Comments on: viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace

By: dunn

dunn — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 21:37:31 +0000

interesting. basically she said what all of us in high school knew though we didn’t know how to describe it well. i graduated in 07, so by then facebook was popular among high school students, but even i could see the difference between the people on myspace and facebook. i started with myspace and changed to facebook, and i remember making a joke saying “myspace is the trailer park of facebook,” which pretty much nails it if you think about it in terms of this essay

By: tim

tim — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 21:10:02 +0000

By: Michael Ray

Michael Ray — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 00:10:01 +0000

The division you are trying to articulate reminds me of a division that Manuel Castells describes in his book: The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture Vol. II: The Power of Identity. In it he observes a theme–the contradictory relationship between a new global social structure–the network society–and resistance to the forms of domination implicit in this social structure. He suggests that in a network society, for most social actors, meaning is organized around a primary identity, and he proposes a distinction between three forms and origins of identity: (1)Legitimizing identity: introduced by the dominant institutions of society to extend and rationalize their domination vis a vis social actors (what you are describing as the hegemonic teens); (2)Resistance identity: generated by those actors who are in positions/conditions devalued and/or stigmatized by the logic of domination, thus building trenches of resistance and survival on the basis of principles different from, or opposed to, those permeating the institutions of society (your subaltern teens), (3) Project Identity: when social actors, on the basis of whatever cultural materials are available to them, build a new identity that redefines their position in society and, by so doing, seek the transformation of overall social structure (not described in your bimodal description). Castells is one academic I think is really focused on the emerging network society, and may be of help to you in your thinking about what you are seeing in the field.

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 23:20:53 +0000

But if Facebook is about professionalism and presentation then, a) Why aren’t all those Facebookers flocking to LinkdIn and more professional networking sites, and b) Why does everyone have those compromising photos from last Saturday night up on their page for all the world to see? When “hegemonic” kids generally hide what they do from their parents, surely Facebook isn’t exactly a subtle sneaky way to get around them, especially if they are Facebook friends – like Melissa said, literally EVERYONE and their mother and their sister and their second aunt twice removed has a Facebook.

By: Melissa G

Melissa G — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 16:40:06 +0000

Hi, I think this is a wonderfully interesting and accurate piece that comments on the “earlier” days of FB & MS, but now that “real” adults have become the fastest growing demographic and even young kids can join, do you think this has changed? Literally, everybody and their mother has a FB page. Siblings in middle school have a FB. I believe our behaviors have been forced to change due to this influx, but I’d be curious to know if you’ve done any research on this development. Thanks.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 02:17:10 +0000

I think the ultimate problem with Myspace was that it became a place of “wannabes”. Everyone’s a rapper, model, actor etc. The self promotion killed the intimacy you fine reconnecting with friends on FB. That said FB can be toxic too. People sure like to reinvent themselves on the net.

By: Your Privacy & The Disappearing Art of Invisibility

Your Privacy & The Disappearing Art of Invisibility — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:17:32 +0000

[...] blog postsSuperhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books …apophenia: viewing American class divisions through Facebook and …Memo to Media Matters: Kevin Jennings knew of Harry Hay's NAMBLA …Your Reversals 13FanMade: [...]

By: Taylor101-5

Taylor101-5 — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:49:46 +0000

I believe that there are valid points presented in this article that I can infact relate back to my own life and my own experiences. I enjoy the way that danah boyd brought about subjects that individuals may not think about on a daily basis, such as the social ranks in the military reflecting the online social networks. I think that it was brave to post a controversial article such as this but I applaud the risk, and as with most things in this society, there will always be critism.

By: Hiliary 101-5

Hiliary 101-5 — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:00:16 +0000

Excerpt of an Essay for English 101, UC

In her essay, she separates the users of online social networks into two different groups, one of them being called the �hegemonic� teens and the other group being called the �subaltern� teens. These groups separate the users into the �good kid� group and the �bad kid� group. I feel that it is silly to put them into such categories considering the fact that it is not always true. danah boyd states in her essay that hegemonic teens are �good kids� because of the life they were provided by their parents and they do the same things as subaltern teens. The only difference is that hegemonic teens typically hide everything from their parents where subaltern teens are more upfront with their actions. It is crazy to think about how oblivious adults can be to the society we live in today. These teenagers that are labeled as �bad kids� in our society have to try so much harder to get anywhere in life and usually do not have a person behind them supporting them. It may appear differently, but hasn�t anyone ever heard the saying, �don�t judge a book by its cover?�

By: Alex 101-5

Alex 101-5 — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:19:41 +0000

Excerpt of an Essay for English 101, UC

The labeling of each group is now obvious. With hegemonic most nearly meaning �preponderant influence or authority over others� it made sense that the students who were on the career track, and Facebook, were given this label. That leaves the students on MySpace to be the Subaltern group of teens, who are not necessarily on a career track that usually only the more privileged teens saw.