2.4. Empowerment

Goals of learning from this lesson

• What is the media's role in maintaining or changing power relationships?
• How is gender constructed through the media?
• Why can the internet be regarded as "helpful" for political participation and protest?
• When might the internet be harmful for democracy?

The lecture

Browse through lecture from course in Media & Politics at Lillehammer College.



The literature

• Hodkinson, P. (2011). Media, culture and society. Chap. 11. 22p.
• Curran, J. et al. (2012). Misunderstanding the Internet. Chap. 5-6. 45 p.
• Oates, S. (2008). Introduction to media and politics. Chap. 9. 19p.
• Shirky, C. (2011). The Political Power of Social Media. 13p.*

Watch relevant videos

Clay Shirky - Here Comes Everybody

Evgeny Morozov: To Save Everything Click Here

Ethan Zuckerman: Cute Cats and the Arab Spring

Tavi Gevinson: A teen just trying to figure it out

Watch more on the YouTube playlist



Useful links

The Internet Debate

• Nye Jr, J. S. (2011, February 2). The Reality of Virtual Power. Project Syndicate.
• Lovink, G. (2013, April 23). Evgeny Morozov attacks internet consensus single-handed. openDemocracy.
• Morozov, E. (2009a). Texting toward utopia: Does the Internet spread democracy. Boston Review.
• Morozov, E. (2010). Think Again: The Internet. Foreign Policy, May/June 2010.
• Morozov, Evgeny. (2009a). How dictators watch us on the web. Prospect.
• Morozov, Evgeny. (2009b, September 5). From slacktivism to activism. Foreign Policy Blogs.
• Morozov, Evgeny. (2011c, August 13). Repressing the Internet, Western-Style. Wall Street Journal.
• Morozov, Evgeny. (2011d, September 1). Political Repression 2.0. The New York Times.
• Meier, P. (2011). Do “liberation Technologies” Change the Balance of Power Between Repressive States and Civil Society. The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
• Williamson, A. (2011). Disruption and Empowerment.
• Poole, S. (2012, June 12). Invasion of the cyber hustlers. New Statesman.
• Shirky, Clay. (2009, November 12). The net advantage. Prospect.
• Wasik, B. (2011, December 27). Gladwell vs. Shirky: A Year Later, Scoring the Debate Over Social-Media Revolutions. Wired.com.
• Doctorow, C. (2011, January 25). We need a serious critique of net activism. the Guardian.
• Doctorow, C. (2012, January 3). The internet is the best place for dissent to start. the Guardian.
• Zuckerman, E. (2013b, April 29). Who’s Afraid of Cyberoptimism? Foreign Policy.
• Zuckerman, E. (2013c, October 7). Surveillance, sousveillance and PRISM – an op-ed for Die Zeit.
• Gladwell, M. (2010, April 10). Small change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted. The New Yorker.

 You might also want to have a look on classic writings:

• Wells, H. G. (1937). World brain.
• Bentham, J. (1995). The panopticon writings.
• See the following for comments about the Panopticon on the Internet: Farinosi, M. (2011). Deconstructing Bentham’s Panopticon: The New Metaphors of Surveillance in the Web 2.0 Environment.

The Arab Spring and the Media

• Bachrach, J. (2011). WikiHistory: Did the Leaks Inspire the Arab Spring? World Affairs Journal.
• Chatriwala, O. (2011, September 19). What Wikileaks Tells Us About Al Jazeera. Foreign Policy.
• Fukuyama, F. (2012, May 21). The Failures of the Facebook Generation in the Arab Spring. The Daily Beast.
• Gause, F. G., & Iii. (2012, December 31). The Year the Arab Spring Went Bad. Foreign Policy.
• Jones, S. G. (2013, July 21). The Enduring Mirage of the Arab Spring. Foreign Affairs.
• Morozov, Evgeny. (2011b, March 27). Internet alone cannot free the Middle East. Financial Times.
• Lindgren, S. (2013). The Potential and Limitations of Twitter Activism: Mapping the 2011 Libyan Uprising. tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society, 11(1), 207–220.
• Lindsay, R. A. (2013). What the Arab Spring Tells Us About the Future of Social Media in Revolutionary Movements. Small Wars Journal.
• Pollock, J. (2011). Streetbook. Technology Review, (September/October).
• Waters, T. J. (2012). Social Media and the Arab Spring. Small Wars Journal.
• Wilkens, R. (2012). Mannheim’s Paradox: Ideology, Utopia, Media Technologies, and the Arab Spring. Fibreculture Journal, (20).

Gender and empowerment

• Ackerman, S. (2012, August 3). Making Punk a Threat Again. Foreign Policy.
• Fedotova, Y. (2012, May 30). Why are Pussy Riot girls still in prison? openDemocracy.
• Free Pussy Riot!
• Homans, C. (2012, August 3). You Say You Want a Revolution. Foreign Policy.
• Ioffe, J. (2012, June 8). Pussy Riot v. Putin: A Front Row Seat at a Russian Dark Comedy. The New Republic.
• McVeigh, T. (2013, June 1). Meet the new wave of activists making feminism thrive in a digital age. The Guardian.
• Brenner, M. (2013, April 1). The Target. Vanity Fair, (April). About Malala
• Manchanda, N. (2012, July 11). Out of nowhere? The Taliban and Malala. openDemocracy.
• Bigg, C. (2013, July 16). France Puts Femen’s Face on Its Stamps. The Atlantic.
• Kolsy, U. (2013, May 6). Put Your Shirts Back On: Why Femen Is Wrong. The Atlantic.
• Mustafa, N. (2013, April 8). Put Your Shirts Back On, Ladies. Foreign Policy.
• Tayler, J. (2013a, April 8). Subject of Femen’s Topless Jihad Questions the Group’s Tactics. The Atlantic.
• Tayler, J. (2013b, May 1). Topless Jihad: Why Femen Is Right. The Atlantic.