This week’s lectorial topic was institutions, which was really helpful as it is also our group’s Project Brief 4 topic, but also really interesting.
I found the discussions examining certain institutions particularly interesting. For example, we discussed what makes marriage a social institution:
- It is governed my a set of rules/expectations—>value/monogamy
- It is framed/regulated by a legal contract, meta-institutional frame
- It is widely accepted and practiced, cultural ‘rules’ surrounding it, has rituals and traditions, symbolic
- It has a community of social recognition, historical continuities – government vs. religion
- It has a commercial industry
As an activity, we were also assigned in groups a specific media institution to explore in terms of culture, accessibility, and public image. My group was assigned Facebook, and here are some points our group came up with:
- Facebook tries to offer a sense of community through the wall with your friends and family
- The massive globalisation of Facebook means that there is a sense of exclusiveness – we have to be a part of Facebook to access many online platforms, e.g. log in to comment on blogs and connection to Instagram and Spotify
- Issue of privacy obligations, and this being breached by the company collecting information about its users via ad tracking and cookies for advertising benefits
- Idea of “say what you want…but not really”
- Such a large part of someone’s online presence, interwoven with a person more than they may realise
