This project examines nativism as an important historical process in the development of American cultural identity, following an interdisciplinary approach that focuses on the emergence of anti-immigrant discourse on the Internet. My aim is to analyze how anti-immigrant groups, despite access to new technologies, continue to reify stereotypes and representations of Latin American immigrants within a longstanding tradition of nativism. In particular, I explore the impact of strategies employed on the websites of the anti-immigrant groups Border Guardians, Mothers against Illegal Aliens, American Border Patrol, Justice for Shawna Forde, Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, and Minuteman Project to circulate anti-immigrant rhetoric on the World Wide Web. Following the work of cultural scholars Jean Baudrillard and Michel Foucault, as well as new media scholars Andrew Shapiro, Manuel Castells, and Sherry Turkle among others, I argue that nativist groups utilize multiple hyperlinking techniques to "disintermediate" their rhetoric, resulting in a closed ideological environment I call a "hyperverse." The nativist hyperverse effectively isolates itself from competing perspectives on immigration that could challenge its discourse, largely by framing itself as what Castells refers to as a "counter power" movement against hegemonic forces. Furthermore, I build upon the work of Arjun Appadurai to position the hyperverse within a larger anti-immigrant "mediascape" that permeates established media, such as print and television, and which in turn inflects public and political discourse. I maintain that the processes that create the hyperverse also render it immune to rupture from competing perspectives circulating in new or traditional media. Nevertheless, I cite popular movements, as described by Sasha Costanza-Chock, formed through communications technologies that connect and mobilize youth in opposition to hegemonic anti-immigrant ideologies. I conclude by proposing that new media technologies be viewed not merely as a vehicle that automatically privileges truth, but as tools for creating narratives that must be regarded with a critical approach. I conclude with a call to twenty-first century educators to develop new pedagogical methods to teach students to seek and analyze sources of online texts in order to become empowered consumers and producers of information.

Den här c-uppsatsen är en studie om hur av delar av Manuel Castells teorier om den digitala klyftan, den informationella revolutionen och flödesrummet överensstämmer med ett urval av akademiska artiklar som publiceras under åren 1990-2010 i databasen LISA (Library and Information Science Abstracts). Den digitala klyftan ett gap med ojämn tillgång till dator med internetuppkoppling. Studien är utförd med litteraturstudier och textanalytiska metoder. Castells fick stor uppmärksamhet för Informationsåldern: Ekonomi, Samhälle och Kultur, Nätverkssamhällets Framväxt. Syftet är att med en litteraturstudie undersöka om det skett någon förskjutning i förklaringen av den digitala klyftan. Studien är begreppsutredande och baserad på forskningsartiklar och litteratur. Studien undersöker om artikelförfattarnas teorier och forskning överensstämmer med Castells teorier om den digitala klyftan, den informationella revolutionen och flödesrum. IKT (informations- och kommunikationsteknik) har på kort tid slagit igenom och blivit en del av många människors vardag. De grupper människor som inte får tillgång till IKT riskerar att marginaliseras. Med tanke på den snabba teknikutvecklingen är det även relevant att undersöka om Castells teorier som numera (2013) är över ett decennium gamla fortfarande är aktuella. / This thesis investigates how parts of Manuel Castell’s theories about the digital divide, the informational revolution and the space of flows coincide with a selection of academic publications from the period 1990-2010 in the LISA (Library and Information Science Abstracts) database. The digital divide refers to unequal access to computers with internet connections. The investigation is based on literature studies and text analysis methods. Castells was widely recognized for The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture. The literature study aims to investigate whether there has been a shift in the explanation of the digital divide. The paper is a conceptual investigation and based on scientific publications and literature. The paper investigates whether the theories and research of the authors of these publications is in accordance with Castells’ theories about the digital divide, the informational revolution and the space of flows. ICT (information and communication technology) has emerged rapidly and become part of the everyday life of many people. Population groups without access to ICT face risks of marginalization. Considering the rapid technological development, it is also relevant to investigate whether Castells’ theories, which by now (2013) are more than a decade old, still are valid.

Syftet med denna undersökning var att ta reda på vilka attityder kring mobilapplikationen Tinder det fanns hos tio unga människor samt om det uppkommit nya behov i och med denna nya teknik där man sveper mellan olika människor. För att få fram ett resultat utfördes tio kvalitativa intervjuer med människor i åldrarna 18-30. Teorierna som kompletterade det insamlande materialet var uses & gratifications teorin som bland annat belyser hur publiken använder medier och vad de får ut av användningen, samt Castells teori om nätverkssamhället där teknologin och dess utveckling spelar stor roll för hur vi använder oss av medier och kommunikation på distans. De kvalitativa intervjuade visade att användningen av applikationen inte var i nätdejtingssyfte. Respondenterna använde snarare applikationen för att bland annat tillfredsställa ett emotionellt behov där ett bekräftelsesökande visade sig vara större än viljan att kommunicera med människor. Även ett avkopplingsbehov existerade, där respondenterna använde applikationen i brist på något annat att göra. Många av Tinders funktioner förstärkte dessa behov, bland annat det utseendebaserade användningsområdet samt applikationens enkelhet i sig.

Uppsatsen har som avsikt att undersöka hur kommunikatörsyrket har förändrats det senaste 25 åren med utgångspunkt i Castells nätverksteorier och i en studie utförd 1995. Studien har utgått från en kvalitativ metod i form av en tematisk analys som identifierade mönster och teman i det empiriska materialet. Studiens problematisering grundar sig i digitaliseringen och hur detta har påverkat professionens benämning och beskrivning i platsannonser med särskilt fokus på tre teman som identifierats; arbetsuppgifter, utbildningskrav och kunskaper och egenskaper som efterfrågas. Genom att studera tjänstetitlar och arbetsbeskrivningar från 68 utannonserade platsannonser visade detta ett resultat som påvisar att professionen utgår och är beroende av andra förändringar som påverkar informationshanteringen i samhället vilket ger anledning till att fältet bör kontinuerligt studeras för att bibehålla sin relevans i utvecklingen. Studiens resultat presenterar en idé om att mediebranschen genomgått en konvergens som identifierat hur olika tjänster har integrerats med varandra till följd av digitaliseringen och den teknologiska utveckling som informationssamhället medfört.

Title: Digital christmas greetings - the viral communicators, public sphere and democracy(Digitala julhälsningar - de virala kommuniktörerna, offentligheten och demokratin)Number of pages: 41Author : Anna-Sara TorgnysdotterTutor: Ylva EkströmCourse : Media and Communication Studies DPeriod: Spring, semester 2010University: Devision of Media and Communications, Department of Information Science,Uppsala UniversityPurpose: The purpose of this study is to see if social media could be an arena for the usersto increase democracy and the public sphere. Studying the role and possibilitys of the individual.Is there a space for any one to act and debate?Method: A qualitative analysis based on interviews with ten users of social media - viralcommunicators. They were discussing public and private sphere, democracy, norms andbehavior in social media.Theoretical platform: The theoretical basis has its roots in sociology: Ervin Goffman´sidea on self-presentation and social interaction, Manuel Castels´ theories of the networksociety and Jürgen Habermas idea of the public spehere.Main result: The viral communicators are ambivalent in their use of socialmedia. They are users because they want to be but also because they feel forced to - professionalor private. Their primary aim in communicating in social media could summarize“self-expression”.The users of social media talks contradictivly about their feelings wheter they feel safe orunsafe in the social media situation.They talk about lacking time to debate on the internet and they feel confused about what´sprivate and whats public.Social norms and unwritten laws rules communication in social media and the loosening inpublic and private sphere creates confusion about to whom and where you communicate.This results in avoiding messages that might offend or harass. Because the viral communicatorscommunicate with a broad group of people, including every one - from your cousin toyour boss - there is a vague idea of the tolerance from the target audiences and therefor themessages tend to be very conservative and safe.The viral communicator uses that public arena the social media offers like traditional postcards. A christmas greeting to keep in touch and stress their prosperity and wellbeing.Keywords : Social media, viral communication, Habermas, Goffman, Castells, publicsphere, private sphere, social norms, unwritten laws

The object of this master’s dissertation has been to investigate one-person enterprisers’ (OPE) experiences of conducting both personal identity and brand at social network sites (SNS). The purposes of this research have been to elaborate on sociological theories of brand and identity in a network society context and to present hypotheses on how SNS can be developed to empower all OPEs. Since this field is rather unexplored in sociological research, and because it is the experiences of the OPEs that are the focus of the research, ethnographic methods, i.e. qualitative interviews, were chosen. These interviews were then analysed, primarily through Erving Goffman’s theory of self-presentation, Manuel Castells’s theory of identity, and the sociological concept of life-conduct deriving from Max Weber. The findings provoked both theoretical and empirical conclusions. The theoretical hypothesis is that Castells’s and Goffman’s respective theories should be used as back and front end interpretations of everyday life conduct. The empiric hypothesis provoked is that some OPEs have a strategic (as opposed to a sincere) approach to SNS. These OPEs are experiencing alienation and anomie. To manage this, SNS need to focus more on tools for social communication and less on methods for making SNS ends in and of themselves.

The purpose of this study was to discover what impact, if any, personal social networks have on an individual’s snowboarding skill progression, and whether any differences emerge based on gender, class, race, or age. Interviews with 10 demographically diverse snowboarders in Washington State, USA, were conducted and analyzed. The study revealed that personal social networks are highly important to snowboarding skill progression, with nine progression benefits noted. It was also found that the type of relationship was important, with the roles of gatekeepers, “godfathers,” and crews as the most critical for progression. Lastly, respondents indicated a variety of methods to access social networks, including social media, events, organizations, industry employment and through existing social networks. To further analyze the findings, an intersectional feminist reading of Castells networking theory was applied, with investigations into gender, race, class, and age patterns. The analysis revealed two overlapping values systems, one based on snowboarding ability and commitment, and one based on alignment of demographics with those who are most valued in the snowboarding world--mainly young, white, middle class men. The research closes with potential solution ideas to improve equitability and inclusion, which can be applied from the grassroots level to large-scale implementation.

This essay is a qualitative interview study of how six upper secondary school history teachers view and work with students’ diversity of identities in teaching. The questions that the study sought to answer were how history teachers viewed and worked with students’ diversity of identities, as exemplified by specific assignments, along with their selection of teaching materials, and the impact of their own identity on their teaching. These questions were analysed using Manuel Castells’ three aspects of legitimate identity, resistance identity, and project identity, complemented by Carsten Ljunggren’s reasoning concerning a national identity, as the main theoretical framework. In doing so, the study concluded that the teachers viewed working with identity in the history subject as a luxury, dependent on factors such as lesson time, adaption to students, citizen education, and the room for a norm-critical approach. Due to these factors, it was concluded that the history subject unintentionally and mainly conveyed a legitimate identity to the students.  From their exemplified assignments, the study found that student-centred assignments more often enabled the inclusion of resistance identities as well as project identities. The teachers claimed that teaching materials such as textbooks were Eurocentric and needed to be complemented by other material to include other perspectives. It was also concluded that teachers’ gender, social class, and ethnicity had an impact on their teaching. The study found that a new national identity in the history subject, as illustrated by the inclusion of project identities, was linked to the use of intercultural pedagogy and student-centred assignments.

Young white men with a working background are described as the losers of the postindustrial society: as being in a marginalized position in which they are at risk of being rejected in the educational system, in the labour market and in social relations. This study examines to which degree the descriptions, provided by the Swedish political parties Socialdemokraterna and Moderaterna through semi-structured interviews, of a marginalization among young white men with a working class background in Sweden coincides with ideas of the postindustrial knowledge society as an explanatory model. Further, the study examines the solutions presented by the parties as a response to a marginalization among young white men with a working background in Sweden. The result shows that the problematization of a marginalization among these young men largely coincides with the postindustrial knowledge society as an explanatory model. Furthermore, it is possible to identify ideological dividing lines in the solutions that are launched: where collectivist views of society are most evident in the solutions presented by Socialdemokraterna, and individualistic views of society in the solutions presented by Moderaterna. An optimistic view of man is further identified in the solutions presented by both parties.

[pt] Esta investigação aborda a paróquia católica na mudança de época, a partir das teorias de Manuel Castells. O início do milênio testemunha, de um lado, inédito interesse pastoral pela paróquia. De outro lado, temos muitos estudos multidisciplinares sobre mudança de época. Esta dissertação articula estas duas realidades. Ela analisa a paróquia a partir do seu nascimento no séc. IV. Acompanha sua evolução histórica até o Concílio de Trento, passando pelas novas configurações paroquiais do Vaticano II e do magistério Latino-Americano. Para abordar a mudança de época, esta pesquisa utiliza a teoria sociológica de Manuel Castells. A era da informação é a era das redes. A paróquia poderá aclimatar-se na medida em que compreender os novos significados desta nova estação histórica, tais como a nova territorialidade, dinâmica das redes e interatividade. / [en] This research approaches the Catholic Parish in the changing era according to the theory of Manuel Castells. The beginning of the millennium witnesses, from one side, an unprecedented pastoral interest to the parish. On the other hand, there are many multidisciplinary studies about changing era. This paper articulates these two realities. It analyzes the parish from its birth, in the 4th Century and it follows its historical development until the Council of Trent, passing through the new parish settings of Vatican II and the Latin American teaching. By approaching the changing era, this research uses the sociological theory of Manuel Castells. The information age is the age of networks. The parish can adapt itself to this new historical reality by understanding its new meanings, such as the new territoriality, dynamic networks and interactivity.