Socratic Dialogue

Jenkins: Social media use through the Internet is such an amazing technology that we have and use in today’s society. It really allows for people to come together and share ideas in personally and socially meaningful ways through participatory culture. We all have the right to participate and social media allows us all to do so! Social media empowers all of us who choose to participate because it allows us to play significant roles in the distribution of cultural capital.

Fuchs: It sounds like social media is a great thing that can help improve society. But what do you mean by participatory culture?

Jenkins: Indeed it is! Using social media as an expression of participatory culture creates a more democratic society because a diverse span of ideas, expressions, and content are being created, curated, circulated, or critiqued on media platforms such as Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. This is possible because social media is spreadable media. Internet users play an active role in sharing content, much of which is about materials that are meaningful to the user, allowing for the user to be involved in the success of a commodity resulting in consumer culture becoming more democratic because the culture has become more participatory. And by participatory culture, I mean humans meeting on the Internet in order to form collectives, create, and share content generally in regard to popular culture. As an example, if a group of 100 people choose to join a Facebook group about the game application “Flappy Bird” on the iPhone, and on the group they discuss their likes and dislikes for the game and what they think should be improved, they are partaking in a form of participatory culture.

Fuchs: Interesting perspective. And who are these humans that you speak of that meet on the Internet and collaborate?

Jenkins: The humans that I speak of are consumers and fans that form online communities

Fuchs: Okay. Well what about the owners of these platforms? Do they participate as well? What about the people that work for these platforms, do they participate? And what exactly do the people that you mentioned participate in?

Jenkins: Yes, the owners of these platforms participate. The people that work for these platforms are able to participate in the same way the users of these platforms are able to. And the people I mentioned participate by playing an integral role in the success of a commodity and participating in the production and distribution of cultural goods.

Fuchs: And because they are the owners, aren’t they able to mediate the cultural expressions of the consumers and fans using their platforms and don’t they have full control of economic decision-making?

Jenkins: Yes, I suppose they do.

Fuchs: If this is the case, is social media truly “participatory” if participation is somewhat dictated by a small elite group of individuals? The employees of these large platforms and the Internet users that these platforms need in order to build capital do not participate in economic decision-making and do not have full control over the content they choose to share in their online communities. This indicates that the participatory culture you speak of has some power asymmetries. The employees as well as the Internet users are being exploited for their work in order to benefit the small group of individuals who run these platforms. It is clear that these platforms are structural forms of capitalism as they only benefit a small few at the expense of others.

Jenkins: Well, participatory culture is relative. We do not and may never live in a society where every member is able to fully participate.

Fuchs: If this is so, participatory culture does not create a more democratic society because only certain people are able to fully participate. Participation means that humans have the right to be part of important decision-making and are able to govern the structures that affect them. Rights are universal, not selective—but the participatory culture you speak of is indeed selective.

Jenkins: All parts of society are selective and do not include all people. That’s just the way things work. Even in regard to universal rights such as voting, some people—such as convicts—do not have that right.

Fuchs: You say that as if particularism is a natural aspect of society as opposed to a man made facet that can be changed depending on human behavior.

Jenkins: Well, even if particularism isn’t natural, it is part of society nonetheless.

Fuchs: But it doesn’t have to be. And nothing can be truly participatory if there are power asymmetries involved.

Jenkins: I acknowledge your point, but despite what you have pointed out, I believe media presumption to be inherently participatory. Although not everyone participates in equal ways, there are still communities of people participating in social media online, which result in the advancement of cultural diversity.

Fuchs: So, because different communities of people share ideas on social media, this automatically results in the advancement of cultural diversity?

Jenkins: Yes, because many different kinds of people have access to social media. Because of this, a variety of social content is able to spread and content that produces more meaningful public culture is prepared.

Fuchs: You are right. Many different kinds of people have access to social media—including those with racist and fascist ideas. For instance, during the recent “Black Lives Matter” movement, many racist people shared their views on social media either implicitly opposing the movement, or explicitly sharing bigoted views about Black people and others who chose to participate in the national movement. Do they also contribute to the advancement of cultural diversity?

Jenkins: Well, the people who are a part of online communities are not necessarily progressive…

Fuchs: In that case, the people in online communities do not necessarily contribute to cultural diversity or meaningful public culture, especially those who share racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, etc. views. Those types of people actually do the opposite in regard to the advancement of cultural diversity. They spread hateful ideas, which some people will absorb and continue to spread. This act would actually result in the regression of cultural diversity in society.

Jenkins: I see your point. Online communities have negative potentials. I still believe social media to be an expression of participatory culture, but perhaps it is not as positive a tool as I previously thought in regard to the advancement of society.

Fuchs: Ahh, I am glad you finally see what I have been getting at Jenkins! Although social media has some positive aspects, we must acknowledge the negative things that come along with it; such as the spreading of racist and fascist ideas, the exploitation of wage workers for large social media corporations, and the inherent elitism that is involved in online participation.

Jenkins: I concede. Thank you for sharing your views and enlightening me on the other aspects of social media that I previously ignored.