistic culture (Brake,1980; Cohen,
1987; Griffin, 1993; Keniston, 1971). Theoretical studies of youth in society
are haunted by images of passivity and utter dependence, controlled by adults
in general and the various forces that drive society (e.g. economic, political,
technological, etc.) (Eisenstadt, 1971 [c1956]; Keniston, 1971; Mannheim, 1964;
Postman, 1985). In this study, I claim that over the net youth are active in
cultivating creative activity to the degree that the culture of digital youth
may be perceived as that of cultural innovators and entrepreneurs. While social
trust and friendship serve as a precondition for this development, the study
demonstrate how adolescents create tools for social interaction. In the
discussion of the symbolic tools of interaction, the study illustrates how
youth create virtual resources, systematically collect these assets and are
active in the exchange of digital resources (of digital products, professional
knowledge, personal experience or semi-monetary exchange[7]). In this
manner, youth respond to the dynamic nature of the Internet and develop skills
that are suitable to the contingent situations on the net.
5. The
Institutionalization of Virtuosity among Youth
In the past, much
of the literature suggested that individuals generated changes in technological
in general and in the worlds of computers, high-tech and cyberspace in
particular (Hafner, 1996; Kaplan,1999; Reid, 1997; Rogers & Larson, 1984;
Segaller, 1998). These individuals were often portrayed as young people in
informal settings, which often stood in opposition to their contemporary means
and norms of training. Classical examples can be seen in the biographies of
Galileo, Copernicus, Michelangelo, Benjamin Franklin and others. Weber
described how the process of rationality institutionalized science within the
confines of universities and
bureaucratic control, and eroded the place of the sole “inventor”, transferring these
innovations to academic, economic or military settings. The rise of computers
and computer-mediated communication has contributed to a change in the process
of the “bureaucratization of science”. In this study, I focus on a sphere that
is free from bureaucratic control. In contrast to views that centered
upon viewing innovation as being cultivated by individuals or a bureaucratic
culture, youth’s net culture demonstrates the rise of a culture of
technological virtuosity. These youngsters employ their creative and productive
efforts and divert them towards today’s most advanced technological
developments. In this sense, hacker activity is most salient as that of
technological virtuosos who mark a break with contemporary computer software
and even challenge the social and moral order (Nissan,1998; Taylor, 1999).
Hacker activity may serve as a case study in this sense, demonstrating a much
larger phenomena of youth’s entrepreneurial activism on the net. Youth who are
busy collecting, exchanging and the creation of cultural “artifacts” over the
net (such as blogs, homepages, movies, animation, prose or pictures) and
software (e.g. game “patches” and “cracks” enabling them to reproduce a copy of
a desired commercial program, and save money, or to be able to manipulate a
computer game).
This new category
of youthfulness is unique in several respects: First, from the perspective of
the sociology of youth, a change can be observed where the marginal and
dependent group (legally, economically and normatively) of adolescents are
transformed into a meaningful agent of technology and innovation. Second, in
the study of social entrepreneurship, we can view a unique case study where a
social category embraces a mode of creation, invention and innovation within
the informal setting of the Internet. This is to say, as opposed to the
classical modernistic concept which views inventions with extended periods of
external training instructed by experts within rigid arrangements (including a
structured curriculum and directed by socially acknowledged professionals), we
see how an informal system cultivates a culture of creativity.
Rather than
viewing the Internet as a chaotic social sphere, it may be viewed as an
environment which fosters virtuosity and institutionalization. In this reality,
youth engage in the construction of ties and communities, collect virtual
artifacts and knowledge, and organize fellowships of learning and debating. In
this manner the activity over the net is transformed from a chaotic experience
to an organize units of collaboration of meanings.
6. Pluralistic
Youthfulness
Anthropological
studies of youth adopted Victor Turner’s view of liminality, where youngsters
dwell in a threshold state of ambiguity, openness and indeterminacy. According
to this view, only after undergoing this process may one enter into new forms
of identity and relationships, and rejoin the everyday life of the culture.
Accordingly, during childhood and adolescence commitment to primordial
identities (e.g. religions, ethnicity, status, etc.) is partial and moratorium
is salient. Cyberspace, as a relatively new social environment, enables
experimentation and failures. Online, the tension between commitment towards
one’s primordial ties and intercultural encounters (harmonious/antagonistic)
has diminished and new tensions or forms of communications are established. In
this study, we learn how youth’s activities over the net serve as an
integrative and bridging platform between different groups. In this reality,
youngsters instill a sense of trust between members of different (offline)
identities and cultures, while on the individual level, the net opens new mean
of self-expression, achievement and empowerment of the self. Let me explain
three expressions of the pluralistic youthfulness:
i)
Symbols and Language
– The cybernetic experience invites a new mode for language and communication
among net surfers. This new language consists of a unique symbolic system with
new ways for creating symbols, iconographic representation and verbal
articulation. Paradoxically speaking, this new way of expression, distanced
from traditional modes of communication, creates a common frame for
participants of diverse backgrounds (e.g. different ethnicities, diverse age
groups, gender).
ii)
Masks and Anonymity -
As demonstrated throughout the study, net surfers are free to reinvent their
identities, self-representation and self-disclosure. Youth are free to express
and play on forms of racial and historical tension (such as using provocative
Nazi symbols for self-representation) or use dispassionate or
"neutral" representations that are not identified with any group
(including the use of gibberish and nonsense portrayal in their pseudonyms).
These masks enhance an environment of moratorium where youths may experience
and experiment with a large array of intercultural encounters (e.g. girls/boys,
Israeli/foreigner, adolescent/adult), rules and roles with minimal risks or sanctions and without
threatening the social system.
iii)
Technological Meritocracy - This study demonstrates how youth, as an important part of online
society, fostered an alternative set of criteria for the formation of social
status, which is not defined by ascriptive standards. This new system is based
on knowledge of specific subject matters (as demonstrated in the case of Israeli
basketball fans within the observed newsgroup of "Tsahevet"), and on
subjects related to Internet technology, computer software and hardware. For
example, the study demonstrates how teen surfers became operators
("ops") and frequent responders in a newsgroup were perceived as its
informal leaders. These new forms of linguistic and symbolic expression, the
technological meritocracy, masks, anonymity and lies dispersed on the net all
demonstrate how youth recreated new standards for prestige within the online
peer group. The
abundance of situations, activities and means of expression over cyberspace
enable youngsters to express their interests and talents, acquire power and
prestige and foster a sense of self
worth. Under these conditions, youth cultivated a culture based on an initial
sense of equal footing and symmetry as well as a pluralistic encounter that
tends to accept rather that reject or ostracize the "other".
In spite of the pluralistic nature of the net,
little is known of the effects of this pluralism upon offline settings. For
example, are the attitudes of surfers with regard to
interracial/ethnic/gender/generational tensions more likely to change due to
online experiences and experimentation with alternative roles and identities?
This question pertains not only to the online/offline relations, but to the
very meaning and impact of informal agencies, beyond the situations and
perimeters of their own social frameworks (such as outside a dance club or
several years after participating in a youth movement). As stated, the study
pointed to a profile of online youthfulness with six distinct characteristics.
C. Virtual
Friendship
Social scientists have long criticized
modernity, linking it with expressions of social anomie and alienation (Durkheim,
1949; Kasperson, 2000; Tourain, 1995). New technologies, identified with
modernity, were often viewed as stimulators of alienation and agents of the
ever-growing gap between the individual and society[8]. This is apparent in psychological and psychiatric reasoning (Kraut
et. al. 1998; Kuntze et.al, 2002) regarding the Internet. In this discourse
participation and virtual activities are often viewed as fostering an
impoverishment of various aspects of life that are essential to social
development, including interpersonal relations and emotional growth. This
research points to a different direction, and analyzes the deconstruction of
the meanings of friendship over the Internet.
In cyberspace, meanings of friendship are reinterpreted and deconstructed;
for example, categories such as "anonymous strangers" or
"many" are incorporated into the realm of friendship. This
transformation bears alternative meanings for surfers, including an expression
of the self, socially experimenting with new acquaintances or sharing online
experiences (e.g. social exchange, sharing sentiments, gaming). In this sense,
online friendships have become innovative social phenomena for observing
current culture as well as a new normative pattern of behavior.
This reconstruction of online
friendship over the net can be seen through concepts such as the "virtual
gift", the new symbolic representation in cyberspace, the creation of a
diffuse and spontaneous form of friendship, the transference of friendship to
the public realm and signified friendship.
Friendship and
the Virtual Gift
Since the
classical publication of Marcel Mauss, ethnographic studies have discussed the
centrality of the gift and personal exchange relations as playing a central
role in the social organization of societies. Social exchange is based on the
premise of mutual benefits and the assumption that each participant has
relative advantages over the others in one or more resources. In comparison,
online gifts are different in the nature of the virtual "objects",
the modes of exchange and scarcity of the exchanged objects. Exchange consists
a symbolic world of information, rather than physical attributes, where it is
possible to produce an infinite number of perfect copies of a piece of information
such as song files, computer software or animation (Kollock, 1999:221). In this sense, conventions of evaluating the
social prices of goods are reexamined and social behavior regarding gift
giving, altruism, and hostility are restructured. Furthermore, as the main
commodity over the web is information, an item for which there is no general
scarcity or shortage[9].
Under these conditions an alternative and complementary mode of friendship has
emerged where adolescents are able to create and maintain their social
connections through conveying information and gift giving, without exhausting
their own resources. In this sense, gift-giving practices have been expanded
over the net and has become a common gesture in youth culture. In this study,
four types of exchange were discerned: (1) experiences and sentiments, (2)
professional knowledge, (3) digital goods (e.g. songs, pictures, software), (4)
“money value”[10].
Youth discard a materialistic view of friendship or assumptions which tie
exchange with a generalized value (such as money, according to Simmel). Rather
than reducing their virtual activities to its mere utilitarian value, youths’
engagement with social exchange demonstrates a broad conception of the Internet
and points to their prominence in its emerging culture.
Signified
Friendship
Self-representation
over the net differs from that of face-to-face relations. Over the net, the
individual is anonymous, which enables social moratorium. By discussing the
symbolic and iconographic culture forged by surfers, I demonstrate how
nicknames (“nicks”), avatars and linguistic idioms have formed new ways for
social representation over the net. The study shows how youth employed the
medium to create for themselves the means for expressing their abilities,
riginality and initiatives. Adolescents used humoristic, fantastic or macabre
means to control social representation and to create a playful-public
performance.
Offline, a change
in personal appearance in considered dramatic and may challenge cultural norms
and taboos. Therefore, changes in conventional signals of identity such as
intonation and voice pitch, facial features, body image, non-verbal cues, dress
and demeanor may induce negative responses (Danet, 1996). In contrast, on the
Internet youngsters experiment with new identities, acquaintances and social
experiences with minimal social sanctions. They form meaningful relations with
new and old friends, improve their social skills on the net and engage in
various personality traits and conflicting social roles (e.g. young/old,
popular/marginal, layman/professional, man/woman).
Spontaneous and
Diffuse Friendship
In the age of the Internet, new concepts of
"virtual friendship" have emerged which can be characterized by
diffusion and spontaneity. In contrast to face-to-face relationships and
institutional relations (schools, boarding schools and other traditional
organizations), over the net friendship alliances do not require affiliation to
a defined and ascribed social group, but rather to the initiatives and virtuosity
of the individual (linguistic-rhetorical, technological and/or iconographical).
This enables another channel to expand the circles of friendship for
adolescents.
Friendship in
the Public Sphere
Studies of
friendship relations from a socio-historic perspective described a modern
separation between the public sphere, which has been perceived as a
rationalized and impersonal space, and the private sphere which fosters
personal relationships including friendship (Giddens, 1992; Silver, 1990). This
study demonstrates how adolescent surfers exchange sentiments and personal
expressions and gradually transfer them from the private to the public sphere
(and vice versa). Moreover, it has been observed how youth turn to the public
sphere to obtain advice, ideas, profess their feelings and experiences,
apologize, support others and apply various forms of exchange. Accordingly,
intimate communications become a widespread practice among surfers in public
environments of the net. Sheltered by anonymity, strangers reveal personal
secrets, sentiments and ideas which in the past were reserved for close friends
and loved ones. In this sense, the meanings of “friendship” and “the stranger”
are often blurred in cyberspace. Often, adolescent interviewees did not know how
to define their interlocutors on the Internet and to refer to them as “friend”
or “companion” (in Hebrew “Yadid” or “Haver”). Nevertheless, they could account
in great detail personal characteristics and anecdotes of people they were in
contact with (in newsgroups, on the instant messengers and such). In this
sense, we can discern a gap between the concept and consciousness of friendship
on the one hand, and adolescents friendship practices on the other.
New friendship relations forged on the
net encounters and acquaintance with the “other”, while enabling an expansion
of interpersonal relationships to include the public sphere. In this way,
online friendships coincide with other developments that have occurred in
contemporary society on television and the electronic media[11]
and appropriate sentiments from the private and interpersonal to the public
sphere.
* * *
The Internet can
be viewed as innovative and has changed the face of relationships, behaviors
and youth culture. This rapidly-changing technology has introduced youth to new
stimulations, tests and possibilities. This encounter has led to creativity and
a vibrant social dynamic among adolescents. In the past, a significant part of
social research pointed to the damaging effects of modernity. These studies
discussed the alienation between the individual and society and used terms such
as “risk society” “social fragmentation” or “globalization” to describe these
effects (Beck,1992; Miles, 2000; Wolin,1984).
In this context,
two targets were identified to magnify these perceived effect: youth and the
new technology. Adolescents were often described as dependent, hedonistic and
rebellious (see for example Griffin,1993; Springhall,1986); while the new
technology was often depicted as vague, morally ”depraved”, inciting
antagonistic relations and distorted relations (Beninger, 1986; Kraut et. al.
1998; Lea et. al. 1992; Young, 1998).
An analysis of the
Israeli case of youth’s net culture and their social meanings challenges these
assumptions. Young people are born into advanced technology, navigate within
its technical abilities and create elaborate systems of meaning which can be
transformed to cultural, social and economic resources. In this context, new
research which focuses upon “open source software”, “wiki communities”, social
movements and cults which are established over the net or even attempts at
launching democratic systems in cyberspace, all demonstrate how activity over
the net enables an expansion of social reality and cooperation between
“strangers” and unexpected participants to create new digital products. Future
research should address the potential of youthful activity over the net, and
investigate the implications of self socialization on the new cultural
developments of youth, the creation of new modes of authority among adolescents
which control these futuristic mediums ahead of other social groups.
[1] A few (5) were conducted in other venues
including the army or “public areas” (e.g. coffee shop, burger bar)
[2]
Among scholars in the social sciences, widespread social trust is viewed as a sign
of social solidarity and cohesion and has also been linked to strong economic
performance (Fukuyama,1995; Yamagishi and Yamagishi, 1994) and a source for
supporting democratic ideals (Muller and Seligson, 1994). In theories of social
capital, social trust is both an outcome and a cause of high levels of civic
involvement (Putnam, 2000) as well as a constraint on non-normative and
"immoral" behavior.
[3] By 'informality' I refer to the code of informality, developed by
Kahane (1997) to describe a symbolic and behavioral construct with which
individuals or groups strive to maximize what they perceive to be their genuine
self-expression. In his model, Kahane
describes informality as an ideal-type order (or organization) and points to
eight basic structural components: voluntarism (constraint-free choice);
multiplexity (wide range of activities equivalent in social value); symmetry
(exchange based on equal distribution of power and therefore on mutually
accommodated expectations); dualism (coexistence of contrasting orientations);
moratorium (provision of opportunities for experimentation or trial and error
with a variety of rules and roles); modularity (interchangeable clusters of
activities); expressive-instrumentalism (coexistence of immediate and delayed
rewards); and pragmatic symbolism (conversion of symbols into deeds and vice
versa). This code relates to other structural codes (formal- bureaucratic,
professional or primal; see Kahane, 1988). Accordingly, uncovering the
underlying code or codes of behavior among various social venues on the
Internet may yield a sociological explanation of its meaning and impact. As
stated above, I argue that youth’s digital spaces can be characterized by a
dominant code of informality which is more salient than that of most of the well-studied
adolescent activities including schools, boarding schools or even youth
movements, summer camps or backpacking.
[4] The question of "youthfulness", as
originally developed by Berger (1963), refers to the cultural characteristics
of youth, rather then a universal-biological attribute.
[5]For example, the computer game
"Diablo" was very popular among gamers in the 1990s and the turn of
the century, and generated various groups of fans and online discourse.
However, a few years later, as new games became popular; many of the original
players changed their interests (or position in life as college students,
soldiers or participants in the labor force, for example). Hence, the dynamics
of gaming culture and industry bears a direct effect of the structure and
character of various social groups as well as the content of youth's discourse
(in their choice of avatars, nicknames, idioms, etc. in their blogs, newsgroups
and websites).
[6]Within the Israeli context, since the 1980s,
studies have pointed to a change in the orientation of youth's activities and
values, moving from a collective orientation to an individualistic one, which
emphasizes personal achievement and self fulfillment (Rapoport et. al. 1995;
Shapiro and Herzog, 1984; Lumpsky-Feder, 1985). This bears significance on the
concept of free expression and motivations of social action by contemporary
youngsters.
[7] This refers to an exchange (either barter or monetary
exchange) which is controlled by a unique balance between online norms found
among youth (dictating the price range and mode of exchange) and the exterior
("offline") market, as elaborated in the chapter dedicated to
cultural entrepreneurship of adolescents over the net.
[8] From
the literature in the past 70 years, and the “great dystopias”, well
demonstrated in literary accounts such as George Orwell’s “1984”, or Aldous
Huxley’s “Brave New World”, but also in earlier texts by Thoreau, Hawthorne and
others, technological development was perceived as a non human factor by which
alienation, and discontent increased and threatened the very existence of the
individual and society (Jacoby, 1987) resulting in meaningless life and
mechanical relationship. The recent rise of CMC accentuates this threat. In
this context, it should be asked to what extent does communication via CMC
foster a modular mind "a specific communication mechanism" (Fodor,
1981:37) or proxy simulation with which a human being copes with the complexity
of the post modern world.
[9] This characteristic is central as the basis for the new
economy, see OECD report, Hedberg,2000.
[10] This pertains to the exchange of goods which
bear an “offline value” (e.g. guitar lessons, used computer hardware). Among
youth, the value of these exchanged items are derived from negotiation between
the offline value of these goods and a semi-barter system among online peers
which is based on the virtual community’s resources of trust and fraternity,
rather then institutional trust formed by e-commerce.
[11]
This refers to radio and television programs that broadcase interviewees that
openly profess their personal feelings and anecdotes (see Illouz, 2003).In this
sense, the transference to the public sphere demonstrates the deconstruction of
the meanings of friendship in contemporary society.
Monday, April 16, 2007
הבניית הידידות באינטרנט בקרב בני נוער בישראל - עבודת דוקטוראט
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