1 ONLINE COMMUNITIES AS CULTURAL FIELDS by Meltem
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Online Communities as Cultural Fields Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Odabas, Meltem Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 26/09/2021 00:06:04 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/634424 ONLINE COMMUNITIES AS CULTURAL FIELDS by Meltem Odabaş __________________________ Copyright © Meltem Odabaş 2019 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF SOCIOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2019 1 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Meltem Odabas, titled Online Communities as Cultural Fields and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _______________________________________________ Date: 05/22/2019 Ronald L. Breiger Date: 05/22/2019 Erin Leahey _______________________________________ Date: 05/22/2019 Charles Seguin Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: 05/22/2019 Ronald L. Breiger Dissertation Committee Chair School of Sociology 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of many people, including the insight of mentors and colleagues as well as the encouragement of friends and family. I would like to acknowledge those who supported me along the way. The work presented here provides a sociological point of view to behavior, yet my understanding of and interest in behavioral analysis originates from my background in Economics, which I enjoyed learning at the beautiful campus of Boğaziçi University from highly inspirational professors. I would like to thank all the faculty members and colleagues there who influenced and encouraged me to follow my academic curiosities. The papers presented in this dissertation, as well as my former works that influenced the research presented here, have greatly benefited from the insights of colleagues and friends at the University of Arizona. The School of Sociology at the University of Arizona provided innumerable opportunities for receiving feedback through University of Arizona Research Workshop and School of Sociology Colloquiums, and I would like to extend my gratitude to every single friend and colleague who guided me and improved my research with their fruitful questions and comments. I feel truly fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with each member of my doctoral committee: Professor Ronald Breiger, Professor Erin Leahey, and Assistant Professor Charles Seguin. All three provided immeasurable support and feedback, and I would not be at the stage where I am writing these acknowledgements without them. I would like to especially thank Ronald Breiger with whom I had the great opportunity to work since the very beginning of my academic experience at the University of Arizona. His dedication to creating a highly supportive academic and intellectual environment that encourages his students, including myself, to become independent researchers who develop their own perspectives, theories, and methodological analyses has been beyond inspirational. 3 I am truly grateful to have a family who support my academic aspirations. My parents have always emphasized the role of education as they both worked as high school teachers. I grew up wanting to be teachers just like them, and their commitment to teaching has always motivated my academic pursuits not only as a researcher but also as an instructor. Moving overseas to follow my academic interests required leaving my beloved family in my home country, but I also have built my chosen family of friends in Tucson, each member for which I am beyond grateful. Last but not least, I would like to thank my husband, John. His level of encouragement and support for me to pursue my academic career has been beyond limits. I can never thank him enough. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 10 Rational Action and Strategic Behavior ............................................................................................... 12 Structure vs. Agency ............................................................................................................................ 15 Online Communities as Cultural Fields ............................................................................................... 18 References ............................................................................................................................................... 23 APPENDIX A ......................................................................................................................................... 26 Stand out and Fit In: How Diversity in Taste Impacts Evaluation in Online Discussions .............. 26 Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 26 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 26 Cultural Tastes, Relational Sociology of Culture, and Social Network Analysis ................................ 28 Cultural Omnivorousness ..................................................................................................................... 30 Category Spanning, Boundary Crossing, and Novelty ........................................................................ 32 Cultural Embeddedness and Weak Culture .......................................................................................... 34 Cultural Embeddedness .................................................................................................................... 34 Weak Culture .................................................................................................................................... 35 Data and Methods ................................................................................................................................ 35 Data Characteristics .......................................................................................................................... 43 Cleaning Procedures ......................................................................................................................... 44 Cleaning Bots .............................................................................................................................. 44 Removing Moderators ................................................................................................................. 44 Dependent Variable .......................................................................................................................... 45 Evaluation Scores(ist). ................................................................................................................. 45 Independent Variables: Category Spanning and Omnivorousness .................................................. 45 Multiple(it) and Atypicality(it). ................................................................................................... 46 Community Contrast(st). ............................................................................................................. 46 Independent Variable: Weak Culture ............................................................................................... 48 Participation Rate(ist). ................................................................................................................. 48 Independent Variable: Cultural Embeddedness ............................................................................... 48 Log Participation Count(ist). ....................................................................................................... 48 Control Variable ............................................................................................................................... 48 Size(st). ........................................................................................................................................ 48 Results .................................................................................................................................................. 49 Discussion ............................................................................................................................................ 54 5 References ............................................................................................................................................ 57 APPENDIX B ........................................................................................................................................