2013_theorize_the_web.pdf

Transcript

1. Identity, Institutions, and Uprisings Theorizing the Web, CUNY Tom Slee March 2, 2013
2. Theorizing the Web
3. Theorizing the Web∗ ∗ contentious politics division
4. Theorizing the Web∗ ∗ contentious politics division+ + uprisings in authoritarian states subdivision
5. Theorizing the Web∗ ∗ contentious politics division+ + uprisings in authoritarian states subdivision Short version: Think subcultures, not networks
6. Micro Macro
7. Micro Macro Individuals Social structures
8. Micro Macro Individuals Social structures Networks Institutions
9. Micro Macro Individuals Social structures Networks Institutions Information Identity
10. Micro Macro Individuals Social structures Networks Institutions Information Identity Long equations Long words
11. Micro Macro Individuals Social structures Networks Institutions Information Identity Long equations Long words Simplistic Fuzzy
12. Event Micro Macro
13. Event Micro Macro Sudden uprising (cascade)  
14. Event Micro Macro Sudden uprising (cascade)   Lack of strong leadership  
15. Event Micro Macro Sudden uprising (cascade)   Lack of strong leadership   Social networks  
16. Problem: a disconnect between micro and macro theories
17. Problem: a disconnect between micro and macro theories Solution: an identity-driven agent-based theory
18. Problem: a disconnect between micro and macro theories Solution: an identity-driven agent-based theory Akerlof & Kranton: “Identity Economics”
19. Definition
20. Definition Identity is comprised of: Social Categories Government Supporter (G) Oppositional (O)
21. Definition Identity is comprised of: Social Categories Government Supporter (G) Oppositional (O) Ideal Attributes
22. Definition Identity is comprised of: Social Categories Government Supporter (G) Oppositional (O) Ideal Attributes Norms Conform (Status Quo) Dissent (Opposition)
23. Definition Identity is comprised of: Social Categories Government Supporter (G) Oppositional (O) Ideal Attributes Norms Conform (Status Quo) Dissent (Opposition) Definition Choices include
24. Definition Identity is comprised of: Social Categories Government Supporter (G) Oppositional (O) Ideal Attributes Norms Conform (Status Quo) Dissent (Opposition) Definition Choices include Choose a social category (adopt an identity)
25. Definition Identity is comprised of: Social Categories Government Supporter (G) Oppositional (O) Ideal Attributes Norms Conform (Status Quo) Dissent (Opposition) Definition Choices include Choose a social category (adopt an identity) Choose an action
26. Definition Identity is comprised of: Social Categories Government Supporter (G) Oppositional (O) Ideal Attributes Norms Conform (Status Quo) Dissent (Opposition) Definition Choices include Choose a social category (adopt an identity) Choose an action
27. 0 1 0 1 Active Dissent Hegemony D(h) h(D)
28. Information Cascade Identity Cascade Safety in numbers Polarization
29. I was completely surprised by 1968…I had an idea of the revolutionary process and it was nothing like this. I saw students building barricades, but these were people who knew nothing of revolution. They were not even political. There was no organisation, no planning. (François Cerutti, Marxist and radical bookstore owner)
30. …friendship and familial, religious, and professional relationships create an array of ongoing exchanges, obligations and expectations that individual members have considerable incentives to uphold. (Dennis Chong)
31. What does it mean to adopt an oppositional identity, but to conform?
32. What does it mean to adopt an oppositional identity, but to conform? What is the difference between an inactive “oppositional” individual and a government supporter?
33. Individuals need not believe all these mystifications, but they must behave as though they did …they must live within a lie. They need not accept the lie. It is enough for them to have accepted their life with it and in it. For by this very fact, individuals confirm the system, fulfill the system, make the system, are the system. (Vaclav Havel)
34. Individuals need not believe all these mystifications, but they must behave as though they did …they must live within a lie. They need not accept the lie. It is enough for them to have accepted their life with it and in it. For by this very fact, individuals confirm the system, fulfill the system, make the system, are the system. (Vaclav Havel) Politics is not like the nursery; in politics obedience and support are the same. (Hannah Arendt)
35. Everyone in Tripoli, it seemed, had been with Qaddafi, at least for show; and now everyone was against him. (Robert F. Worth, New York Times)
36. Were these people deceiving themselves or others?
37. Were these people deceiving themselves or others? Did the soldiers really support Gaddafi in the past but now do not?
38. Were these people deceiving themselves or others? Did the soldiers really support Gaddafi in the past but now do not? Do some of these people support Gaddafi still? … It is clear that they once obeyed Gaddafi and now do not…but to attempt to determine if, in their heart of hearts, these people supported Gaddafi then …and now do not seems slightly absurd. (Xavier Marquez)
39. Collective identities are expressed in cultural materials—names, narratives, symbols, verbal styles, rituals, clothing, and so on…collective identity carries with it positive feeling for other members of the group. (Francesca Polletta and James M. Jasper)
40. …the institutional contexts within which new identities are forged. Concepts of “submerged networks”, “halfway houses”, “free spaces”, “havens”, “sequestered social sites”, and “abeyance structures” describe institutions removed from the physical and ideological control of those in power, for example the black church before the civil rights movement and literary circles in communist Eastern Europe. Such institutions supply the solidary incentives that encourage movement participation, but they also represent a “free space” in which people can develop counterhegemonic ideas and oppositional identities. (Francesca Polletta and James M. Jasper)
41. boundary-setting rituals and institutions that separate challengers from those in power can strengthen internal solidarity: …“collective identity”. (Francesca Polletta and James M. Jasper)
42. An institution I is characterized by: Status (xI ) Natural membership of the institution. We can say that the identity of the institution is the optimal identity of an individual with status xI . Breadth (δ) Individuals with status x ∈ [xI − δ, xI + δ] are members of I Membership (m) Cost of membership for individuals whose identity differs from the identity of the institution.
43. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 Membership Discrimination Status
44. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 Membership Discrimination Status
45. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 Membership Discrimination Status x* δ=0.10 δ=0.13 δ=0.16
46. When I was in post-Mubarak Cairo, my hosts kept pointing in amazement to various street corners where fierce political discussions were being held and often whispered, before remembering they could now speak up and adjusting their voice, “You never saw this. Nobody ever discussed politics openly, ever.” Then they would pause and add, “Well, except online, of course. We all discussed politics online.” (Zeynep Tufekci)
47. The function of a civil resistance is to provoke response and we will continue to provoke until they respond or change the law. They are not in control; we are. (M. K. Gandhi)
48. sometimes repression inspires more mobilization; and sometimes it efectively quashes movements or pushes them underground. Sometimes repressive forces are successful in characterizing protesters as legitimate targets of repression, and other times they deligitimize the State and increase the legitimacy of the social movements. (Francesca Polletta and James Jasper)
49. Censorship makes every banned text, bad or good, into an extraordinary text. (Karl Marx)
50. 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 Membership Discrimination Status x* xmax
51. 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 Membership Discrimination Status x* δ = 0.1 δ = 0.2
52. Thank you
53. Thank you tslee@web.ca tomslee.net @whimsley