DOCSLIB.ORG

Social Media: a Breeding Ground for Energy Or Apathy? Liana King

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Social Media: a Breeding Ground for Energy Or Apathy? Liana King Social Media: A Breeding Ground number of corresponding posts. I have found for Energy or Apathy? this to be especially notable in the past year due to the increased political tension arising from the 2016 presidential election followed Liana King by the Trump presidency. Sophomore, Communication and Social It is hard to deny that social media Influence can play a significant and potentially Introduction beneficial role in political activism. The In this day and age, it is hard to ability to spread information so quickly to imagine a facet of life free from the such a broad audience allows the citizenry to influence of social media. Fundamentally, be informed about important political issues social media serves as a platform for sharing and possibly even promote activism. and receiving information. From the Innovative concepts can spread and breaking news of an earthquake to the influence others, petitions can reach beyond announcement of an engagement, social geographic barriers, marginalized groups media is often among the first to know-- can unify for equality, and so on. The Arab sometimes even before those directly Spring serves as a prime example of this-- affected. With the click of a button, we can social media acted as a catalyst for extend anything expressible with words, revolution by providing a platform for images, or video to a defined set of communication and unification. followers or even to the world. With the It is evident that social media can be increased prevalence of social media, people empowering. However, at what point does have naturally developed a reliance on these social media stop serving as a means to services. Users expect these networks to effect change? When, if ever, does it start provide them with not only a platform to serving as a means to justify to oneself that receive information, but also one in which they are having a positive impact on the they can express their own thoughts, beliefs, world-- even if they are not? and opinions about that material. This made me reflect on my own One of the best examples of this (in)action. I feel as though I am a phenomenon is the relationship between well-informed citizen who understands the social media and politics. Social networks issues of our society and what needs to (e.g. Facebook, Twitter) have become change. However, since the 2016 fundamental to informing citizens about presidential election, I have been reflecting political issues. Additionally, these networks on how little I actually do to bring about the have become common outlets for people to change I want to see. express their own political ideals, shed light The purpose of my research is to find on neglected controversies, call others to the effects of posting about political and action, etc. When a political issue is at large, social issues on social media on how it is hard to avoid coming into contact with a politically active people see themselves. Does posting about political and social need to engage further (Lazarsfeld and issues create a false sense of political Merton 239). This would lead to those activism that contributes to decreased people being under the impression that they political participation? I hypothesize that the are doing their part in society even though act of posting about political and social that may not be true. This idea can easily be issues on social media acts as a substitute for translated to social media, which is a action, creating a false sense of political breeding ground for the intake and activism. transmission of information by which people are allegedly being narcotized. Literature Review A paper published in 2016 I am grounding my study in the examining the relationship between social theoretical framework of the narcotizing media and the narcotizing dysfunction dysfunction theory. The theory, originally theory argues that posting about political developed by Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Robert issues “may give the social media users a K. Merton in 1948, states a “vast supply of false sense of accomplishment and serves as communications may elicit only a a self-satisfactory tool and narcotizes the superficial concern with the problems of participants” (Esitti 1025). The term society, and this superficiality often cloaks slacktivism was introduced in this paper, a mass apathy” (Lazarsfeld and Merton 239). ​ combination of the word ‘activism’ and Essentially, as more time is “devoted to ‘slacker.’ Esitti points out that real activism reading and listening, a decreasing share is is suppressed when users can read and write available for organized action” (Lazarsfeld posts, tweets, blogs, etc. and become and Merton 239). For example, in 1950, apathetic to the issue rather than energized “often dramatic coverage of congressional (1022). The concept that “internet and social hearings concerning organized crime didn’t media may cause participatory surveillance lead to widespread public demands for rather than political participation,” would government action” because even “when support my hypothesis that digital activity media are effective at… calling attention to takes the place of real political participation societal problems… the public may react by (Esitti 1022). doing nothing” (Baran and Davis 119). “Click to Change: Optimism Despite Someone consuming a lot of information on Online Activism’s Unmet Expectations,” issues can “congratulate himself on his lofty ​ ​ outlines the idea that slacktivism can lead to state of interest and information” while political participation that is heavily skewed simultaneously “neglect[ing] to see that he toward online activity. The Occupy Wall has abstained from decision and action” Street movement presents one interesting (Lazarsfeld and Merton 239). While this example. In that movement, “a far greater person may still have “all sorts of ideas as to proportion of members...participated what should be done,” he or she goes through Facebook [74.3%] than through throughout their day without the pressing marching (49.3%) or visiting a camp (63.3%)” (Budish 751). The general 1. What age group are you in? consensus was that “online support did not (Multiple choices: under 18, 18-22, translate into offline action” (Budish 752). 23-30, 30+) This lack of tangible participation is why 2. In general, how would you describe some scholars have criticized social media your views on most political issues? in its ability to effect real change. Although (Scale of 1-5 with a 1 being “Very Budish argues that social media can still conservative” and a 5 being “Very have positive effects, the acknowledgement liberal”) of the presence of slacktivism supports my 3. How would you respond to the hypothesis. following statement? "I am a politically active person." (Scale of Methodology 1-5 with a 1 being “Strongly To conduct my primary research, I disagree” and a 5 being “Strongly created a survey using Google Forms. My Agree”) main interest was to examine the connection 4. In your opinion, how important is it between self-ranked political activeness and to be politically active? (Scale of 1-5 frequency of posting about political/social with a 1 being “Not important at all” issues on social media as well as and a 5 being “Very important”) involvement with different forms of political 5. On average, how often do you post “action.” I defined political action as about political/social issues on social engagement with one of the following media? (Multiple choices: 1 or more activities: contacting elected officials, times a day, 1-3 times per week, 1-3 volunteering, and protesting. Due to my times per month, 1-6 times per year, expectations of receiving responses from a 0 times per year) majority of students my age (17 at the time 6. How would you respond to the of the 2016 election), I did not include a following statement? "I believe question about voting. In hindsight, that was being politically active on social a mistake considering the unexpectedly media is a moral responsibility." broad range of ages seen in my responses. I (Scale of 1-5 with a 1 being began by brainstorming an array of potential “Strongly disagree” and a 5 being questions and eventually narrowed it down “Strongly agree”) to fifteen. Each question was either multiple 7. In your opinion, do people post too choice, answered on a scale of 1-5 (with much or too little about each end of the spectrum being defined), political/social issues on social with one question being an optional short media? (Multiple choices: Too answer that provided each participant with much, Too little, The right amount) the opportunity to list political action I had 8. When you post on social media not included. My questions and potential about political/social issues, what is responses were: your primary purpose? (Multiple choices: To express your own views, (Multiple choices: None, 1-2, 3-6, To change the minds of others, To 7+) call others to specific actions (sign 15. If you have taken some other form of petitions, vote, etc.), I do not post political action, please describe it about political issues on social here. (Optional short answer) media, Other (with a space to write in a unique answer)) Once I had created my survey, I 9. How would you characterize the distributed it via text message and social political views of your social media media. I sent texts to friends and followers in relation to you? acquaintances from Temple as well as from (Multiple choices: Mostly similar to my home in Washington, DC, asking them me, Mostly different from me, to take the survey and to send it along to Mixed) their friends if they found it interesting. In 10. How do you view the net impact of my request to potential participants, I let social media on society in terms of them know that the survey was for a social and political issues? (Scale of research project, but did not give any 1-5 with a 1 being “Very Harmful” information regarding my hypothesis.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Introduction to Mass Section 1 Communication Theory
    INTRODUCTION TO MASS S E C T I O N 1 COMMUNICATION THEORY grand theory Theory designed to describe and explain all aspects of a given phenomenon mass communication When a source, typically an organization, employs a technology as a medium to communicate with a large audience Listserv Software employed to manage online mailing lists, bulletin boards, or discussion groups that cover a variety of subjects mediated communication Communication between a few or many people that employs a technology as a medium interpersonal communication Communication between two or a few people, typically face-to-face social scientists Scientists who examine relationships among phenomena in the human or social world causality When a given factor influences another, even by way of an intervening variable causal relationship When the alterations in a particular variable under specific conditions always produce the same effect in another variable scientific method A search for truth through accurate observation and interpretation of fact hypothesis A testable prediction about some event empirical Capable of being verified or disproved by observation third-person effect The idea that “media affect others, but not me” theory Any organized set of concepts, explanations, and principles of some aspect of human experience ontology The nature of reality, what is knowable epistemology How knowledge is created and expanded axiology The proper role of values in research and theory building postpositivist theory Theory based on empirical observation guided by the scientific
    [Show full text]
  • Perceptions of Social Media for Politics: Testing the Slacktivism Hypothesis
    Human Communication Research ISSN 0360-3989 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Perceptions of Social Media for Politics: Testing the Slacktivism Hypothesis Nojin Kwak, Daniel S. Lane, Brian E. Weeks, Dam Hee Kim, Slgi S. Lee, & Sarah Bachleda Department of Communication Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA Americans’ views of political activity on social media range from exuberant to exasper- ated. But do perceptions of social media actually influence citizens’ online and offline political behaviors as suggested by the so-called “Slacktivism hypothesis?” In the present study, we undertake a more careful examination of this question by testing a theoretical model in which perceiving participation on social media as an easy or impactful means of engaging in politics encourages political expression on social media, which in turn increases offline political participation. Using panel survey data collected during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, we show that positive perceptions of social media indi- rectly increase offline political participation, through the influence of political expression on social media. However, we find no such positive indirect effects for those with politi- cally diverse networks or for younger people. Implications for reconceptualizing the rela- tionship between perceptions of social media and political participation are discussed. Keywords: Perceptions, Political Participation, Social Media, Age, Network Heterogeneity, Slacktivism, Political Expression, Spillover. doi:10.1093/hcr/hqx008 Introduction With generational shifts in civic norms and a proliferation of new opportunities to participate in the democratic process, scholars have often expressed optimism about the role social media can play in political life (e.g., Lee, Choi, Kim, & Kim, 2014; Xenos, Vromen, & Loader, 2014).
    [Show full text]
  • The Functionalist Tradition and Communication Theory
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 362 933 CS 508 370 AUTHOR Burrowes, Carl Patrick TITLE The Functionalist Tradition and Communication Theory. PUB DATE Aug 93 NOTE 52p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (76th, Kansas City, MO, August 11-14, 1993). PUB TYPE Speeches/Conference Papers (150) -- Viewpoints (Opinion/Position Papers, Essays, etc.) (120)-- Information Analyses (070) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC03 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Communication (Thought Transfer); Communication Research; Cultural Context; Higher Education; *Theories IDENTIFIERS Cultural Indicators Research; *Cultural Studies; *Functionalism; Historical Background ABSTRACT This paper traces the development of the functionalist position chronologically through its major permutations, from the defining contributions of Emile Durkheim, Bronislaw Malinowski, and A. R. Radcliffe-Brown in its anthropological phase through its development in American sociology by Talcott Parsons and Robert K. Merton to its explicit formulation in communication studies by Charles R. Wright.Although necessarily cursory, this historical review highlights significant philosophical and conceptual differences within the tradition that have been effaced from recent discussions in the communication context, including an initial theoretical coupling of cultureand praxis, as located by Durkheim in the collective moral code,as well as an aborted culturalist orientation in the works of Malinowski.A concluding section identifies the distinguishing characteristicsof the tradition and points to the emergence of functionalist assumptions in cultural studies and cultural indicatorsresearch as the possible harbinger of a new cultural functionalismthat synthesizes the strengths of various earlier functionalismswhile addressing major weaknesses of the tradition, notablyproblems of logic (i. e., tautology and an inappropriate appealto teleological explanations), political conservatism, anda tendency to impose psychological and sociological analysesupo: specifically cultural materials.
    [Show full text]
  • Contradictions in Brilliant Eyes
    Gazette 47: 177-194, 1991. C 1991 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. Contradictions in brilliant eyes SANDRA BRAMAN University of Illinois, Institute of Communications Research, 505 E. Armory Avenue, 222B Armory Building, Champaign, IlliMis 61820, U.S.A. With the emergence of an international information policy regime! over the last few decades, information policy tools have received more attention per se, multiplied in form, and penetrated a growing variety of realms of activity. Their use has been striking in the defense arena, where 85-95% of arms control agreements are now devoted to the compelled information collection, processing, and flows that have come to be called confidence­ and security-building measures. Beginning as verification techniques, that is, information flows for the purpose of verifying compliance with treaty provisions, they have expanded to include the building of confidence and security in general. (Both types of information flows are to be distinguished from those that occur <?Utside the treaty context, both generalized '[surveillance] and specific [intelligence].) Verification techniques are both human and technological. Inspection teams can be along a border or at the portals or perimeters of anns mru;mfacturing plants. Technological inforn1ation collection may be on the ground or be carried out through aerial or satellite fly-overs. In addition to visual informa­ ,,·•' tion, thermal, seismic, radiation; and other data may be collected. All types· of verification may be continuous, periodic, or on demand. Other types of confidence-building measures range into cultural activities and harmoniza­ tion of management theory and ·organizational structure as well as regular flows of trade and commercial information.
    [Show full text]
  • Key Themes in Media Theory
    Key Themes in Media Theory “Key Themes in Media Theory is wonderfully wide-ranging and deservedly destined to become a key text for students of Media Studies.” Professor John Storey, Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies, University of Sunderland, UK Key Themes What is media theory? How do media affect our actions, opinions and beliefs? In what ways do media serve powerful political and economic interests? in Is media consumerism unhealthy or is it empowering? Media Theory Key Themes in Media Theory provides a thorough and critical introduction Themes in to the key theories of media studies. It is unique in bringing together different schools of media theory into a single, comprehensive text, examining in depth the ideas of key media theorists such as Lasswell, McLuhan, Hall, Williams, Barthes, Adorno, Baudrillard and Bourdieu. Media Theory Using up-to-date case studies the book embraces media in their everyday cultural forms – music, internet, film, television, radio, newspapers and magazines – to enable a clearer view of the ‘big picture’ of media theory. In ten succinct chapters Dan Laughey discusses a broad range of themes, issues and perspectives that inform our contemporary understanding of media production and consumption. These include: Behaviourism and media effects Feminist media theory Postmodernity and information society Political economy Media consumerism With images and diagrams to illustrate chapter themes, examples that apply Dan Laughey media theory to media practice, recommended reading at the end of every chapter, and a useful glossary of key terms, this book is the definitive guide to understanding media theory. Dan Laughey is Senior Lecturer in Media Studies at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK.
    [Show full text]
  • Applying Communication Theory and Technology to Understand the 2016 US Presidential Election
    Portland State University PDXScholar University Honors Theses University Honors College 5-25-2018 War of Words: Applying Communication Theory and Technology to Understand the 2016 US Presidential Election Louis Pino Bello Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/honorstheses Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Bello, Louis Pino, "War of Words: Applying Communication Theory and Technology to Understand the 2016 US Presidential Election" (2018). University Honors Theses. Paper 579. https://doi.org/10.15760/honors.587 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in University Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. War of Words: Applying Communication Theory and Technology to Understand the Outcome of the 2016 US Presidential Election By Louis Pino Bello An undergraduate honors thesis submitted in partial fulllment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in University Honors and Communication Studies Thesis Adviser Mary Chase Ph.D Portland State University May 2018 War of Words: Applying Communication Theory and Technology to Understand the Outcome of the 2016 US Presidential Election Page 2 Abstract This paper is a qualitative analysis of news reports, broadcast media, tweets, posts, memes, books, biographies and textbooks which uncovers how technology was used to filter the words and ideas of millions of American voters, create or exploit ideological divisions, customize and deliver propaganda via “fake news” to dramatically sway the outcome of the 2016 US Presidential Election.
    [Show full text]
  • Audience Reception of Health-Promoting Advertising
    MEDIA@LSE Electronic MSc Dissertation Series Compiled by Professor Robin Mansell and Dr. Bart Cammaerts Audience Reception of Health-Promoting Advertising: Young adult smokers make-sense, interpret and decode shocking anti-smoking advertisements Christian Raftopoulou MSc in Media and Communications Other dissertations of the series are available online here: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/mediaWorkingPapers/ Dissertation submitted to the Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science, September 2007, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the MSc in Media and Communications. Supervised by Dr. Youna Kim. Published by Media@lse, London School of Economics and Political Science ("LSE"), Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. The LSE is a School of the University of London. It is a Charity and is incorporated in England as a company limited by guarantee under the Companies Act (Reg number 70527). Copyright in editorial matter, LSE © 2007 Copyright, Christian Raftopoulou © 2007. The authors have asserted their moral rights. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher nor be issued to the public or circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published. In the interests of providing a free flow of debate, views expressed in this dissertation are not necessarily those of the compilers or the LSE. MSc Dissertation Christian Raftopoulou Audience Reception of Health-Promoting Advertising: Young adult smokers make-sense, interpret and decode shocking anti-smoking advertisements Christian Raftopoulou ABSTRACT This research project is an investigation into the reception of anti-smoking advertisements that make use of “fear appeals”.
    [Show full text]
  • A Critical and Semiotic Approach to the Wonderful, Horrible Life Cycle of the Kony 2012 Viral Video
    tripleC 12(1): 214-237, 2014 http://www.triple-c.at A Critical and Semiotic Approach to the Wonderful, Horrible Life Cycle of the Kony 2012 Viral Video Fernando Andacht University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, [email protected], http://www.communication.uottawa.ca/eng/faculty/andacht.html Abstract: The article studies from a Peircean semiotic perspective the critical response to a webdoc made by the Invisible Children NGO and uploaded to YouTube and other social media in March 2012. It aimed at helping to capture the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a group responsible for kidnapping children to make them soldiers that was allegedly active in Uganda. The remarkable con- trast between the fastest-growing, largest audience gathered by a video in the history of internet with its fierce ‘backlash’, a number of disparaging comments in print and online media makes the Kony 2012 video uploaded on YouTube an interesting case study. The article considers part of the criticism as a new-fangled version of what early functionalism called “the narcotizing dysfunction” of media, Lazarsfeld and Merton’s (1948) account of the apathy of the media audience despite an increase in their intake of information. The paper argues that the main rhetorical strategy of this Internet campaign is similar to that used in popular factuality programming (e.g. reality shows and docudramas), namely, the prevalence of indexical signs to arouse strong emotions. Part of its proclaimed failure as a humani- tarian campaign according to its numerous critics is due, in the author’s view, to the reduction- istic/dualistic approach of many critics to the video’s audience.
    [Show full text]
  • Citams-Summer-2020-Newsletter-1.Pdf
    N E W S L E T T E R - S U M M E R 2 0 2 0 CITAMS Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology section of the ASA W H A T ' S I N T H I S I S S U E LETTER FROM THE EDITORS We are pleased to present the summer 2020 Letter From the Editors ....................1 Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology (CITAMS) section newsletter. The Letter From the Chair .......................3 newsletter is a great place to catch up with the work of CITAMS members and keep pace with important Anabel Quan-Haase trends in current research. CITAMS Award Winners ....................4 Our chair, Anabel Quan-Haase first provides an overview of the virtual program and invites everyone to join papers, roundtables, discussions, and the Council and Section Officers............5 business meeting, this year virtually. CITAMS Virtual Engagement ...........12 Next, we congratulate our CITAMS award winners! Check out the award winners on page 5. Consider submitting your work or that of a colleague for next Information, Communication & year’s awards. Society CITAMS Special Issue .........16 The next section features introductions to our Recent Publications .........................18 CITAMS council and section officers, including those recently elected. We hope that the biographical blurb and photo can help give a bit more Annoucements ..................................27 background into our CITAMS council and officers, beyond their high-quality work. Following this section is an interview with Deana Rohlinger, our past chair. Rohlinger reflects on her time as CITAMS chair, discussing balancing all the work she wanted to do, and how gratifying the experience was.
    [Show full text]
  • Practical Foundations and Principles for Teaching Practical Foundations and Principles for Teaching Practical Foundations and Principles for Teaching
    Practical Foundations and Principles for Teaching Practical Foundations and Principles for Teaching Practical Foundations and Principles for Teaching Joshua Dickinson and Carol Billing SUNY Press Practical Foundations and Principles for Teaching by Lumen Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. This book is adapted from Jefferson professor Leah Deasy’s adoption of Carol Billing’s 2016 OER available at http://carolbilling.weebly.com/. I renamed the book Practical Foundations and Principles for Teaching. My intention is to counter some of the major textbook companies’ sanitized treatments of ongoing, genuine areas of debate. As an English professor, I’m attuned to topics which yield provable, arguable, and substantial approaches.Practical Foundations and Principles for Teaching serves as a core text for SUNY Jefferson’s EDU 210: Principles of Education course, an introductory class geared toward Childhood Education majors and Teaching Assistant Certificate students. The course is currently under revision (April 2021) to reflect its catch-all status as a blend of introduction to teaching, principles of education, and foundation courses. My experience with education includes five years of substitute teaching (2003-08), three years (1998-2001) teaching at Lowville Academy, a National Blue Ribbon School; and over twenty years teaching English at Jefferson Community College, where I am an Associate Professor of English, EDGE (concurrent enrollment) English Liaison, and OER Mentor. I earned the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service (2013) and am an active OER creator. Practical Foundations and Principles for Teaching will be my thirteenth OER. I am also working on My Music at Work: Using Music to Teach Writing and Literature.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding the Disillusionment of Tunisian Youth
    SIT Graduate Institute/SIT Study Abroad SIT Digital Collections Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection SIT Study Abroad Spring 2020 Facebook’s Façade: Understanding The Disillusionment of Tunisian Youth Adam Cooper SIT Study Abroad Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection Part of the Arabic Studies Commons, Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Social Influence and oliticalP Communication Commons, and the Social Media Commons Recommended Citation Cooper, Adam, "Facebook’s Façade: Understanding The Disillusionment of Tunisian Youth" (2020). Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection. 3233. https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/3233 This Unpublished Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the SIT Study Abroad at SIT Digital Collections. It has been accepted for inclusion in Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection by an authorized administrator of SIT Digital Collections. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Facebook’s Façade: Understanding The Disillusionment of Tunisian Youth Adam Cooper Academic Director: Mounir Khélifa Advisor: Mohamed Limam University of Virginia Political Philosophy, Policy, and Law Tunisia, Sidi Bousaid, USA (Poughkeepsie, New York) Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Tunisia and Italy: Politics and Religious Integration in the Mediterranean, SIT Study Abroad Spring 2020 Cooper 1 Abstract Over the past nine years, Tunisian youth voter participation has been incredibly low. Once leaders of the country during its democratic revolution in January 2011, youth in Tunisia are now disillusioned with the Tunisian political sphere and have remained absent from formal politics, a transition that is both confusing and worrying.
    [Show full text]
  • Prison Abuse Photographs and Social Change
    International Journal of Communication 1 (2007), 210-237 1932-8036/20070210 Regarding the Imprisonment of Others: Prison Abuse Photographs and Social Change DAN BERGER Annenberg, University of Pennsylvania Through four case studies of U.S. incarceration, this paper explores the relationship between the visualization of abuse and change in policy. By examining the verbal and visual presentations of abuses at Andersonville (1864-1865), Attica (1971), Guantánamo (2002-2005), and Abu Ghraib (2003-2005), the paper argues that there is no simple correlation between images, outrage, and social change. Querying prison images currently and historically questions the assumption that simply rendering visible the unseen will limit abuse. Indeed, these case studies suggest a more ambivalent role for the power of images: sometimes causing great change, at times resulting in little difference, and other times having questionable impact. At question is what role images play in drawing attention specifically to those places where attention was never meant to be, the institutions that have defined themselves by being out of sight and thus out of mind. In examining the power, use, and impact of still photographs, this paper interrogates the role of the state and identity in approaching structures of incarceration. Pictures are thought to have great power because they can transfix popular attention on people or institutions in ways words alone cannot. The impact of visuals raises the question of how much effect images—particularly those of abuse, neglect, or violence—have in determining policy and shaping perception. Scholars have already shown that the visual depiction of atrocity, particularly in the form of genocide, has not necessarily translated into increased attention to similar abuses; however much they may structure subsequent visual tropes of depicting atrocity, for instance, Holocaust photos have neither prevented genocide nor made societies any less silent or complicit in similar atrocities.
    [Show full text]