Tuesday 14th, Sorry I am ill today please try and do this question in your own time and try and use some good contemporary examples as you apply what you have learned. Bring in for discussion next week
This is an example of the first question in the exam it should take you about an hour to answer.
Question 1
Online social networking has had an enormous impact on contemporary culture. There
is a great potential for all of us with internet access to join communities of shared
interest in every possible subject or just keep in touch with our friends. However, there
are competing views on how to interpret the broader cultural implications of social
networking. Some stress the positive and empowering aspects whilst others have
highlighted negative effects on both the individual and culture at large.
Carefully read Argument A and Argument B (opposite) relating to social networking,
before attempting the task below.
Task:
Use your knowledge of selected theoretical perspectives and key concepts to evaluate
the contrasting views of social networking expressed by Argument A and Argument B.
(40 marks)
Argument A
Online social networking is a fine example of the way in which technology can respond to a real
human need; in this case, the need for better, faster and more sophisticated interpersonal and
group communication. Online networking does not just improve social connectivity; it enables
knowledge to be pooled rapidly and efficiently so that businesses can work more effectively even
if workers are geographically dispersed. Social network sites encourage creative self-expression.
We can combine speech, music, writing and moving images to project ourselves as individuals
and as groups.
Argument B
Increasingly, our identities are projected to others not by face-to-face contact but via our presence
on online social networking sites. But social networks do not just help us to communicate; they
are changing the ways in which we think. We experiment with our identities, but only in ways
that are determined by consumer culture. We describe ourselves in terms of what we own
and consume and become addicted to the giving and receiving of tiny pieces of unimportant
information. As the information content becomes smaller and smaller, so our ability to
concentrate on more demanding forms of communication like the book or play or film diminishes.
The idea that we are part of communities enjoying real relationships is an illusion based only in
the virtual world. In reality, social networking encourages an unhealthy obsession with the self.
