Social Media And Democracy In The United States

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Social media is ubiquitous to today’s society. It is used for entertainment, news, and political discussion on a daily basis. Even in places under authoritarian rule, people have found a way to gain access to social media and use it to place pressure on the government. In fact, many people are aware of the idea that social media can effect change. The US government has even developed plans specifically to pressure authoritarian governments into being more democratic by creating software for the citizens to get around the firewalls and other measures placed by the dictatorship. In our class, we have read about how social media plays a role in promoting democracy in foreign nations, specifically in areas where there is a repressive regime in …show more content…
MacKinnon, in her recounting of the rise of blogs and social media in her article, emphasized the point that the Chinese government solved very specific and local problems. She further states that the oddly enough, those who are participating in the protests on social media and blogs are those who are poor. The “urban elite”, those who have the means to participate and create a change, live in large cities and actually use social media for entertainment purposes since they have “more control” over their “economic gains” and are unwilling to give them up in favor of a more democratic government (MacKinnon 34). On a wider scale, however, Shirky addresses the economics of a group as a whole in his article. In his argument, the economics of the public sphere is of utmost importance. As such, if a group is unhappy economically, they are more likely to generate protests. That is why the majority middle class is more likely to be the cause of a social movement—because any sign that their comfortable way of life is threatened will result in backlash. It is much like how China faces “more danger” from the “middle-class members of the ethnic Han majority” than the minorities (Shirky 6-7). In another take, Wilson and Tufekci conducted a study on the demographics of the social media users in the Egypt protests. They came to the conclusion that the majority of the …show more content…
It is notable, however, that many of the authors have mentioned, or is likely to agree, that economics and financial status plays a role, no matter how large. In writing this paper, I will attempt to determine what possible steps the United States could take to encourage the same conditions that will lead to a successful movement. I will analyze a variety of policies that the United States currently has in regards to the use of social media to effect democratic change. I will then draw a conclusion from the texts and determine which policies work or do not work and what kinds of motives are the most effective in encouraging the more wealthy participants to join the cause. This can later be extrapolated to also apply to those who are not wealthy or in the lower classes. After analyzing a variety of cases in which the social movements were successful due to influence from the upper or middle class, I will try to determine how the United States could revise their current policies to better encourage the poorer participants to engage in activities that are more conducive to success. In doing this analysis, I hope to be able to explore a possible factor for why some movements are more successful than others and what the United States can do to encourage these movements. It holds significance for my folder especially since it might offer
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