Professional Documents
Culture Documents
RECENZII
Bogdan Nadolu
Robert W. McChesney, Digital Disconnect. How Capitalism is Turning the
Internet against Democracy, The New Press, New York, 2013 / 118
Dinu Guu
Kawamura Yuniya, Fashioning Japanese Subcultures, Bloomsbury, 2012, 192 p. / 119
CONTENTS
THE SOCIOLOGY OF THE VIRTUAL SPACES
Coordinator: Bogdan Nadolu, West University of Timioara
Bogdan Nadolu
Introduction / 5
Ionela-Maria Rctu
The Virtual Environment: Dangerous or Not? Perceptions and Representations of the
Online Experiences among Children and Adolescents / 6
Raluca Buha
Whom Do We Choose Online? Partner Selection Criteria in Cyberspace / 26
Corina Moruan
Self-disclosure in the Virtual Environment. A Content Analysis of the
Facebook Profile of Romanian Young People / 38
Ileana Rotaru
Beyond Google-Search. Students Uses and Gratifications of the Internet
within Learning Activities / 52
Mariana Cernicova-Buca
Online Communication for Electoral Purposes: a View on Political
Practices in Timis County / 62
Elena-Lidia Dinu (Stan)
The Television Star Perception in the Romanian Media Field among Preadolescents,
Adolescents and Youth / 70
STUDIES
Eugen Glvan
Murales Bolognese: Visual Representation of Italian Urban Culture / 86
Nicolas Maslowski
The French Pragmatic School Reading Bourdieu / 97
Delia Bdoi
Back to Sociological Imagination. The Challenges of Public Sociology for Romania / 106
REVIEWS
Bogdan Nadolu
Robert W. McChesney, Digital Disconnect. How Capitalism is
Turning the Internet against Democracy, The New Press, New York, 2013 / 118
Dinu Guu
Kawamura Yuniya, Fashioning Japanese Subcultures, Bloomsbury, 2012, 192 p. / 119
Introduction
Over the last years, there have been several
authors pointing to the important role that the Internet has had in peoples lives during time, producing electronic revolutions (Jan van Dijk,
2006; Davis, Hirschl and Stack, 1997; Castells,
1996), inequalities (DiMaggio et al., 2001), and
individualization (Wellman, 2001; Beck, 1992),
showing how media culture is part of youngsters lives from their early ages. The rapid rise
of new technology among young people, which
will continue to grow and evolve even more due
to broadband penetration and national strategies and policies (European Commission Digital Agenda, 2013), gives indications on the fact
* Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, B-dul 21 Dec. 1989 No 128, 400604, ClujNapoca, Romania. E-mail: ionela_racatau@yahoo.com.
masters of the online environment, but also legitimate social actors able to take responsibilities
and decisions with respect to the activities they
undertake. Therefore, the need to understand
deeper the relationship between the Internet use
and young people is urgent and stringent, if perceived through the lens of the large scale and
speed with which technology evolves and produces changes, both at the social and at the individual levels. When it comes to children, apart
from its general characteristics of continuous
development and diffusion which can encourage
social change, the Internet use can also lead to
identity construction. Considering this view, young people can be perceived as active forces that
are able to find their ways in this modern Internet-based risk society (Beck, 1992). In spite of
the evidence showing the potentially large scale
of perils, vulnerabilities and harm across Europe
(Haddon and Livingstone, 2012), little research
was conducted in order to understand how youngsters perceive the role of the Internet in their
lives, which are their conceptualizations of online risks, and how they pertain to these negative
situations. Moreover, there are no recent publicly available studies that deal with childrens experiences and motivations of engaging in risky
activities. Similarly, there are very few surveys
dealing with the factors that favor the likelihood
of accessing this kind of negative content and
of getting involved in interactive situations that
might end with offline meetings; in the same lines, there is no recent survey on the effectiveness of particular approaches such as parental
rules (Stefanescu et al., 2009; Stefanescu, 2009;
Diaconescu, Barbovschi and Baciu, 2008; Barbovschi and Diaconescu, 2008). Therefore, this
paper aims to explore children and adolescents
perceptions and attitudes towards the modern
means of communication and information, their
characteristics of Internet use, along with the
associated risks, and the child parents online environment relationship. The few studies
dealing with Internet use and risks conducted in
Romania generally emphasized that youngsters
are intense internet users who go online mainly from their homes and perceive this medium
as being very important in their daily lives, indicating a strong need of research focusing on
the outcomes that this relationship might bring.
In the following part of this article some theoretical perspectives of risk will be emphasized
which will then be tested using the focus-group
method on three samples of pupils. In the last
part of the paper, the results of the study will be
analyzed and discussed, and some limitations to
the approach will be stated.
Theoretical framework
In recent years, the evidence has pointed to
a growing online connectivity of people, including children and youngsters. Eurostat statistics
(2013) show that overall, the proportion of households in the EU28 with access to the Internet
was 76% in 2013, an increase of 6 percentage
points, compared with 2010. Children under the
age of 18 in most of the countries make up a
high percentage of the total number of people
online. According to Livingstone et al. (2011),
overall, around 65% of the 9-16 years old children living in Europe go online daily or almost
every day, and the average age when they first
go online is nine. Various studies (Livingstone
et al., 2011; Ofcom, 2012; Lenhart et al., 2013)
reveal the fact that levels of access increase with
childrens age. According to Kotilainen (2011),
childrens media use is diversified and begins
at a very early age. The media environment is
constantly changing, therefore the TV programs,
DVDs and games are created in such a way as
to be used by children smaller than 3 years old.
Internet usage appears to increase and even become regular at the age of 5-7.
Even though the Internet has got strongly embedded into youngsters daily lives (Lenhart et al.,
2013; Haddon et al., 2012; Ofcom, 2012; Hasebrink et al., 2011; Kotilainen, 2011; Livingstone
et al., 2011; Valcke et al., 2011; Lenhart and Madden, 2007) and accounts for many undeniable
benefits related to entertainment, communication,
education, creativity, self-expression and information seeking, it is also considered to imply a
myriad of risks that are able to influence nega-
ging in dangerous activities can be seen as beneficial for children, because it may allow the
self to develop in ways that are restricted by an
individuals everyday environment. Moreover,
engagement in risk could lead to the development of a positive reputation as daring or skillful, and risk takers might develop a sense of belonging to a particular group (Hope, 2007, 89).
The few studies mainly quantitative dealing with Internet use and risks conducted in
Romania generally emphasized that youngsters
are intense Internet users who go online mostly from their homes and perceive this medium
as being very important in their daily lives, indicating a strong need of research focusing on
the outcomes that this relationship might bring
(Chirita et al., 2007; Barbovschi and Diaconescu, 2008; Stefanescu et al., 2009; Stefanescu,
2009; Runcan, 2010; Munteanu, 2010; Safe the
Children Organisation, 2011; Virtual Stages
Against Violence, 2012; Abraham et al., 2013).
They declared young people as being intense Internet users who spend at least three hours online
in a normal day. This could be associated with
having pathological problems leading even to
depression, according to Chirita and colleagues
(2007). Some recent European results show that
overall, the number of children who show pathological problems due to excessive Internet use is
rather low and that the most vulnerable are those who are older, who have emotional problems
and high levels of sensation-seeking (Smahel et
al., 2012). The large amount of time spent in the
digital world is believed to compensate feelings
of insecurity, family and peer problems, even a
poor social life for Romanian youngsters (Runcan, 2010). It was also associated with a need to
be alone with the computer, resulting in giving
up their social or family duties, and even school
abandonment (Chirita et al., 2007). More interesting was the finding pointing to the 15-18 years
old students who appeared to manifest psychological problems such as losing control quite often
while being on the computer, and having very
often and often the feeling that they were preoccupied for this device while being away from
it. The participants confessed using the Internet
10
associated risks, and the child parents online environment relationship. Even though the
recent technological advances are considered
to be mingled with risks, little account has previously been taken of youngsters views in the
social analyses of risk. In spite of the fact that
research startles the variety of online dangers
that threaten young users proper development
(Helsper, 2013; Haddon et al., 2012; Ofcom,
2012; Hasebrink et al., 2011; Livingstone et
al., 2011; Valcke et al., 2011; OSTWG, 2010;
Livingstone and Haddon, 2009; Dooley et al.,
2009; ACMA, 2008; Byron, 2008; Cho and
Cheon, 2005), they are not a topic of much concern for children as they are for adults (Optem,
2007), and so far, little evidence has focused on
teenagers personal views and experiences (Ponte, Simoes and Jorge, 2013; Hundley and Shyles,
2010; Davidson et al., 2009; Stefanescu, 2009;
Dunkels 2008). Building on the assumption
that experiences of risk are central to the construction of identity, this study aims to explore
how children understand and deal with risky
situations in relation to their Internet activities.
Parental restrictions and supervision were also
taken into account for the topic of this chapter,
since they might be able to influence youngsters
online explorations and experiences. While the
implications of online dangers resulting from
childrens activities are reflected in media and
public discourses as topics of concern regarding
young peoples safety (European Commission
Digital Agenda, 2013), the current pages provide insights into teenagers perspectives of risks
and Internet use, pointing to the manner in which
they understand this relationship. Therefore, the
following research questions will be addressed
in the lines of this paper: How do children and
adolescents themselves perceive the relationship
between Internet use and risks in an environment governed by new means of communication
and interaction? What is that worries them on
the Internet and what safety measures do they
employ for that? How do teenagers perceive the
child parent Internet relationship?
11
12
administrators, other children or authority figures. In this sense, school counselors office was
used, while the children were at school. No incentives were used for the participants, and the
discussions were audio-taped. Respondents names were kept anonymous, and only their ages
and appellatives such as girl or boy will be
mentioned when presenting the results.
The interview guide was made out of four
parts useful for understanding childrens perspectives and positions in relation to Internet use,
online risks and parental restrictions. In the first
part, some general discussions meant to release
the tension between the participants were conducted. In this sense, they spoke about the things they
enjoyed doing in a usual day of their lives, such as
hobbies or passions. The aim was to see whether
the Internet and its related activities were mentioned spontaneously as habitual and important instruments of spending time. The following section
focused on the Internet and its usage. During the
conversations, young respondents were asked to
define the Internet in their own terms, which was
an important task for the purpose of this study,
since it searched to extract childrens personal understandings and perceptions related to this medium. Additional issues that this part focused on
included the amount of time spend online daily,
the number of years since their first connection
which might offer indications over their digital
natives position (Helsper and Eynon, 2009), and
the places from where they access the Internet
which produces great concerns among researchers
regarding the paths these offer for increasing
the incidence of risk (Durager and Livingstone,
2012; Valcke et al., 2011; Hasebrink et al., 2011;
Staksrud and Livingstone, 2009).
The third section of the interview guide dealt
with the topic of risks emerging from the use of
Internet. It started with a request to talk about
the things that made the participants feel worried
about. It was a good introduction into the next
questions which asked directly about the key online dangers identified in the literature (experiences of bullying, sexual solicitation and pornography, meeting strangers, personal information
misuse, accessing wrong or untrustworthy advi-
Section A. Introduction
Even from the introductive part which was
designed to clear away participants possible
holdings back, the question of the role of the Internet and its associated features was raised. The
respondents spoke about Internet and computers as normal and common aspects within their
daily lives. Interestingly, they were enumerated
13
14
Dislikes
Easy to be accessed
Allows for various forms of access (telephone, other You have to search through many sites until reaching
devices)
the one of interest
You can play games
Bad things
It is addictive
15
findings, even if they were collected using quantitative methods (Duerager and Livingstone,
2012; Virtual Stages Against Violence, 2012;
Ofcom, 2011, 2012; Livingstone et al., 2011).
While the 9-10 years old participants at the focus-groups declared they spent between half an
hour an hour a day online, the older ones aged
11-13 reported an increase until 2-3 hours a day,
and the oldest adolescents reached even 7 hours
a day. All of the respondents go online from the
privacy of their own rooms, at home, showing a
domestication in this sense, as Hasebrink and
colleagues (2011) concluded in their report.
16
Table 2: Overview of respondents answers related to the things they worry about on the Internet
and the safety methods they employ
Things to worry about
Ones health
Become addicted
Use passwords
Lose money
Being tracked
Hackers
Base: Focus-group participants responses to the questions: Is there anything on the Internet that
worries you? What exactly? Tell me about this and What does it mean to use the Internet in a safe
way? How do you proceed?
All participants, no matter the age have met
someone unknown on the Internet with whom
they met offline afterwards. They seemed satisfied about how the meetings went and declared to be not afraid that something bad could
happen, showing that such activities are perceived as normal at their ages, and not as something
that could turn out bad for their physical or
psychological states. This is in line with the arguments belonging to the advocates of Internet
use who consider that new technology stands
for the creation of a complex, more creative
and innovative young generation (Buckingham,
2008; Hope, 2007; Madge and Barker, 2007;
Marcia, 1980) who needs to experience vario-
of safety in order to experiment various situations within their processes of identity formation
(Hope, 2007; Lyng, 1990, 2004; Cohen and Taylor, 1992):
Many times do people whom I never met face-to-face ask for my friendship [on Facebook].
And it happened to me once or twice to really
meet those persons and go out. When I was younger I went once with my mother, and after that
with a friend girl, 10 years old.
Some time ago I met a girl [on Facebook]
and now Im in love with her. I was alone at the
offline meeting and she was with some friends,
we went out together for shopping. [Moderator:
Wasnt you afraid?]. No, why? Can someone steal you while doing shopping? [Moderator: Did
you tell your parents you went on to meet someone unknown?]. Yes and no, in the sense that
they knew I went on to meet someone but I didnt
tell them with whom boy, 12 years old.
I met a girl with whom I spoke through emails, a girl named Julie. I was alone when I
met Julie. I told my parents I would go. It was
awesome! boy, 12 years old.
I met them on Facebook firstly, while playing
some game. I went to meet them several times,
either alone or with a friend of mine. [Moderator: Wasnt you afraid that something bad could
happen?]. What, someone could steal me in the
middle of the town? I wasnt afraid, why should
have I been? [Moderator: But what about your
parents? Did they know you were going to do
that?]. Why should they? boy, 14 years old.
Some time ago I was approached on Facebook by a black person, we kept talking and he
told me he was from France. In the beginning he
was asking me whether I wanted to go and meet
him in France but I refused. It was just before
my vacations with my parents and I told him I
was going in a trip, I told him where exactly and
at which hotel we were staying. He told me we
might meet there and we actually met, we became friends and we are still in touch with each
other. [Moderator: Did your parents know you
were going to meet him?]. No, in the beginning,
until we got to know each other, I was alone and
17
18
19
Table 3: Summary of focus group participants pieces of advice for other youngsters of their age
on how to use the Internet safely
Age 9-10
Age 11-13
Age 14-16
Base: Focus-group participants responses to the questions: We have talked until now about the
good and the bad parts of the Internet and about the best ways in which to use the Internet safely. Is
there something related to these aspects you would like to say to the other youngsters of your age?
20
Conclusions
This paper aimed to understand how children and adolescents themselves perceive the
relationship between Internet use and risks,
in an environment governed by new means of
communication and interaction, addressing the
lack of research on youngsters discourses related to their online experiences. Since they
constitute a group whose voice is seldom heard
21
Limitations
Even though this analysis has brought into
evidence significant aspects related to how children and adolescents understand and handle
the digital environment along with its associated risks, it inherently has some limitations that
need to be pointed out. Firstly, due to the small
number of participants, the results are not exhaustive and generalizable, but rather focused
and specific. Another limitation can be stated
in relation to the recruitment process. Children
and adolescents were selected on the base of a
screening questionnaire by the school counselor,
who was responsible both for choosing the respondents and asking for parental consent. This
process might have been based on subjective selections meant to help the focus-group discussions develop in a positive way, which could have
brought other results otherwise. Moreover, no
attempts to control for differences in childrens
socio-economic statuses or parental classes were
done, which could as well reveal different perspectives and understandings of how youngsters
perceive and use the Internet, and how they con-
22
ceptualize online dangers as part of the activities they engage in. In the same lines, another
important limitation that needs to be pointed out
is related to group components. Each group was
equally distributed on gender, which might have
distorted the results since girls and boys experiences and activities might had been different,
and therefore, their conceptualization of risk
might have varied. However, in spite of these
limitations, the present survey has emphasized
References
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Fierbinteanu, C., Marcovici, O., Mitulescu, S., Plaesu, A. and Sufaru, I. (2013) Situaia adolescenilor
din Romnia, UNICEF Romania. Available at http://
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September 23, 2013.
ACMA (Australian Communications and Media
Authority) (2008) Developments in Internet filtering technologies and other measures for promoting
online safety. First annual report to the Minister
for Broadband, Communications and the Digital
Economy. Available at www.acma.gov.au/webwr/
assets/main/lib310554/developments_in_internet_
filters_1streport.pdf. Accesed on July 27, 2013.
Bakardjieva, M. (2005) Internet society. The internet in everyday life. London: SAGE.
Barbovschi, M. and Diaconescu, M. (2008) Teenagers actions and interactions online in Central and
Eastern Europe. Potential of empowerment, risks and
victimization. Cluj-Napoca: Cluj University Press.
Barbovschi, M. (2013) Childrens meetings offline with people met online. Journal of Children and
Media, 7, 1, 28-43.
Beck, U. (1992) Risk society: towards a new modernity. London: Sage Publications.
Buckingham, D. (2008) Introducing identity, in
D. Buckingham (ed), Youth, Identity and Digital Media, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1-24.
Byron, T. (2008) Safer Children in a Digital
World: The Report of the Byron Review. London: Department for Children, Schools and Families, and the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Available
at www.dcsf.gov.uk/ukccis/userfiles/file/ FinalReportBookmarked.pdf. Accesed on July 27, 2013.
Cankaya, S. and Odabasi, H. F. (2009) Parental
controls on childrens computer and internet use. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1, 1105-1109.
Castells, M. (1996) The rise of the network soci-
23
24
25
Introducere
Conform statisticilor globale, la nivelul anului 2012 (mai exact la 30 iunie) se nregistra un
total de 2.405.518.376 utilizatori de Internet n
timp ce n Romnia, la nivelul aceluiai an, numrul utilizatorilor ajungea la doar 9.642.383,
iar procentul de diseminare n rndul populaiei era de 44,1% (Miniwatts Marketing Group,
2013). Dinamismul vieii sociale este n mare
msur determinat de evoluia tehnologic, iar
cadrele de manifestare ale socialului se reinventeaz permanent n funcie de noile reguli prefigurate. Relaiile interpersonale, colaborarea
intra- i extra-instituional, activitatea profesional sau cea academic cunosc transformri profunde odat cu adoptarea noilor metode digitale
de comunicare i relaionare.
Cadrul intim de desfurare a vieii individuale este supus de asemenea unor profunde
schimbri socio-culturale. Alegerea partenerului prin intermediul spaiului cibernetic este
o practic din ce n ce mai prezent n societatea contemporan, n special n rndul tinerilor, fiind considerat o modalitate comod de
a cunoate o persoan n vederea stabilirii unei
relaii de cuplu. Ponderea celor care utilizeaz
Internetul n acest scop este n continu cretere
la nivel mondial, aproape 50% dintre utilizatorii
de Internet americani fiind convini c ansele
de a gsi un partener potrivit n mediul online
sunt mai mari dect n mediul offline (Madden
i Lenhart, 2006, iii). Tehnologia Internetului
a generat schimbri majore n ceea ce privete interaciunea uman. Sistemele i procesele
digitale ofer posibilitatea comunicrii rapide,
comode i n timp real ntre doi sau mai muli
* Universitatea din Oradea, Facultatea de tiine Socio-Umane, Str. Universitii nr. 1, Oradea,
Romnia. E-mail: ralubuhas@gmail.com.
27
28
i posibilitatea de a comunica, partenerii i mprtesc cele mai mici i nesemnificative evenimente din viaa de zi cu zi n cadrul discuiilor
online (Ben-Ze`ev, 2004).
Contrar celor afirmate anterior, anumite studii asupra dinamicii offline a relaiilor iniiate
prin intermediul Internetului au validat rolul pe
care proximitatea spaio-geografic l are n procesul de iniiere a acestor interaciuni (Ellison,
Heino i Gibbs, 2006; Hardey, 2002). Persoanele care prospecteaz mediul online n vederea
selectrii unui potenial partener de cuplu acord
o importan destul de mare distanei geografice,
prefernd ca distana geografic ntre ei i partenerul virtual s fie ct mai redus, n special n
cazul n care relaia are anse mari de a fi continuat n context offline (Barraket i Henry-Waring, 2008).
Avnd n vedere caracteristicile spaiului cibernetic, n cadrul cruia accentul este pus pe comunicarea scris n special, exist o idee unanim
acceptat de teoreticieni conform creia atractivitatea fizic a utilizatorilor joac un rol mai
puin important n dinamica relaiilor romantice
formate pe Internet comparativ cu cele iniiate
n cadru offline (Baker, 2008; Ben-Ze`ev, 2004).
n mediul online, prezena slab a imaginii fizice este compensat prin accentul mare atribuit
fenomenului de auto-dezvluire a personalitii,
de prezentare clar i concis a sinelui, considerat a fi poate cel mai important pilon n dezvoltarea unor astfel de relaii (Merkle i Richardson,
2000). Haloul atractivitii fizice este nlocuit cu
haloul personalitii, indivizii fiind evaluai n
funcie de caracteristicile cognitive i emoionale pe care le dein (Ben-Ze`ev, 2004).
Cu toate acestea, unele cercetri confirm
importana ridicat atribuit aspectului fizic n
procesul de alegere a partenerului prin intermediul Internetului (Whitty, 2008b; Toma i
Hancock, 2010). Lipsa atractivitii fizice poate
genera disoluia relaiei de cuplu. n general, utilizatorii care se angajeaz ntr-o conversaie online cu un posibil partener de cuplu fac schimb
de fotografii abia n momentul n care gradul de
intimitate i de ataament afectiv ajunge la cote
ridicate. Chiar dac aspectul fizic al partenerului
29
(2004) afirma foarte sugestiv c n contextul social offline ajungi s cunoti persoana din afar
spre interior, n timp ce n mediul online raportul
este invers cunoti persoana din interior spre
exterior. O comunicare deschis, onest, fr
prejudeci i caracter critic favorizeaz dezvoltarea unei relaii de cuplu n mediul online.
Prin urmare, n context online rolul anumitor
factori de influen asupra procesului de alegere a partenerului de cuplu este diminuat pn la
disoluie, n timp ce alte elemente se contureaz drept determinani specifici. Din seria criteriilor elective pe care le putem denumi clasice,
amintite i explicate n capitolul anterior, n ceea
ce privete spaiului virtual literatura de specialitate pstreaz drept criterii elective valide
doar principiul homogamiei socio-culturale i al
atractivitii fizice. Rolul proximitii spaiale i
al factorilor biologici este diminuat la un nivel
extrem de redus, aproape minimal.
Pornind de la contextul teoretic existent i de
la cadrul empiric al domeniului, studiul prezent
realizeaz o incursiune n procesul de iniiere i
formare a relaiilor de cuplu stabile, dezvoltate prin intermediul Internetului, avnd ca scop
conturarea unei imagini ct mai clare asupra aspectelor eseniale specifice acestui tip de relaionare. ntrebrile de cercetare care au stat la baza
stabilirii obiectivelor de analiz au fost urmtoarele: Care este profilul actorilor sociali implicai
n relaii de cuplu iniiate online?; Care sunt criteriile socio-demografice i socio-culturale care
stau la baza alegerii partenerului de cuplu n
contextul mediului virtual?; Se poate vorbi de o
similaritate a acestor criterii elective n funcie
de mediul social existent offline sau online?
Metodologia studiului
Obiectivul general al prezentei investigaii
l reprezint identificarea i descrierea principalelor criterii socio-demografice i culturale care
stau la baza procesului de selecie a partenerului n contextul mediului online. Factura inedit
a temei de studiu alturi de prezena sa relativ
recent n atenia cercettorilor sociali au determinat o abordare explorativ-descriptiv a temei
30
de cercetare. Conturarea unui model cauzal-explicativ al fenomenului nu reprezint scopul actualei analize.
Prin prisma obiectivului general menionat
anterior au fost formulate dou obiective specifice ale cercetrii:
Obiectiv specific 1. Conturarea profilului utilizatorilor de Internet care au dezvoltat relaii de
cuplu n mediul online.
Obiectiv specific 2. Investigarea i descrierea
aspectelor generale i ale patternurilor specifice
relaiilor de cuplu dezvoltate n mediul online.
Eantionare
Anumite condiionri metodologice de natur obiectiv (lipsa unei evidene statistice a persoanelor care au dezvoltat relaii de cuplu prin
intermediul Internetului, att la nivel naional,
dat i mondial) au impus utilizarea metodei de
eantionare non-probabilistic de tip bulgre
de zpad. Procesul de alegere a lotului de subieci s-a bazat pe dou criterii principale: respondenii sunt utilizatori ai mediului online i au
dezvoltat cel puin o relaie de cuplu cu un partener ntlnit n spaiul virtual. Selectarea lotului
de respondeni pentru prezenta cercetare a redefinit ntr-o mic msur regulile eantionrii
de tip bulgre de zpad; subiecii identificai n
prim faz n mod direct au fost rugai nu doar
s identifice la rndul lor ali poteniali membri
ai grupului-int, ci i s-i activeze reeaua de
capital social. Activarea reelei de cunotine s-a
realizat n plan virtual prin distribuirea online
a unui link (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1
4y_0GqWLTv1KifWQ9Bv3cUThijg63hUWK
Yj82PTFGso/viewform?embedded=true#start
=embed) ce asigura accesul direct ctre chestionar. Subiecii identificai iniial au fost rugai
s trimit acest link prietenilor, cunotinelor i
rudelor prin intermediul reelelor de socializare
online (Facebook, Twitter, Hi5 etc.). Postarea
linkului a fost nsoit de rugmintea de a completa chestionarul de ctre toate persoanele care
se regsesc n categoria celor care au iniiat relaii de cuplu online.
Mrimea final a eantionului a fost de 61 de
Rezultatele cercetrii
Profilul socio-demografic al
persoanelor care dezvolt relaii de
cuplu online
La nivelul eantionului analizat distribuia n
funcie de genul subiecilor este eterogen, brbaii fiind foarte slab reprezentai (14 subieci)
comparativ cu numrul mare de femei (47 subieci). Prin comparaie cu mediul urban, proveniena rural a respondenilor este foarte slab
reprezentat, ceea ce creeaz o limit metodologic. Nivelul de instrucie mediu superior
(cel puin liceu sau coal tehnic absolvite cu
diplom) caracterizeaz persoanele care au dezvoltat relaii de cuplu n mediul virtual. Situaia
Criterii de selecie
partenerului de cuplu
online
Similaritatea de vrst este unul dintre criteriile socio-demografice de care subiecii investigai declar c au inut cont n procesul
de selecie a partenerului n contextul mediului
virtual. Astfel, vrsta este considerat ca avnd
un rol principal n alegerea partenerului pentru
61% (36 de cazuri) dintre respondeni. Tendina
evideniat este n conformitate cu teoriile literaturii de specialitate, care identific principiul
homogamiei de vrst ca unul extrem de important n procesul de selecie a partenerului n me-
31
diul online (Rosenfeld i Thomas, 2012). Analiza comparativ efectuat ntre opiniile subiecilor cu privire la importana vrstei partenerului
ca i criteriu de selecie i datele factuale culese
n acest sens confirm faptul c similaritatea de
vrst opereaz drept criteriu electiv n mediul
virtual.
Media vrstei nregistrat n cazul partenerului este de 31 de ani, semnificativ mai mare fa
de media vrstei subiecilor (29 de ani) (coeficient de corelaie Pearson = .868, p = .000), ceea
ce era de ateptat avnd n vedere distribuia subiecilor n funcie de gen procentul majoritar
se evideniaz pentru genul feminin.
Respondenii i-au selectat partenerii de cuplu innd cont de diferenele de vrst sesizate
ntre ei, n direcia unei diferene ct mai reduse n acest sens. Analiza din punct de vedere al
asocierii statistice a evideniat o relaie semnificativ existent ntre genul respondenilor i
tendina acestora de a-i alege un partener similar ca vrst. Att brbaii (Pearson Chi-square
= 105, p = .005), ct i femeile (Pearson Chisquare = 551,36, p = .005) au stabilit relaii de
cuplu cu parteneri care s ndeplineasc criteriul
homogamiei de vrst. Cu toate acestea, asocierea este mai semnificativ n cazul subiecilor de
gen feminin dect n cazul brbailor. Selectarea
partenerului din punct de vedere al similaritii
de vrst este o tendin care se evideniaz i n
cazul subiecilor cu un nivel de educaie superior (dein diplom de absolvire a unei instituii
universitare) (Pearson Chi-square = 608,28, p =
.001). Aceast relaie ns nu este semnificativ
din punct de vedere statistic pentru subiecii cu
un nivel de instrucie mediu.
32
Apartenen
religioas
partener
Neoprotestant
0%
Alt cult
0%
0%
1,6%
(1 caz)
0%
0%
0%
3,3%
(2 cazuri)
0%
0%
6,6% (4
cazuri)
1,6%
(1 caz)
33
34
Tabel 2: Importana acordat de subieci criteriilor socio-culturale n procesul de alegere a partenerului de cuplu n mediul online
n ceea ce v privete, n alegerea partenerului(ei) n mediul online,
a contat...?
Ideile i principiile de via comune
Aspectul fizic
Nivelul de instrucie
Vrsta
Nivelul ocupaional
Etnia
Religia
Distana geografic ntre dvs. i partener()
Prerea celor apropiai despre relaia dvs.
Concluzii
Ideea principal care se desprinde n urma
analizei realizate este faptul c procesul de alegere a partenerului de cuplu se realizeaz, n
principal, pe baza homogamiei socio-culturale
chiar i n cadrul mediului online, similar cu mediul offline. Tendina utilizatorilor de a selecta
parteneri similari este observat prin raportare la
vrst, apartenen religioas i categorie ocupaional. Mai mult dect att, genul se evideniaz ca unul dintre principalii poli de conturare a
criteriilor elective, astfel nct femeile i doresc
un potenial partener similar ca religie, vrst i
ocupaie, n timp ce brbaii prefer o partener
apropiat ca vrst i cu aceeai provenien rezidenial. n acest sens, datele obinute se aliniaz rezultatelor altor studii ntreprinse, conform
crora femeile, comparativ cu brbaii, tind s
i aleag partenerul de cuplu n funcie de statusul socio-economic al acestuia (Buss i Barnes,
1986; Buss, 1989; Kenrick et al., 2001; Buunk
et al., 2002; Buss, 2007; Shackelford, Schmitt
i Buss, 2005). Nivelul de instrucie i poziia
ierarhic a individului pe scara social sunt alte
elemente de conturare a criteriilor de alegere a
partenerului de cuplu. Un nivel educaional ridicat (absolvirea unei instituii de nvmnt
superior) i ncadrarea n clasa social medie-superioar din punct de vedere financiar determin
a tendin mai accentuat de valorizare a simi-
DA
90%
69,5%
69%
61%
55,2%
30%
23,3%
22,4%
13%
NU
10%
30,5%
31%
39%
44,8%
70%
76,7%
77,6%
87%
Limitele cercetrii
Particularitatea i noutatea temei de studiu
a condus la caracterul explorativ-descriptiv al
cercetrii, determinnd anumite limite metodologice de cercetare. O prim limit se refer la
reprezentarea inegal a subiecilor n principal
35
lui; prin urmare, rezultatele obinute nu pot fi generalizate la nivelul ntregii societi romneti.
Efectul dezirabilitii sociale trebuie, de asemenea, s fie luat n calcul drept o alt limit
a studiului. Influena acestui factor asupra rspunsurilor acordate de ctre subieci n special
la anumii itemi din chestionar, poate fi una determinant, ceea ce genereaz rezerve cu privire
la validitatea anumitor informaii i limiteaz
interpretarea rezultatelor analizei.
Cu toate c este o analiz incipient asupra
subiectului, studiul de fa poate reprezenta o
deschidere spre varii investigaii empirice n domeniul interaciunilor umane mediate de computer, cu precdere spre relaiile de tip romantic.
innd cont de faptul c lucrarea este o contribuie de ordin explorativ-descriptiv, se impune
formularea unui model cauzal explicativ specific
temei studiate. De asemenea, analizele realizate
pe eantioane reprezentative din punct de vedere statistic i cu o distribuie relativ omogen a
subiecilor n funcie de principalele caracteristici socio-demografice, ar favoriza generalizarea
rezultatelor obinute la nivelul societii romneti. Direciile viitoare de cercetare pot extinde
sfera de analiz, prin integrarea altor elemente
care ar putea aduce o nou viziune asupra temei
sau prin aprofundarea liniilor de analiz prezentate.
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Introducere
Expansiunea rapid a reelelor de socializare online a redefinit comunicarea interpersonal
i relaiile sociale, strnind astfel interesul cercettorilor asupra modului n care individul se
prezint n mediul virtual. Este deja un lucru demonstrat faptul c dezvoltarea accelerat a acestor noi mijloace de comunicare a schimbat radical modul n care interacionm, comunicm,
socializm. Dac nainte de apariia reelelor de
socializare online aveai nevoie de timp s cunoti pe cineva mai bine, s te apropii de cineva,
s i faci prieteni noi, s cunoti ali oameni care
s-i mprteasc interesele sau opiniile, acum
totul pare a fi la doar un click distan. Atunci
39
40
diat tehnologic?! Conform teoriei penetrrii sociale (Altman i Taylor, 1973), oamenii se simt
mai apropriai de partenerii lor pe msur ce
dezvluie informaii mai intime i mai personale
despre ei i se ateapt ca partenerii lor s procedeze la fel. n fazele incipiente ale interaciunii
fa-n-fa, indivizii fac schimb de informaii
impersonale, iar ulterior, n timp, se deschid i
mprtesc informaii mai personale. Rmne
de vzut ns dac aceast teorie se aplic i n
cazul interaciunii din mediul virtual. Raportndu-se la progresul tehnologic i la noile forme
de comunicare generate de acesta, principala
ngrijorare a cercettorilor este legat de confidenialitatea din mediul virtual. Alain Westin definete confidenialitatea, dintr-o perspectiv pur
informaional, ca fiind dreptul individului, al
grupului sau al instituiei de a alege cum, unde
i ctre cine vor fi furnizate sau comunicate informaii cu caracter personal (Westin, 1967,
7). Aceast definiie a fost ulterior preluat n
numeroase studii care au tratat problema confidenialitii n mediul virtual. Confidenialitatea
este important pentru c i garanteaz individului controlul asupra informaiilor personale,
ceea ce i permite acestuia s menin diferite
nivele ale intimitii. Tot Westin (2003) face diferenierea ntre cele trei nivele majore la care se
raporteaz conceptul de confidenialitate: nivelul
politic (evideniind faptul c societile democratice valorizeaz i instituionalizeaz confidenialitatea), nivelul socio-cultural (susinnd
faptul c n acest context, confidenialitatea este
adesea determinat de puterea i statutul social
al individului) i nivelul individual (n care individul caut s echilibreze balana ntre intimitate
i nevoia de expunere i comunicare). William
Parent (1983, 1292) definete confidenialitatea
n termeni de control asupra informaiilor personale i se raporteaz la aceasta ca fiind o valoare moral a oamenilor care preuiesc individualitatea i libertatea i nu un drept moral sau
legal. n acelai timp, exist i ali teoreticieni
care consider c o atenie mai mare ar trebui
acordat importanei sociale a confidenialitii,
ca valoare comun, public i colectiv (Regan, 1995, 12), mai ales n contextul actual al
dezvoltrii tehnologice, care impune implementarea unor nivele minime de protecie a intimitii. Este bine tiut faptul c valorile pe care ni le
crem ne influeneaz adoptarea acelor atitudini
i comportamente care ne duc spre ceea ce ne
dorim. Iar n ceea ce privete valoarea confidenialitii, trebuie s ne ntrebm dac n contextul
digitalizrii vieii noastre sociale, intimitatea
reprezint o valoare pentru toi indivizii, sau valoarea acesteia este determinat de diferenele
psihosociale?! Intimitatea individului este fr
ndoial ntr-o continu dependen de controlul
su fa de informaiile personale. Capacitatea
sa de a controla informaia personal nseamn puterea de a decide asupra vieii sale. Dac
o persoan deine controlul asupra informaiilor
despre sine, putem denumi acest fapt un drept
al propriei intimiti. n aceste condiii, ne ntrebm care este motivul pentru care mprtim cu
ceilali, mai mult sau mai puin cunoscui, intimitatea noastr? Ce anume ne determin s nu
avem restricii n ceea ce privete dezvluirea
vieii noastre private n mediul virtual? Este ntradevr pentru noi dreptul la via particular o
valoare fundamental?
Exist o varietate de practici distincte n mediul virtual, n cadrul crora sunt dezvluite informaii personale, att n mod pasiv ct i activ,
iar acestea permit configuraii diferite ale alegerii, controlului i posibilelor consecine pentru utilizatori (Bryce i Klang, 2009, 160). Indiferent de modul n care alegem s abordm i
s conceptualizm noiunea de intimitate, cert
este faptul c intimitatea ne d acea libertate de
a ne defini propriile relaii cu ceilali i de a ne
defini pe noi nine. Analiznd dimensiunile filozofice ale confidenialitii, Schoeman (1984)
susine c aceasta, ca mijloc de control al informaiilor intime despre noi nine, are numeroase
beneficii, nu numai pentru relaiile cu ceilali, ci
i pentru dezvoltarea propriei personaliti i a
sinelui. Literatura de specialitate atest faptul c
exist o strns legtur ntre intimitate i formarea identitii, prin prisma procesului de dezvluire a sinelui. Conceptul de sine se refer
n principal la imaginea pe care o avem despre
propria persoan (Ilu, 2001, 11). Teoreticienii
41
42
zie, toate aceste studii demonstreaz, sub diverse forme, faptul c indivizii care interacioneaz
n mediul virtual, experimenteaz aceleai presiuni i dorine precum cei ce interacioneaz fan-fa, dar au un mai mare control asupra modalitii de prezentare a sinelui, ceea ce le permite
indivizilor s gestioneze mai strategic interaciunile lor online. Graie caracteristicilor comunicrii mediate tehnologic, prezentarea sinelui n
mediul virtual este mai maleabil i permite autocenzura, spre deosebire de prezentarea sinelui
fa-n-fa (Walther, 1996). Utiliznd terminologia lui Goffman (1959), putem spune c n interaciunile ce se desfoar n mediul online,
mai multe expresii ale sinelui sunt mai degrab
date, dect lsate. Controlul mai mare asupra prezentrii sinelui nu duce neaprat la o reprezentare eronat a acestuia n mediul online.
Datorit anonimitii vizuale, prezent n comunicarea mediat tehnologic (Joinson, 2001), n
anumite condiii, mediul virtual poate permite
participanilor s se exprime mai deschis i
onest, dect n contextele fa-n-fa i s prezinte mai bine aspecte ale sinelui lor real. Instrumentele de comunicare, caracteristice noii ere
informaionale, au permis replicarea reelelor
sociale n mediul virtual, prin intermediul reelelor de socializare online. Un studiu recent asupra
mecanismelor de funcionare ale reelelor de socializare online susine c o parte semnificativ a
activitii desfurate n cadrul acestor reele
poate fi conceptualizat sub forma prezentrii
sinelui, n concordan cu premisele teoriei lui
Goffman (1959). Utilizatorii se angajeaz n
procesul de management al impresiilor prin
ajustarea profilelor lor, lund legtura cu prietenii lor, artnd ceea ce le place i ceea ce nu le
place, alturndu-se unor grupuri etc. (Tufekci, 2008, 547). Acelai autor subliniaz faptul
c elementul central al acestor reele de socializare online l reprezint profilul, care pentru
utilizatori se constituie ntr-o reprezentare a
sinelui i adesea, a propriilor reele sociale, cu
intenia de a vedea i de a fi vzui, de a contacta alte persoane sau de a fi contactai de ctre
ceilali (Gross, 2005 apud Tufekci, 2008, 547).
n esen, reelele de socializare online sunt
43
Metodologia cercetrii
Scopul cercetrii. ntrebri de
cercetare
Prezenta cercetare este una de tip descriptiv,
urmrind caracterizarea cantitativ a unor tendine generale ale atitudinii i comportamentelor
tinerilor n mediul virtual. Scopul acesteia este
acela de a arta ce anume i ct anume din intimitatea lor mprtesc tinerii n mediul virtual.
Pentru a realiza acest lucru, urmresc s surprind urmtoarele aspecte ale dezvluirii sinelui
n mediul virtual: cantitatea i profunzimea informaiilor mprtite n mediul virtual. Drept
44
Definirea i operaionalizarea
conceptelor
Prezenta cercetare utilizeaz o serie de concepte, concepte care au fost n mare parte prezentate n capitolul anterior, destinat cadrului
teoretic. O succint operaionalizarea a acestora ne ajut la stabilirea parametrilor cercetrii.
Drept urmare, conceptele utilizate n studiul de
fa vor fi definite n baza teoriei specifice domeniului studiat i operaionalizate conform sensului atribuit n cercetarea prezent. Unul dintre
conceptele centrale ale lucrrii de fa este cel
de intimitate. Studiul de fa folosete acest concept, n conformitate cu definiia dat de Westin,
ca fiind dreptul individului, al grupului sau al
instituiei de a alege cum, unde i ctre cine vor
fi furnizate sau comunicate informaii cu caracter personal (Westin, 1967, 7). Un alt concept
central al acestei cercetri este acela de mediu
virtual. Prin mediu virtual nelegem aici la acel
spaiu creat de internet, acea reea de reele electronice interconectate, care ofer utilizatorilor
posibiliti de navigare i interaciune reciproc.
n ultim instan, este utilizat i conceptul de
reele de socializare online.
Acest termen face referire la acele reele
electronice care fac posibil interaciunea social n mediul virtual, permind indivizilor s
se prezinte, s formeze i s consolideze relaii
sociale i s stabileasc sau s menin legtura
cu ceilali.
Eantionul cercetrii
Pentru analiza gradului de expunere al informaiilor cu caracter personal n mediul virtual,
am inclus n analiz 119 profiluri de utilizator
45
46
personale detaliate, informaii personale sensibile i informaii personale specifice. Mai apoi,
am utilizat aceast schem n cadrul analizei de
coninut, pentru a structura informaiile analizate. n analiza datelor, am transpus indicatorii
celor cinci categorii n variabile dihotomice
(da/nu), ntruct scopul acestei analize
este de a identifica existena acelor informaii
pe pagina de profil. Acolo unde am considerat
oportun, pe lng variabilele dihotomice am
construit i itemi cu distribuia rspunsurilor,
care m vor ajuta s evideniez unele elemente
importante ale analizei. Datele obinute n urma
culegerii informaiilor de pe paginile de profil
au fost supuse unei analize cantitative, n cadrul
creia atenia s-a focalizat pe studierea indicatorilor descriptivi. n cadrul analizei cantitative,
ca metod statistic s-a utilizat calculul de frecven, pentru fiecare din indicatori, rezultatele
acestor calcule fiind exprimate n procente. De
asemenea, pentru fiecare item s-a calculat i o
medie a rspunsurilor oferite. n continuare, voi
prezenta rezultatele analizei de coninut, n concordan cu schema utilizat n clasificare informaiilor existente pe paginile de profil incluse
n analiz. Astfel, pentru fiecare dintre categorii
voi prezenta procentele corespunztoare fiecrui
indicator, amintind faptul c acestea certific
strict existena respectivei informaii pe pagina
de profil a utilizatorilor sau absena acesteia.
47
48
relaiei, 60% dintre utilizatori au indicat pe Facebook dac sunt ntr-o relaie sau sunt singuri.
n ultim instan, doar 15% dintre paginile de
profil incluse n analiz specificau orientarea sexual a utilizatorilor, 85% prefernd s nu fac
public o astfel de informaie. Raportndu-ne la
acest set de informaii, constatm c, dac indivizii nu au reineri n a dezvlui activitile i
interesele lor, sau chiar statutul relaiei, atunci
cnd vine vorba de posibile informaii stigmatizante, precum religia, orientare politic sau
orientarea sexual, tinerii sunt mai reticeni n
mprtirea acestui gen de informaii n mediul
virtual.
Concluziile studiului
Analiza de coninut a profilurilor de utilizatori Facebook s-a dovedit a fi o metod foarte
util n procesul de identificare a tipului de informaii pe care tinerii obinuiesc s le mprteasc n mediul virtual. n acest sens, analiza
datelor a reliefat faptul c, pentru tineri, informaii personale precum numele, genul, data naterii, oraul actual sau oraul natal nu reprezint
informaii personale intime. n acelai timp, studiul arat c majoritatea tinerilor au furnizat date
personale de identificare reale n cadrul paginii
lor de profil, confirmnd astfel tendina general
a tinerilor de a deveni ct mai vizibili online i
de a se afirma n spaiul virtual. Aa cum era de
ateptat, principalele informaii dezvluite de tineri n mediul virtual sunt acel tip de informaii
personale, dezirabile din punct de vedere social, precum preferinele artistice i preocuprile
socio-culturale. n ceea ce privete informaiile
personale mai specifice, tinerii nu au n general
reineri nici n a face public pe internet locul lor
de munc, nivelul de educaie sau membrii familiei. Interesant este i numrul impresionant
de prieteni cu care mprtesc aceste informaii, majoritatea utilizatorilor avnd peste 200 de
prieteni virtuali. Activitile curente i interesele
49
intr i ele n categoria informaiilor pe care tinerii obinuiesc s le mprteasc ntr-o foarte
mare msur n mediul virtual. Pe de alt parte
ns, au fost identificate o serie de informaii,
posibil stigmatizante, pe care tinerii le dezvluie
ntr-o mai mic msur n cadrul reelelor de socializare. Printre acestea se numr religia, orientarea politic sau orientarea sexual. n ceea
ce privete datele de contact, surprinztor este
numrul impresionant de tineri care i fac cu
foarte mare uurin public adresa de e-mail. n
schimb, n privina altor informaii de contact,
precum ID de mesagerie instant, numr de telefon, adresa de coresponden sau o pagin personal de internet, tinerii s-au dovedit a fi mai
reticeni n a le face publice pe internet. Un alt
aspect interesant este cel al restricionrii anumitor informaii personale, pentru a nu fi accesibile tuturor. n general, cei care au optat pentru
aceast metod de securitate, au restricionat
adresa de e-mail, ID-ul de mesagerie instant, statutul relaiei, religia, orientarea politic i seciunea despre mine. Putem concluziona astfel,
c aceste informaii sunt n viziunea tinerilor
prea intime pentru a fi mprtite cu toat lumea. Consider aadar c prezentul studiu a oferit
un rspuns substanial ntrebrii Ce anume i
ct anume din intimitatea lor dezvluie tinerii n
cadrul reelelor de socializare online?, fcnd
posibil identificarea acelor aspecte ale intimitii pe care tinerii le dezvluie fr reineri n
mediul virtual i a acelor informaii personale,
care n opinia tinerilor sunt prea intime pentru a
fi mprtite online. n concluzie, studiul de fa
ofer o perspectiv de ansamblu asupra a ceea ce
sunt dispui tinerii s dezvluie n mediul virtual
Bibliografie
Altman, I. i Taylor, D. (1973) Social penetration:
The development of interpersonal relationships. New
York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Attrill, A. i Jalil, R. (2011) Revealing only the
superficial me: Exploring categorical self-disclosure
online. Computers in Human Behaviour, 1-9.
Boyd, D. (2006) Friends, friendsters, and Myspace Top 8: writing community into being on social network sites. First Monday, 11, 12.
Bryce, J. i Klang, M. (2009) Young people, disclosure of personal information and online privacy:
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Correa, T., Willard Hinsley, A. i de Zuniga, H.
(2010) Who interacts on the Web?: The intersection
of users personality and social media use. Computers
in Human Behaviour, 26, 247-253.
Derlega, V., Metts, S., Petronio, S. i Margulius,
S. (1993) Self-disclosure. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Limite metodologice
Principalele limite metodologice ale acestei
cercetri sunt: metoda de eantionare, parial dirijat, utilizat n selectarea profilurilor incluse
n analiza de coninut i dimensiunea eantionului. innd cont de specificul reelei de socializare Facebook i de amploarea acesteia (peste
1,3 miliarde de utilizatori n lumea ntreag3 i
peste apte milioane de utilizatori n Romnia4),
nu a fost posibil aplicarea, n mod obiectiv, a
unei metode de eantionare aleatoare. Dei nu
putem considera c eantionul constituit aici
este reprezentativ pentru tinerii utilizatori ai reelei de socializare Facebook, dezvluirea sinelui n mediul virtual este cu siguran un subiect
ofertant pentru cercettorii sociali, care merit
s fie explorat n cadrul unor cercetri de mare
amploare.
Note
Aceast apreciere a fost fcut n baza faptului c
subiecii inclui n analiz fac parte din lista personal
de prieteni virtuali.
2
Acest procent nu indic neaprat o preocupare a
subiecilor vis--vis de pstrarea confidenialitii
asupra locului de munc, ntruct exist posibilitatea
ca unii dintre acetia s nu dein un loc de munc.
3
http://www.statisticbrain.com/facebook-statistics/
4
http://www.facebrands.ro/map.html
1
50
Derlega, V., Winstead, B., Wong, P. i Greenspan, M. (1987) Self-disclosure and relationship development: An attributional analysis, n M. Roloff i
G. Miller, Interpersonal Processes: New Directions
in Communication Research, Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage, 172-187.
De Vauss, D. (1996) Surveys in Social Research.
London. UCL Press.
DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E., Neuman, W. i Robinson, J. (2001) Social Implications of the Internet.
Annual Reviews Sociol, 27, 307-36.
Dobrescu, P. i Brgoanu, A. (2003) Interacionismul simbolic. Sociologie Romneasc, I, 3.
Frye, N. i Dornisch, M. (2010) When is trust not
enough? The role of perceived privacy of communication tools in comfort with self-disclosure. Computers in Human Behaviour, 26, 1120-1127.
Goffman, E. (1959) The Presentation of the Self
in the Everyday Life. NewYork. Anchor Books.
Goffman, E. [1959] (2003) Viaa cotidian ca
spectacol. Bucureti: Comunicarea.ro.
Ilu, P. (1997) Abordarea calitativ a socioumanului: concepte i metode. Iai: Polirom.
Ilu, P. (2001) Sinele i cunoaterea lui. Teme actuale de psihosociologie. Iai: Polirom.
Joinson, A. (2001) Self-disclosure in computermediated communication: The role of self-awareness
and visual anonymity. European Journal of Social
Psychology, 31, 177-192.
Joinson, A., Paine, C., Buchanan, T. i Reips, U-D.
(2008) Measuring self-disclosure online: Blurring and
non-response to sensitive items in web-based surveys.
Computers in Human Behaviour, 24, 2158-2171.
Nosko, A., Wood, E. i Molema, S. (2010) All
about me: Disclosure in online social networking pro-
51
Introduction
Beside family, school, church, cultural institutions (museums, culture centres, etc.) or associative structures, mass-media represents one
of the most important education factors (Rotaru, 2008). Furthermore, media represents a true
social institution offering models that are alternatives to the classic ones (Silverblatt, 2004).
This is even more obvious when we talk about,
and live in an informational society, where the
mass information and communication media
have reached considerable progress. The great
variety of these media (from the written media
books, newspapers, journals to the electronic
ones the computer) require certain utilisation
* University of Reia, Traian Vuia Street, no. 1-4, room C32, Reia, Cara-Severin 320085, Romania. E-mail:
i.rotaru@uem.ro, ileana_rotaru08@yahoo.com.
Analytical framework
Our research presents a quantitative survey
conducted in a Romanian state university regar-
53
54
55
56
73%), from school (generic name for the training location) registering an average of values
of 4%. This shows the students preference for
the on-line activities in the family environment,
from home, where there are better comfort facilities. Moreover, a possible explanation could
be that in the educational institution there is no
free wireless network and the only place where students can have free access to the Internet
is the library. Furthermore, most of the interviewed students do not have portable facilities of
Internet access (laptops, tablets, mobile phones),
only 8% of them posses such hardware.
Moreover, over 82% of the persons interviewed mentioned they used the Internet in their
learning activity out of their own initiative and
not urged by teachers or parents (insignificant
answers were recorded). These results are in line
with the theory of self-service education (Moeglin, 2003) under the circumstances imposed by
the development of new technologies and of the
pedagogy of the cultural industries. Some students declare they were guided by friends also,
which can be explained by the traits specific to
the psychological age (when parents and teachers authority is diminished, compared to that
of friends).
This group of indicators aimed at orienting
the study vis--vis the problem under investigation and at establishing the core theme of the
research: the use of the Internet in the learning
activity.
mework/elaboration of reports 16%. The graphic plotting of the results can be seen in Figure
1. As it may be observed in this figure, we underlined that the only students that use the Internet in creative, originally manner are the ones
from Engineering. This fact may be explained
by their exercised competency in using new technologies, including the Internet, even if it is
not a very high score registered (only 8%). As
indicated above, it is our opinion that activities
oriented on documentation more than those oriented on creation are more likely to conduct to
plagiarism.
Among other activities carried on by students, with lower and variable percentages from
one major to the next, we may list networking,
educational forums in a certain field of interest
4%, elaboration of projects/programmes 4%
(only for the social sciences majors); production
of own creations (for instance, the creation of
the personal site/blog, the realisation of a programme, the web presentation of the university/
faculty, editing of n on-line journal or newspaper, etc.) 8% (only for the engineering majors).
57
58
that is a duty above a competency, a duty that involves ethics and general human values.
This fact can be caused also by the professional competency of the teacher, the professional
ethics and the relation teacher student in the
process of fulfilling the learning tasks.
Conclusions
From the methodological point of view, the
research presents certain limits, due to the local
context, the subjects sample and the complex
correlations among different variables. The pur-
59
60
References
Alderman, G. L. and Green, S. K. (2011) Social Powers and Effective Classroom Management:
Enhancing Teacher Student Relationship. Intervention in School and Clinic, 47, 1, 39-44.
Boyd, D. (2014) Its complicated. The social lives of networked teens. New Haven+London: Yale
University Press. Available at http://www.danah.org/
books. Accessed on May 13, 2014.
Bunescu, G. and Negreanu, E. (2005) Educaia
informal i mass-media (Informal education and
mass-media). Bucharest: Institute of Education Sciences.
DeBenedittis, P. (2003) Media literacy for prevention, critical thinking, self-esteem. Available at http://
www.medialiteracy.net. Accessed on May 29, 2010.
Drgan, I. (1996) Paradigme ale comunicrii de
mas [Mass-communication paradygms]. Bucharest:
ansa.
Drgan, I., tefnescu, P., Povar, A. and Velicu,
A. (2009) Reprezentarea violenei televizuale i protecia copilului [The representation of the TV violence
and child protection]. Bucharest: Vanemonde.
Drgan, I. and tefnescu, P. (eds.) (2008) Msurarea gradului de violen prezent n programele
audiovizualului romnesc [Measuring the present
degree of violence in the Romanian audio and TV
programs]. Available at http://www.cna.ro/article1638,1638.html. Accessed on February 14, 2013.
Dobrescu, P. and Brgonau, A. (2003) Mass-media i societatea [Mass media and society]. Bucharest: Comunicare.ro.
Gibson, J. W. and Blackwell, C. W. (2011)
The challenge of student assessment in the online
classroom. College Teaching Methods & Styles Journal (CTMS), 3, 4, 1-8.
Hobbs, R. (2004) A Review of School-Based Initiatives in Media Literacy Education. American Behavioural Scientist, 48, 1, 42-59.
Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Gorzig, A. and
61
Introduction
Political communication is a key factor for
creating the link between politicians and their
publics of choice. On a day-to-day basis, politicians communicate mainly in the controlled
environment of the political arena: within the
party followers or members, or in contradiction
with their political opponents. The electoral processes increase exponentially the necessity of
communication with persuasive or only informative purposes , and this particular instance
of political communication type elicits special
interest. Social sciences, politology, communication sciences, linguistics with discourse
analysis , look into the recipes for success, while practitioners politicians, political advisors,
political PR practitioners, advertisers try, intu-
* Politehnica University of Timisoara, Faculty of Communication Sciences, Traian Lalescu Street No.
2, Timisoara, Romania. E-mail: mcernicova@gmail.com.
63
64
analyze the repertoire of means of communication in fashion for the elections of 2012, relying
on direct observation, applications developed by
Facebrands PRO and analysis of the new media
tools in use.
There are many reasons for incorporating
online and digital channels into political campaigns. According to technology enthusiasts,
one cannot escape the digital government (West,
2005), digital formations (Latham and Sassen,
2005), and democracy can be saved in globalization times due to e-democracy (Della Porta,
2013). According to international legislative provisions, online communication is the new realm
to conquer. It seems less regulated in content,
more democratic and comprehensive in terms of
production and delivery of messages and better
fit to resonate with the lifestyles of contemporary society. Its possibilities are championed
by authors like Don Tapscott (2011), Anthony
Williams (2010), James Surowiecki (2011) to
name only a few of the influential authors recently translated into Romanian. On one hand,
the Internet may be perceived as enhancing
political involvement and debate (Chadwik
and Howard, 2009, 198), on the other, it is the
home of communication networks that impose
their own set of rules for information flows and
presuppose the understanding of lex informatica (Katzenbach, 2012, 126) established in the
virtual world. Online political communication
can be perceived as a tribute to fashion, but it
is also enforced by global concerns regarding,
for instance, a new wave of rights, digital rights.
During the elections for the European Parliament of 2014, for instance, online activists demanded political candidates to support publicly
digital democracy and to commit to promoting
e-democracy, an action vividly promoted by the
European Digital Rights movement, registered
in Brussels (http://edri.org).
according to geographic and demographic criteria. Thus, in Timis county candidates had to run
in one of the four constituencies for the Senate
or in one of the ten constituencies for the Deputy
Chamber, no longer by party lists, but individually, even if under the banner of a political party
or alliance. Therefore, the task of communicating with the electorate resided with the candidate, and not with the political party organizations.
Such a change of the rules of engagement raises
the research interest regarding the communication style embraced by different candidates. With
an electoral environment prepared to absorb the
online dimension, and with new responsibilities on the part of candidates and their staffs to
communicate with the electorate, it only naturally follows that lessons are to be learned for
future political processes.
Out of the 73 candidates registered for the
14 positions of Timis representatives in the Romanian Legislative body, 28 represented the
main political alliances which ultimately gained
the majority of seats: The Social Liberal Union
(Uniunea Social-Liberal USL) and the Right
Romania Alliance (Aliana Romnia Dreapt
ARD) (www.becparlamentare2012.ro/candidati.
html). We selected 10 candidates for the analysis,
five from each alliance (ARD: Ovidiu Ciuhandu,
Vasile Blaga, Mihai Bojin, Marin Popescu, Alain Florin Rus, and for USL: Sorin Grindeanu,
Matei Suciu, Ion Rducanu, Petru Andea and
Sorin Stragea), to closely follow the extent and
intensity of new media electoral communication. In order to measure the candidates presence in new media we established as a scale the
following: 1 up to 3 activities low frequency;
4 up to 8 activities medium frequency; over 9
activities high frequency. For the purpose of
the present paper we present the corpus of ten
candidates quantitatively and two of the candidates in detail. We selected one politician from
each alliance, by the criterion of their success
in obtaining a mandate in the Parliament: Sorin
Grindeanu (USL) and Vasile Blaga (ARD), the
latter due to the principle of proportionality giving the opposition a bonus in order to ensure
representation in the legislative body.
65
Frequency
Updates afduring elections ter elections
(2012)
(2013)
high
Up-to-date
low
medium
-
abandoned
abandoned
-
66
As far as the Facebook account is concerned, Grindeanu succeeded to gain 500 new friends during the campaign. In the Likes section,
he posted notes from different areas, connected
with the party campaign: Matei Suciu (another
candidate from USL Timis), the page Da, reusim (his main campaign theme), Victor Ponta
(the party president on the national level). The
high activity during the campaign brought fresh
updates in a timely manner.
Table 2: Result of social media campaign
for Sorin Grindeanu
Number of notes
Appreciations
Comments
Shares
Overall interactions (sum)
72
3,515
501
634
5,354
Sorin Grindeanu used only one tweet throughout his campaign, to announce the launching
of his personal website soringrindeanu.ro, and to
invite visitors to contact him on the INTERACTIV section. The Youtube channel has been created and hosts 13 video clips, 12 from traditional
television appearances and one electoral spot.
They did not stir comments, although they generated 425 visits.
The most intensively used channel was the
personal site, with sections regarding the constituency (Colegiul 2) and the issues raised by
electors during campaign meetings, the political
project, events, profile and photo/video accompanying the campaign. The candidate elicits
reactions from visitors regarding his political
project.
Vasile Blaga, from ARD, aged 56, came to
the campaign from the position of an oldtimer in the Parliament, former minister and acting president of the main political party at the
time, the Democratic Liberal Party. Although
enjoying high public visibility, Blaga entered the
parliamentary race of 2012 with a handicap. He
did not reside in the constituency, so he had to
Frequency
Updates
during elections after elections
(2012)
(2013)
high
Up-to-date
15
Approx. 900
187
Approx. 300
Approx. 1,387
274
1,387
140
274
624
5,354
1,949
2,294
830
974
67
68
69
Webography
www.becparlamentare2012.ro/candidati.html
http://edri.org. Accesed on May 5, 2014.
www.facebook.com/help
www.facebrands.ro
www.zelist.ro
http://blog.standout.ro/2012/03/prezentari/parlamentari-romani-pe-internet
http://facebrands.ro/demografice.html. Accesed
on June 6, 2013.
www.ziare.com/internet-si-tehnologie/acces-internet/intertetul-tot-mai-popular-in-randul-romanilor-1214476
Introducere
n afar de presa tabloid, principalul productor de staruri rmne n societatea romneasc
televiziunea, evoluia acesteia n toate domeniile
netrecnd neobservat. Nu trebuie uitat c prima
instituie, care a avut rol important n fabricarea
starurilor, a fost filmul.
n prezent, starurile/vedetele funcioneaz
ca i constructe mitice, ele avnd un rol-cheie n
mobilizarea audienelor, dar i n viaa de zi cu zi
a fanilor. Astfel, mitul starizrii prin mass media
devine vandabil, multe vedete din Romnia remarcndu-se n film, teatru, muzic, politic i,
mai ales, n televiziune. Acest star sistem a devenit prea popular odat cu ncercarea de a eroiza
71
72
Background i semnificaie
Tema aleas poate fi studiat att prin utilizarea metodelor cantitative (aspect exemplificat
prin cercetrile pe care le voi aminti n continuare), ct i prin utilizarea celor calitative.
n luna iulie a anului 2005, n cadrul cercetrii Analiza comportamentelor de consum TV
ale elevilor (7-10 ani, 11-14 ani, 15-18 ani), a
fost realizat, prin metode cantitative, clasamentul vedetelor de televiziune preferate de elevii
din Romnia (Drgan, 2007). Cercetarea a fost
organizat de Centrul de Cercetare Urban i
Regional CURS-SA i Centrul de Studii Media
i Noi Tehnologii de Comunicare (CSMNTC).
Rezultatele analizei comparative a vedetelor TV
preferate de copii i adolesceni au relevat preferine pentru moderatoarele emisiunilor de divertisment i pentru cele ale reality-show-urilor,
pe primul loc aflndu-se Andreea Marin (Surprize, surprize), iar cele ale analizei comparative a cntreilor preferai au indicat pe primele
locuri cntreii de manele (Nicolae Gu, Adi
de Vito).
O alt cercetare cantitativ s-a desfurat n
luna iunie a anului 2006 i s-a referit la evalu-
area performanei principalelor emisiuni de televiziune i a principalelor personaliti de televiziune de ctre Centrul de Cercetare Urban i
Regional CURS-SA, beneficiarul fiind Consiliul Naional al Audiovizualului (Cna.ro, 2006).
n vederea obinerii principalelor rezultate, liste
de emisiuni i personaliti de televiziune au fost
supuse procesului complex de evaluare.
Pe lng alte ntrebri (ce au atins obiectivele cercetrii), sondajul a inclus cteva ntrebri referitoare la impactul televiziunii, precum
i unele ntrebri solicitate expres de beneficiar,
referitoare la percepia celor mai ndrgite i a
celor mai respinse emisiuni, persoane de televiziune i invitai din 2006, aprecierea emisiunii
No Comment.
Rezultatele au variat n funcie de problematica dezbtut (ceea ce m-a interesat a fost percepia celor mai ndrgite i a celor mai respinse emisiuni, persoane de televiziune i invitai
din anul 2006). Dei s-a nregistrat un numr
foarte mare de nonrspunsuri, rezultatele s-au
clasat astfel:
a) percepia celor mai ndrgite (plcute)
emisiuni pentru anul 2006 Surprize, surprize
(8%);
b) percepia celui mai ndrgit om de televiziune (vedet, moderator, prezentator) n anul
2006 Teo Trandafir (10,1%);
c) percepia celor mai respinse emisiuni pentru anul 2006 Vacana mare (5,1%);
d) percepia celei mai neatractive persoan
de televiziune Andreea Marin (5,0%);
e) percepia celor mai plcui invitai n anul
2006 Gigi Becali (7,4%);
f) percepia celor mai neatractivi invitai n
anul 2006 Gigi Becali (5,1%).
Aadar, se observ de-a lungul timpului o
diversificare a preferinelor subiecilor o dat
cu creterea n vrst, atunci cnd vorbim de un
potenial clasament al emisiunilor/vedetelor preferate.
O investigaie similar cercetrii noastre a
fost realizat de Benson P. Fraser i William J.
Brown n anul 2009, care au cercetat influena
starului Elvis Presley asupra fanilor Elvis Presley.
Metodologie
Perioada de realizare a investigaiei: 13-30
martie 2012. Locul de desfurare: Municipiul
Piteti coala Nr. 15 Adrian Punescu, Liceul Teoretic Ion Barbu, Universitatea din
73
Grupuri studiate
Gen.
masc.
Gen.
fem.
Total
1.
Preadolesceni 13
(10-12 ani)
12
25
2.
Adolesceni
(15-18 ani)
Tineri (26-29
ani)
TOTAL
14
11
25
21
25
31
44
75
3.
74
Prezentarea selectiv a
rezultatelor corpusului de
interviuri pe tematici i discutarea
lor
nainte de a face cunoscute pe scurt rezultatele acestei cercetri, doresc s aduc n egal
msur mulumiri doamnelor Cristina Mutu (Liceul Teoretic Ion Barbu din Piteti), Elisabeta
Oproiu (coala Nr.15 Adrian Punescu din
Piteti), precum i ntregului Colectiv al Bibliotecii Universitii din Piteti, care s-au ngrijit
att de bine n asigurarea condiiilor optime ale
ntregului demers metodologic.
Mai rar
6%
ntrebrile filtru
Sptmnal
6%
75
Niciodat
0%
De 2 sau 3 ori pe
sptmn
23%
TVR
0%
Naional TV
4%
Altul. Care?
12%
Antena 1
26%
n fiecare zi
65%
Disney Channel
4%
Pro TV
26%
(10-12 ani)
Mai rar
12%
Niciodat
0%
Antena 1 24%
Mai multe canale, n ordinea
preferinelor 32%
Sptmnal
12%
De 2 sau 3 ori pe
sptmn
4%
Pro TV 26%
n fiecare zi
72%
Pro TV
32%
Antena 1
0%TVR 1
0%
Niciodat 0%
Altul. Care?
5%
Discovery Channel
5%
76
Internet
0%
Rude
0%
Reviste
16%
TV
68%
Investigation Discovery
4%
Acas TV
4%
Pro TV
59%
Antena 1 4%
Altul. Care? 8%
0%
TVR 1
Investigation Discovery,
Discovery Travel & Living
live 4%
AXN Crime, Pro TV 4%
Pro TV, Antena 1 4%
Pro TV, Antena 1, TVR 1,
Acas TV 4%
Nonrspuns
1
1
Din discuiile cu
colegii
Fete
2
Baiei
7
TV
10
2
2
Reviste
10
Figura 12: Distribuia tipologiei surselor n vederea formrii imaginii despre vedete n funcie
de gen (preadolesceni)
77
De unde v formai mai curnd o imagine despre vedete? TV, Internet, reviste, discuii cu
colegii, de la rude?
De la rude
4%
Din discuiile cu colegii
8%
TV i, apoi, Internet
8%
Internet
16%
TV
64%
TV i, apoi, Internet
Fete
10
TV
Baiei
Internet
De la rude
0
10
Figura 14: Distribuia tipologiei surselor n vederea formrii imaginii despre vedete n funcie
de gen (adolesceni)
De unde v formai mai curnd o imagine despre vedete? TV, Internet, reviste,
discuii cu colegii, de la rude?
Din discuiile cu colegii
4%
Reviste
4%
TV i reviste
12%
TV
52%
Internet
28%
Figura 15: Distribuia tipologiei surselor n vederea formrii imaginii despre vedete la tineri
Figura 16: Distribuia tipologiei surselor n vederea formrii imaginii despre vedete n funcie
de gen (tineri)
Pentru toate categoriile de grupuri studiate,
principala surs care contribuie, n proporii diferite, la formarea imaginii despre vedete, este
televiziunea (preadolesceni 68%, adolesceni
64% i tineri 52%), secondat de Internet,
ntlnit la numai dou din cele trei grupuri analizate (adolesceni 16%, tineri 28%).
Ca industrie, la nivel naional, televiziunea,
asociat cu Internetul, a devenit sursa dominant de informare i de relaxare n Romnia (programele de tiri i de divertisment), ncercnd
prin emisiunile educative s aduc oamenii mai
aproape de valorile umane. De la apariie i pn
n prezent, aceasta a promovat i a difuzat diverse formate de emisiuni pentru atragerea publicului de toate vrstele. Prin puterea sa nemrginit,
televiziunea influeneaz percepiile, schimb
atitudinile i comportamentele publicului larg.
Cu toate acestea, dezvoltarea acestui tip de media, ca produs al societii postmoderne (televiziunea privat i, n special, televiziunea digital), a fost spectaculoas n domeniul tehnologic.
Asemenea realitii, religiei, politicii construite la televizor, i Internetul a devenit spectacol. Vinovat de toate aceste lucruri care se
ntmpl ar trebui s se fac postmodernismul,
curent cultural, care a introdus componenta ludic n planul existenial.
78
2. Celebriti TV (prezentatori,
actori, cntrei, vedete de
televiziune). Vizionarea de emisiuni
consacrate lansrii de vedete, dar i
prezentrii unor vedete.
Ct de des privii astfel de emisiuni?
Nonrspuns
4%
Cteodat
4%
Mai rar
12%
n fiecare zi
40%
De 5 ori/spt.
4%
De cteva ori/spt.
24%
O dat/spt.
12%
De 2 ori/spt.
4%
De cteva ori/spt.
8%
Rar
32%
Foarte rar
16%
Mai rar
16%
n fiecare zi
24%
Rar 4%
Mai rar 4%
O dat/spt. 8%
De cteva ori/spt.
36%
n fiecare zi 20%
Foarte bun
12%
Bun
68%
Foarte proast
4%
Proast
4%
Unele sunt bune, altele
mai puin bune
20%
Bun
40%
79
Proast 40%
Bun 32%
Figura 22: Investigarea tinerilor privind percepia canalelor de televiziune din Romnia
La nivel de percepie a canalelor de televiziune din Romnia, opiniile celor trei categorii
analizate sunt diferite. Astfel, 68% dintre preadolesceni i 40% dintre adolesceni au o prere
bun despre inflaia canalelor de televiziune din
Romnia n comparaie cu tinerii care au o prere proast n proporie de 40%.
La ntrebarea Dintre vedetele pe care le
vedei la televizor de care v place att de mult
nct ai vrea s fii ca ea/el?, au fost menionate nume diverse de cntrei, actori, prezentatori
TV i sportivi din ar i strintate. ns, cele
mai multe rspunsuri ale preadolescenilor i
adolescenilor conin relatri n legtur cu numele a trei vedete consacrate Andra, Rihanna,
Mihaela Rdulescu.
ntr-un articol din ziarul Libertatea (14 iulie
2007, 14), s-a scris despre idolii/personalitile admirate de ctre adolesceni la acea vreme.
Motivarea alegerii lor a fost clar justificat:
CTLIN FLUTURA, 18 ani: Idolul
meu e fotbalistul Roberto Carlos, pentru c este
cel mai muncitor sportiv, d tot ce poate pe teren
i nu se las i nu se las nvins aa usor.
GABRIELA DUMITRU, 18 ani: Eu o admir cel mai mult pe Andreea Marin, deoarece
zmbete tot timpul i e foarte drgu. n plus,
este deteapt i o persoan de succes.
LUMINIA DUMITRU, 18 ani: Eu o admir pe Monica Columbeanu, pentru c are puterea de a tri alturi de un om mai n vrst.
MDLINA CENCU, 17 ani: Mie mi pla-
80
Nu
16%
Nu 32%
Da. Modul de a m
comporta i de a m
mbrca 20%
Da. Modul de a m comporta
24%
Oarecum
12%
Nu
44%
Uneori
24%
Da
20%
Figura 25: Investigarea tinerilor privind gradul de influen a vedetei asupra lor
Influena vedetelor asupra stilului de via a
adolescentului este, de multe ori, determinant.
n acelai timp, codurile, valorile i tipurile de
comportamente impuse rstoarn ideile tradiionale, tinerii intrnd permanent ntr-un conflict
social. Aa cum se remarc grafic, 32% dintre
preadolesceni consider ca i influeneaz cel
mai mult modul de comportare a vedetelor,
comparativ cu adolescenii i tinerii care au afirmat c nu i influeneaz nimic (32%, respectiv
44%):
mi place foarte mult Andreea Marin, mai
ales, modul de comportare (Alexandra, 10).
Dintre vedetele de la televizor, Alina Eremia mi place. Modul de comportare i vestimentaia. Pentru mine, ea e ca un model (Bianca, 11).
Mihaela Rdulescu este vedeta care mi
place n cea mai mare msur. ns nu m influeneaz cu nimic (Iuliana, 26).
81
Tineri
(26-29 ani)
Eminem (4%)
Justin Timberlake
Johnny Depp (8%)
Steven
Spielberg
(4%)
Beyonc (8%)
Angelina Jolie (8%)
Rihanna (16%)
Shakira (4%)
Simona Gherghe (8%)
Mihaela
Rdulescu
(16%)
Adolesceni
(15-18 ani)
Preadolesceni
(10-12 ani)
Beyonc (8%)
Angelina Jolie
(12%)
Mihaela Rdulescu (16%)
B. Comportare
a) Femei
Andra (15%)
Alina
Eremia
(12%)
Selena Gomez (8%)
Angelina Jolie (4%)
Jennifer
Lopez
(4%)
Mirela
(4%)
Oprah
(4%)
Winfrey
Boureanu
Hugh
Laurie Beyonc (8%)
(4%)
Rihanna (16%)
Mihai Bendeac Shakira (4%)
(8%)
Simona Gherghe
Johnny
Depp (8%)
(8%)
Mihaela Rdulescu
(16%)
2. Nevoia de realizare
A. Situaie
a) Femei
b) Brbai
Andreea Esca Mihai Tristariu
(4%)
(4%)
Andra Mru Smiley (8%)
(15%)
Al Pacino (4%)
Hugh
Laurie
(4%)
J u s t i n Ti m b e rlake
Steven Spielberg
(4%)
b) Brbai
Paul
Rusescu
(4%)
Lionel
Messi
(4%)
Justin
Beeber
(4%)
b) Brbai
Beyonc
(8%)
Angelina Jolie (12%)
Mihaela
Rdulescu
(16%)
Al Pacino
(4%)
Eminem
(4%)
Johnny
D e p p
(8%)
Steven
Spielberg
(4%)
a) Femei
II. Realitate
1. Social
82
Elena-Lidia Dinu (Stan), Percepia vedetei de televiziune n spaiul mediatic...
83
Concluziile cercetrii
Pentru a putea nelege anumite experiene,
evenimente sau situaii, n cercetarea de fa
am dorit s investighez, prin numrul de ntrebri formulate n ghid, credinele i percepiile
subiecilor, care stau la baza comportamentului
lor. Astfel, n aceast cercetare, eantionul a fost
limitat la persoane tinere i foarte tinere, nu i
la persoane mai n vrst, care dezvluie din experienele referitoare la consecinele vedetizrii.
n urma interpretrii rezultatelor, se desprind
cteva concluzii pertinente:
foarte muli dintre preadolesceni au menionat numele de rol n momentul intervievrii,
neamintindu-i numele real al vedetelor preferate. Deci, la preadolesceni, accentul star systemului romnesc cade pe numele vedetelor mai
cunoscute n detrimentul coninutului televizual.
Acest lucru este controlat de audien, principalul factor decizional care face ca vedetele s se
nasc, s triasc i s moar ntr-o perioad
mai scurt ori ndelungat.
apariia i popularitatea Internetului a ctigat un loc privilegiat n rndul adolescenilor i
tinerilor de azi, aflndu-se printre alte activiti
de consumerism.
o alt constatare a fost cea legat de nelegerea individual i comun a identitii tinerilor. Tinerii i nsuesc o cultur de tip media,
care, pe de o parte, contribuie la modelarea unei
concepii generale asupra valorilor societii, iar
pe de alt parte la promovarea ideilor i opiniilor, n urma crora iau natere identiti individuale i colective.
dup cum au demonstrat-o graficele, percepia celor trei grupuri studiate, n aceast cercetare, este diferit. Asemenea preferinelor, i
gusturile lor.
dac preadolescenii i adolescenii mai
sunt fani ai anumitor vedete naionale sau internaionale, tinerii nu se mai regsesc n aceast
ecuaie, preocuprile lor fiind cu totul altele.
Analizarea persoanelor create de mass media
din perspectiva postmodern a facilitat identificarea temporar a publicului, trecerea de la ficiune la realitate prnd a fi destul de mic atunci
84
cnd ne referim la construcia realitii ca proces. Acest demers investigativ a condus la conturarea unei imagini holistice, bogat detaliate
asupra preferinelor persoanelor din eantionul
selectat. Modul n care subiecii acestui studiu
(realizat n anul 2012) achiziioneaz valorile
morale i, respectiv, sociale de la persoanele
mediatice (naionale i internaionale, naionale/
internaionale), funcionnd ca modele de rol, a
fost firete un interes de cercetare personal.
Bibliografie
Agabrian, M. (2004) Cercetarea calitativ a socialului: design i performare. Iai: Institutul European.
Balle, F. (coord.) (2005) Dicionar de media. Bucureti: Univers Enciclopedic.
Barna, I. (1971) Lumea filmului, (vol. 2). Bucureti: Minerva.
Brdi, C. i Purgaru, D. (2007) Care este idolul
tu? Libertatea, 5453, 14, 14 iulie.
Cna.ro. (2006) Cercetare privind evaluarea performanei principalelor emisiuni de televiziune i a
principalelor personaliti de televiziune, 2006. Publicat n 20 iunie 2006. Disponibil la http://www.cna.
ro/-Sondaje.html#pagination_art_last. Accesat n 20
iunie 2011.
Comas, . (2004) El star system del cine espaol
de posguerra: 1939-1945. Madrid: T&B Editores.
Constantinescu, M. (2001) Vedeta: eseu n psihosociologia multimedia. Bucureti: Cartea Romneasc.
Dafinoiu, I. (2002) Personalitatea: metode calitative de abordare. Iai: Polirom.
Dakhlia, J. (2010) Mythologie de la peopolisation. France: Editions Le Cavalier Bleu.
Drgan, I. (2007) Comunicarea: paradigme i teorii (vol. 2). Bucureti: RAO.
Fraser, B. P. i Brown, W. J. (2009) Media, Celebrities and Social Influence: Identification with Elvis
Presley. Mass Communication & Society, 5, 2, 183206. Disponibil la http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/
abs/10.1207/S15327825MCS0502_5. Accesat n 22
iunie 2012.
Anexa 1
Ghid de interviu semidirectiv
ntrebri filtru:
1. De cte ori v uitai la televizor?
1. n fiecare zi
2. De 2 sau 3 ori pe sptmn
3. Sptmnal
4. Mai rar
5. Niciodat
2. Care dintre urmtoarele canale de televiziune v plac cel mai mult? (se aplic doar n
cazurile 1, 2, 3)
1. TVR 1
2. Pro TV
3. Antena 1
4 Altul. Care?
5. Mai multe canale, n ordinea
preferinelor
Ghid de interviu
Interviul va fi structurat pe patru domenii:
1. Cunotine/activiti de informare asupra vedetelor:
De unde v formai mai curnd o imagine
despre vedete? TV, Internet, reviste, discuii cu
colegii, de la rude?
85
STUDII
Murales Bolognese: Visual Representation of
Italian Urban Culture
Eugen Glvan*
Institute Research for the Quality of Life, Romanian Academy, Romania
Abstract: The city of Bologna (Italy) is mainly known for the rich and well-preserved history, the left-wing
political opinions of its inhabitants and for the one of the lowest child birth rates in a European city. These
aspects, combined with the fact that the city has the largest university in Europe in terms of number of students, shapes the local urban culture in a particular way. This paper investigates the visual manner in which
some inhabitants of Bologna, collectively known as graffers, express themselves in an attempt to identify
the characteristics of their public voice. Such expression is often in contradiction with the way in which the
town officials wish to promote a certain image of Bologna based on historical tradition. The methods of visual
sociology are used to analyse the graffiti in terms of locations and content, in an attempt to explain the process
of socialisation in a stable and prosperous society.
Keywords: graffiti; subculture; Bologna; visual sociology.
Cuvinte-cheie: graffiti; subcultur; Bologna; sociologie vizual.
Introduction
There is a lot of debate over the graffiti in the
urban landscape: is it art or vandalism? In social science, we talk about it in relation to petty
crimes, urban decay or a symbolic form of resistance, and it is a significant way to investigate
the characteristics of a social body. This paper
investigates how the graffiti on the buildings
and infrastructure of the city of Bologna (Italy)
communicates the tensions, aspirations and
moods of the local residents who feel that their
perspective does not fit into the canonical and,
sometimes, restrictive mainstream standpoint.
By doing so, the paper also speaks about the Bolognese inhabitants, part of a rich and culturally
developed society, who try to comprehend the
contrasting aspects of various cultural phenomena with which they have contact. This research
approaches graffiti from a structural point of
Theoretical Approach
Graffiti, as a public expression of a person or
a group, written or drawn on the surface of the
building is not something new in human society.
* Institute Research for the Quality of Life, Romanian Academy, Calea 13 Septembrie Street, no. 13, Bucharest,
Romania. E-mail: eugen@iccv.ro.
87
The characteristics of modern graffiti originated in the 1960s in American urban environments such as Philadelphia and New York. The
history retains the pseudonym of TAKI 183 who
started to cover the entire city with his name
written in or outside the cars of the New York
subway. By doing so, he shaped the tag, the
first form of expression of modern graffers or
writers (the person who executed the graffiti),
done extremely quickly, sometimes with marker pens, scratched on the surface, but often
with spray cans (Othen-Price, 2006, 7). Tagging
evolved into lettering, a customised shape for
a name, nickname or text, made in a particular
and easily recognisable form, often a trademark
of a graffer. Graffiti was often associated with
the hip-hop music culture as a means of visual expression, and along with other elements,
such as MCing (rapping), DJing and B-boying
(break dancing), was encountered from the start
with resistance and misunderstanding, due to the
counter-cultural expression of the graffers and
the secrecy of their identity (Eglash, 2010). The
clash with local authorities soon emerged; the
painting of the trains and subways of New York
turned to whole train (a method by which all
surfaces are covered with drawings), forcing
MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authorities) to spend
over US$300,000 dollars in the 1960s and 1970s
to remove it (ARPONE, 2001). The illegal and
antagonistic character of graffiti is also shown
by the use of a militaristic theme in the language
of the young people involved, who are organised
in crews (organised groups of writers), bombing (cover an area with tags, throwups, etc., in
an attempt to let the public and the other graffers
know that the control of the area is claimed) or
to front (to hassle someone, to want to fight;
probably from confront) (Chad, 2010).
The competitions for fame divides writers
into kings, muralists and taggers (ironically
called toys, the lowest graffers in ranking or
prestige). Sometimes, the aim is to fully cover
something with tags, throwups (graffiti executed
very quickly with reduced complexity) or pieces (a painting with at least three colours), with
88
the competition degenerating into confrontations (Othen-Price, 2006, 8). Nevertheless, there
is little violence between writers because Whatever their class, race, ethnicity, religion, or
age, writers define themselves not by what they
look like, or what language they speak, or what
clothes they wear, but by what they do. Their
identities are as writers first, and as members of
ethnic, religious, and other subgroups second
(Snyder, 2009).
The majority of the writers are young males (Macdonald, 2001; Othen-Price, 2006) in
the search for a voice, masculinity and status
(Macdonald, 2001, 228), in a time when different style of life generated by social stratification increased misunderstanding between social
groups. From New York, the graffiti spread and
evolved to become a global phenomenon. In
Europe, graffiti arrived in the mid-1980s. It was
promoted by the media as part of the hip-hop
culture, becoming increasingly popular and moving from subculture to mainstream. The focus
of the European writers became wall paintings,
but things were slightly different due to the increased possibility of achieving legitimate notoriety through exhibits or paid works. The interest
of the cultural market in graffiti led to its appreciation as a form of art, and this was consistent
with changes in the content and techniques used
for graffiti. This evolution is outlined by Daniel
and Timothy Gross in three phases of the visible
form in the historical development of graffiti.
They refer to: (i) the imitative phase, which is
pictorial; (ii) the transition phase where letters
and words become increasingly important; and
(iii) the apocryphal phase which depicts words
in disguise (Best, 2003, 839).
In social science, the theoretical approach to
graffiti is hindered by the visual manner of expression, which leads to a variety of interpretations. In contrast with the reliance on more and
more advanced techniques for image construction in fields such as medicine, astronomy or criminology, the theoretical, empirical and analytical use of images in social sciences is scarce.
The lack of reflection about the functions of the
images in society, their mode of production and
the channels of distribution could have generated the dead eye (Durand, 1999, 202), the
passive and uncritical reception of the images.
From cartoons to images of wars and natural disasters, this is an attitude representative of, but
not limited to, television watchers. In particular, Durand speaks about the anonymity of the
images fabrication, and this is also valid for
graffiti. No wonder this mode of expression is
depicted in Marxist theory as a symbolic form
of resistance, as a counter-hegemonic response
to hegemonic categories (Best, 2003, 829). For
Howard Becker, graffiti is the result of a number
of individuals and local situations, and not just
a result of macro political and ideological dialectics (Becker, 2008). From a feminist point of
view, the masculinity profile of the graffiti presents dire consequences on womens inclusion
in public space and therefore need to be understood as important public policy concerns (Rosewarne, 2004, 31). A psychoanalytic approach
presents the hypothesis that wall writing is an
act of revenge provoked by feelings of being
left out, neglected or separated (Lomas, cited
by Othen-Price, 2006, 15). These different explanations are apprehended by some authors
beyond the values of the various writers aiming
to identify ways in which individuals are considered to demonstrate attachment to particular
beliefs and values through conformance with or
rebellion against prevailing mores (Sliwa and
Cairns, 2007, 75). Finally, the poststructuralist
approach is concerned with graffitis multiple
meanings and the potential to mean anything
that its wide audience wants it to mean (Best,
2003, 830).
89
Methodology
The research methods comprise techniques
from visual sociology that are able to capture
the features of graffiti. As an image category
that contains textual meanings, sometimes explicit, other times hidden in codes, graffiti includes the great paradox of visuality in the social
sciences: the omnipresent image is not suitable
for analysis and for communicating knowledge.
It is not the aim to deepen the controversy, but
it must be said that the structural approach that
we chose to analyse the graffiti from Bologna is
the direct result of efforts to develop new ways
of interpreting a significant category of pictures
from urban areas.
One of the limits of this research is the insufficient coverage of certain aspects. If we adopt the recommendation to take into consideration the plain text and symbols, the authors,
the purpose, the audience and the context of the
graffiti (Sinnreich, 2004, 54), we find that the
development of graffiti is largely uncovered,
due to the limited time available and the superficial knowledge of the Italian language. Also,
peoples attitudes towards this phenomenon are
unknown, because there is a lack of information
obtained through representative research. One
thing is certain: if we consider that the Italian
city of Bologna has the highest expenditure on
graffiti removal we can assume that the attitude of the authorities reflects the position of the
inhabitants. For example, Reparto Sicurezza Urbana e Antidegrado (The Department of Urban
Security and against Deterioration) of the muni-
90
cipal police is very active in a campaign launched in 2013 by the Mayor Virginio Merola called Stretta contro i writer (Hold against the
writer) (Marceddu, 2013). In addition, many
travel guides specify that the historic buildings
of the city are marred with graffiti.
The graffiti has been visually sighted throughout the city of Bologna, most often in the Old
City and the main streets, as well as certain inaccessible, areas such as railway lines or football
stadiums. Access routes can be easily identified
due to the typical circular medieval fortress architecture of the city centre. Therefore, the researcher used the architecture of the city to catalogue all the graffiti found on the main streets
connected by access gates or medieval city walls
to the centre of the city, such as Via San Donato,
Via Stalingrado, Via Zanardi, Via A. Saffi, Via
Andreea Costa, Via Saragoza, Via Murri and Via
Massarenti. In the centre, or interior wall, medieval buildings and sinuous networks of roads
do not allow easy identification of the main arteries, therefore it was decided to catalogue graffiti from all streets. Graffiti sites were categorised
by photo shooting, using a Fuji FinePix 5100
camera. Managed with Adobe Lightroom, the
database contains 2,638 images taken between
May and October 2010. It is difficult to determine the precise number of graffiti, but it is probably enough to say that over 90% of the buildings are marked with graffiti. In many cases,
they overlap, the result of a throwup, or lack of
space, partial deletion, etc. The processing of the
images revealed a loosely estimated number of
4,500 graffiti drawings, excluding the tags and
the small and incomprehensible throwups.
Given the specificity of the graffiti material,
content analysis combined with interpretative
techniques were chosen as the research methods.
Content analysis is a method of study in which a
collection of available data is subject to quantitative and qualitative analysis. The object is to find
distinctive qualities in the data, such as repetitive
patterns, and to determine the frequency within
the content. This will include a specific content
type, presence or absence of qualities, types and
sorting by type, origin or source and degree of
91
Table 1: The codes used for analysing the graffiti from Bologna
Support
Height
Dimensions
Format
Colour
Content
Message
92
Results
In terms of location, in Bologna the patterns
reported by researchers when analysing European graffiti were found on walls, buildings or
fences, detrimental to moving vehicles, such
as trains. In any case, there are no subways in
Bologna, but no buses or other transportation is
covered with graffiti. The main locations where graffiti are drawn are the bridges over the
railroad north of the town, Piazza San Donato,
the fruit and flower market or Liceo Scientifico
Copernico Nicolo. In addition, approximately
90% of downtown buildings are labelled with
at least one graffito, probably favoured by the
narrowness of streets and specific porticoes architecture, which creates many blind spots.
93
Discussion
Further inquiries are necessary to develop
a complete picture of public images from Bologna. Whilst the art component of graffiti is
consistent in the market category or figurative
94
95
The punitive action of local authorities aiming to prevent the drawing of graffiti in the
town of Bologna is not accompanied by proactive measures able to create some space for
graffers to express themselves. In terms of Banksy (Banksy, n.d.), it would probably be an asset
for the city that young people are attracted to
using fewer graffiti tags and more personal sign
and logos, stylised pictograms that challenge the
corporate branding (Manco, 2004, 8). The fact
that graffiti is dominated by tags and lettering
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96
Bourdieu i a colii sale rmn indubitabile, ntruct lucrrile acestor sociologi pragmatici sunt
n mare parte realizate n baza criticii gndirii
bourdieusiene.
S ne amintim c deja din primele sale lucrri Boudieu mbin ntr-un mod specific ideile
lui Karl Marx, Max Weber i mile Durkheim.
Analiza lui Bourdieu a rolului religiei i va servi
ca matrice pentru a nelege funcionarea societii i a rolului a ceea ce el numete sistem simbolic. Religia reprezint pentru Marx opiumul
omenirii (Marx, 1979, 44). Religia, ca ansamblu
a practicii i interpretrii, era unul din fundamentele care menineau ordinea social. mile
Durkheim (2013) continu n aceast direcie
prezentnd religia ca instrument intermediar
al relaiilor sociale. Bourdieu (1971) plaseaz
religia ntr-o categorie mai larg a sistemelor
simbolice, creia i aparin de asemenea limba,
arta sau cultura. Toate aceste sisteme simbolice
legitimeaz diferenele sociale i voaleaz conflictele sociale.
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nicolas.maslowski@gmail.com.
98
bun parte criticii lui Pierre Bourdieu, nu l citeaz direct. Aceeai critic ne arat ns c se
refer fr ndoial anume la Bourdieu.
De ce atia francezi ncearc s gseasc
un compromis ntre mile Durkheim i Karl
Marx?, se ntreab Luc Boltanski. Este o influen a comunismului, ba chiar a marxismului
intelectualilor francezi i o ntoarcere la mile
Durkheim prin Claude Levi-Strauss (Boltanski,
1990, 41), fiecare din ei nelegnd comunismul
diferit. n istoria gndirii Luc Boltanski identific originea acestei percepii n filozofia lui
Henry de Saint-Simon, potrivit cruia o lege real a funcionrii societii exist. Societatea e
perceput ca un organism natural de ctre aceti
autori. Aceast idee o mprtete i Karl Marx,
care explic realitatea relaiilor prin diferene i
conflicte de clas. mile Durkheim apoi explic realitatea prin consens, ns dup cum singur
noteaz, n timp ce dreptul civil reprezint o
creaie a legislatorului, ,,legile naturale ale societii sunt de o alt natur. La aceasta Boltanski adaug c Durkheim i ali autori neleg
societatea c pe o creaie abstract, care exist
indiferent de ceea ce vedem sau credem, consider de asemenea c anume din aceast cauz o
putem msura, caracteriza prin curbe ale graficelor, calcula medii .a.m.d. O urmare a acestei
metode de gndire este presupunerea, conform
creia legile realitii sociale descoperite de cercettor scot n eviden un adevr mai profund
i mai real dect ceea ce ne ofer cunoaterea
normelor unor aspecte individuale ale realitii
sociale (de exemplu a dreptului civil). Astfel,
autorii care mprtesc modul de gndire a lui
Boltanski ajung la o distincie ntre infrastructuri
i superstructuri, iar prin urmare i la o oarecare profund dezvluire (unveiling n englez,
dvoilement n francez). Pe de o parte exist
elemente create de oameni, precum sunt statul,
dreptul, ideologiile etc., pe de alta ns avem
adevruri profunde, care nu aparin lumii contiinei. Gndirea, iniial legat de concepia religiei (la Marx), este rspndit asupra a tot ce este
perceput. Cuvntul iluzie n-ar trebui, potrivit
lui Marx, folosit sistematic, i totui aceti cercettori acioneaz n cadrul acestei paradigme.
99
100
101
de existena unei cuti incontiente n care indivizii sunt nchii6. Sociologul este acela care
tie. Doar el este capabil s neleag motivele
comportamentului uman mpreun cu fenomenele fundamentale care le scap oamenilor. Ce
anume i ofer aceast capacitate suprauman?
Att dup prerea lui Boltanski, ct i n opinia
lui Latour, nimic. Reprezint pe scurt arogana
sau orbirea cauzat de o limitat sau, din contr,
de o exagerat ambiie.
Chiar dac acest lucru nu figureaz n crile
lui Pierre Bourdieu, n conferine sau n abordrile discipolilor si, Bourdieu recunoate n una
din crile sale (Science de la science et rflexivit, 2001), ct de neobinuit de complicat este
pentru un sociolog s priveasc lucrurile de la
nlimea unui zbor, adic s nlture n baza
unei extreme reflexiviti de toate viziunile singulare, s se limiteze la o alt viziune, dect cea a
unui agent social, s suporte o alt iluzie absolut (Bourdieu, 2001; Latour, 2005a, 203; Latour,
2005b, 209). Boltanski i Thvenot (Boltanski
i Thvenot, 1991; Boltanski, 1990) aici propun
o alt abordare, apreciat i de Latour (Latour,
2005a, 301; Latour, 2005b, 209). Pentru Latour i pentru sociologia cunoaterii este necesar
de a lua n consideraie relaiile ntre individ i
mediul su. Nu este doar o iluzie, pe care sociologul trebuie s o descopere, ns mai ales o
lume, creia omul are competena de a-i oferi un
neles. Fiecare e un creator, i nu doar interpretator. Poate ns n baza sensului oferit societii
s justifice sau s nainteze propria descoperire
a nedreptii critice. Atunci sociologia devine
hermeneutic, iar structuralistul devine interpretativist (Latour, 2005a, 303).
102
ntrebarea criticii metodologice a lui Pierre Bourdieu nu reprezint o prioritate, ci mai degrab
un product ulterior al cercetrii sale. Critica ns
cuprinde i aprecieri sistematice a considerrii
bourdieusiene, lsnd impresia unui autor care ar
simi nevoia de a explica i justifica schimbrile
metodologice, provocate de cercetarea n teren.
Aceast dezbatere este mai apoi redeschis de ctre Cyril Lemieux (Lemieux, 2008).
Bourdieu critic interacionismul ca metod
n ochii creia capitalul simbolic e slab instituionalizat, ierarhiile sunt pluraliste, neclare, variabile, iar accesul la cunotinele caracteristicilor
obiective puin cunoscute (Bourdieu, 1980, 240).
Pollak aici vede din contr puterea interacionismului i prin urmare greeala lui Pierre Bourdieu.
Analizele care folosesc concepte ca habitus
i capital sunt fondate pe cercetri n situaii stabile. Situaii extreme, precum experiena lagrului de concentrare, se refer la oamenii unei lumi
unde acumularea i stabilizarea elementelor acumulate nu este posibil (Pollak, 1990, 288). Utilizarea conceptelor capital sau habitus duce la
cutarea continuitii acolo unde domin pluralitatea ierarhiilor, identitilor, resurselor interne,
inexactitii, presiunii i ncercrilor. n lagrul
de concentrare nu habitusul, ci situaia (iar de
aici interaciunea) explic comportamentul i
identitatea. Descrierea unei situaii extreme nu
poate fi fondat pe concepte care accentueaz n
special continuitatea i reproducerea.
Analiza lui Pollak deriv din proximitatea
fenomenologic dintre habitus i identitate. Inexactitatea i pluralitatea identitilor au ca urmare o constatare asemntoare celei pe tema
habitus (Lemieux, 2008, 196). Habitusul este
rezultatul unui lucru continuu realizat de indivizi, facilitnd gsirea continuitii i a coerenei. Continuitatea nu este fireasc, universal.
Schimbarea i transformarea sunt condiii naturale. Atunci cnd se gsete continuitatea n habitus sau n identitate, ar trebui cutate sursele
lor. Memoria, nvmntul i socializarea sunt
concepte capabile s nlocuiasc n mod avantajos conceptul habitusului, fr a purta cu sine
aceleai probleme metodologice. Aici ar trebui
luat n considerare lucrul cu sine, care cere de
Problema dreptii
Majoritatea cercetrilor sociologice franceze
a anilor 60-90 vizau inegalitile, fapt util din
punctul de vedere a criticilor pragmatici ai lui
Pierre Bourdieu. Boltanski ar putea fi considerat
un entuziast al simului dreptii, care exist deci
la sociologi, susinnd c aceast abordare ar
trebui cultivat. Una dintre probleme ns const n faptul c nu fiecare are acelai sim pentru
dreptate, fiecare o vede n mod diferit. Dect s
hotrasc ce este tiinific i ce nu, un sociolog
ar trebui mai nti s neleag i s descrie ce
este just pentru el i ce nu este, felul n care
structureaz dreptatea sau cum este perceput
de subiecii cercetai. Dac admitem c fiecare
individ este capabil s creeze o noiune printr-o
analiz critic a lumii care l nconjoar, atunci
trebuie s considerm i influena concepiilor
profane asupra comportamentului uman. Imaginaia i raiunea reprezint baza aciunilor indivizilor, ceea ce neag ns conceptele strategiilor
incontiente i aspiraia ctre dominare. n acest
context, Boltanski, mpreun cu Thvenot i alii, sugereaz n locul sociologiei critice, care
indic ce nu ar trebui s fie pornirea de la sociologia criticii, care ar explica n baza cror
principii oamenii observ lucrurile din jurul lor
i acioneaz. Cele dou ramuri ale sociologiei
pragmatice menionate reprezentate de Lato-
ntrebarea angajamentului
sociologului
n articolul Ce fel de critic pentru Bourdieu? (Barthe i Lemieux, 2002) Ynnick Barthe
103
104
4
Se refer la descrierea francez metaforic a unei
grupri organizate ntr-un mod foarte ierarhic i
care se consider o cast privilegiat. Este o metod
obinuit de descriere a sistemului de funcionare a
tiinelor sociale franceze.
5
Criticile n aceast direcie nu-i aparin exclusiv lui
Bourdieu. A avut ns n lumea sociologiei franceze
o poziie att de dominant, nct toate criticile i-au
revenit anume lui.
6
O critic asemntoare gsim i n literatura ceh. n
critica sa, J. ubrt (2011, 56-58) explic faptul c dei
teoria lui Bourdieu e uneori evaluat ca concepie, care
Note
Articolul a fost scris n cadrul proiectului GAR
. 13-29861P efectuat la Universitatea Carolin din
Praga, Facultatea Studiilor Umaniste, Centrul pentru
cercetarea memoriei colective.
2
Critica lui Latour, adresat lui Bourdieu n mod
direct sau indirect, a fost multilateral, fiind publicat
1
105
7
Pentru Pollack, precum i pentru Boltanski, aciunea
este perceput i planificat n dependen de logica
discursiv care formeaz o gramatic a aciunii.
8
Cei care practic reflexivitatea sociologic.
9
Cei care nu o practic.
Bibliografie
Barthe, Y. i Lemieux, C. (2002) Quelle critique
aprs Bourdieu. Mouvements, 24, 5, 33-38.
Bnatoul, T. (1999) Critique et pragmatique en
sociologie: quelques principes de lecture. Annales,
Histoire, Sciences Sociales, 54, 4, 281-317.
Boltanski, L. (1990) LAmour et la Justice comme
comptences. Paris: Mtaili.
Boltanski, L. (2009) De la critique. Prcis de sociologie de lmancipation. Paris: Gallimard.
Boltanski, L. i Thvenot, L. (1991) De la justification. Les conomies de la grandeur. Paris: Gallimard.
Bourdieu, P. (1971) Gense et structure du champ
religieux. Revue franaise de sociologie, 12, 295-334.
Bourdieu, P. (1979) La distinction: critique sociale du jugement. Paris: Les ditions de Minuit.
Bourdieu, P. (1980) Le Sens pratique. Paris: Les
ditions de Minuit.
Bourdieu, P. (1982) Leon sur la leon. Paris: Minuit.
Bourdieu, P. (2001) Science de la science et rflexivit. Paris: Raison dagir.
Bourdieu, P. (2012) Sur ltat: Cours au Collge
de France (1989-1992). Paris: Seuil.
Bourdieu, P. i Passeron, J.-C. (1964) Les hritiers: les tudiants et la culture. Paris: Les ditions de
de Minuit.
Bourdieu, P. i Passeron, J.-C. (1970) La reproduction: lments dune thorie du systme
denseignement. Paris: Les ditions de Minuit.
Caill, A. (1988) Esquisse dune critique de
lconomie gnrale de la pratique. Lectures de Pierre
Bourdieu. Cahiers du Lasa, 8-9, Caen: Universit de
Caen.
Corcuff, P. (1998) Justification, stratgie et compassion. Apport de la sociologie des rgimes daction.
Correspondances, 51, Tunis: Institut de Recherche
sur le Maghreb Contemporain.
Corcuff, P. (1999) Acteur pluriel contre habitus?
Politix, 48, 157-173.
Durkheim, . (2013) Les formes lmentaires de
la vie religieuse. Paris: PUF - 7e dition.
Introducere
Articolul de fa i propune s dezbat tema
controverselor epistemologice ale dezvoltrii
sociologiei ca tiin social i vizeaz o analiz
a teoriilor critice ale sociologiei contemporane.
Tema articolului abordeaz un subiect de actualitate tiinific i intens criticat n cadrul comunitii academice a sociologilor care se afl n
plin dezbatere din 2004 pn n prezent, acela
al sociologiei publice (public sociology1), prin
* Facultatea de Sociologie i Asisten Social, Universitatea din Bucureti, Str. Schitu Mgureanu nr. 8, sector
5, Bucureti. E-mail: delia.badoi@sas.unibuc.ro.
107
108
Controverse n dezvoltarea
sociologiei ca tiin social
Articolul trateaz un subiect dezbtut n lumea academic a sociologilor din ntreaga lume,
acela al sociologiei publice, cu referire pe de o
parte, la vizibilitatea public a cunoaterii sociologice, care este reprezentat prin publicarea de
cercetri i studii n reviste de specialitate i de
cealalt parte, la implicarea sociologiei profesionale (din centrele de cercetare i universiti) n
dialoguri publice i n fundamentarea de politici
publice.
Astzi sociologii consider c tehnologiile i
mijloacele media au devenit importante pentru
configurarea cunoaterii tiinifice n lumea public. Sociologia, dei a fost o tiin reflexiv
nc de la nceputul ei, dar aa cum preciza Steve
Bruce (2000), ea totui nu a urmat aceeai traiectorie ca tiinele exacte care nu au admis prezena reflexivitii n cadrul procesului de producie a tiinei. Controversele istorice pe care
le evideniem n acest articol aduc n discuie o
dezbatere recent instalat asupra regndirii misiunii publice a sociologiei. Sociologia public pe
care o invocm, reprezint o noiune relevant
pentru cunoaterea sociologic contemporan,
ea aprnd pentru prima dat n discursul prezidenial din 1988 al lui Herbert Gans Sociology in
America: The discipline and the public, unde se
propunea ncurajarea rolului intelectualului public, noiune iniiat de Russell Jacoby (1987),
cnd anuna dispariia intelectualilor din America. Sociologul public ns trebuie s fie, n concepia lui Herbert Gans, un cercettor, un analist
sau un teoretician cu un impact n spaiul public
prin intermediul muncii pe care o realizeaz i
de asemenea, avnd rolul de a revitaliza sociologia clasic promovat de sociologi precum Robert Merton, Paul Lazarsfeld sau Talcott Parsons
n cadrul colilor de sociologie din Universitile Harvard i Columbia. n 2004, sociologia
public a fost preluat de actualul preedinte al
Asociaiei Internaionale de Sociologie, Michael Burawoy, care a lansat o dezbatere ampl n
sociologia american i n cea internaional ce
cheam sociologii la un exerciiu de reflexivitate
i autocritic asupra practicilor lor profesionale.
Premisa de baz dezvoltat de Michael Burawoy
este c sociologia are menirea de a informa public despre problemele sociale i trebuie s rspund provocrilor date de schimbrile sociale
i de dezvoltrile riscurilor i tehnologiilor din
societile actuale.
Sociologia public a fost aspru criticat de
unii sociologi americani, nc de la lansare, ntruct a fost considerat ca fiind succesoare a
acelei sociologii radicale din anii 1960-1970
pe care o promova un sociolog precum Alvin
Gouldner. Alvin Gouldner (1970) n The Coming Crisis of Western Sociology admitea faptul c sociologia este i trebuie s fie radical
deoarece cunoaterea despre lumea social nu
poate fi dezvoltat fr cunoaterea sociologilor
despre ei nii, poziia lor n aceast lume, sau
n afara eforturilor lor de a o schimba (Gouldner, 1970, 489-490). Pentru a exemplifica i mai
bine atitudinea sociologilor fa de sociologia
din anii 1970, John ONeil (1972) era de prere
c sociologia a devenit un joc mult prea aproape
de simul comun care poate fi practicat de oricine din afara tiinei nsi: Sociologia este studiul oamenilor. Este o distracie omeneasc cu
pretenii de tiin. Sociologia poate fi fcut n
fotoliu sau autobuz, la cafenele, de pe trotuar sau
la universitate. Sociologia aparine scenelor de
familie, de vecintate i de gac. n viaa de zi
cu zi sociologia aparine vicleniei vnztorului
i escrocului, proverbialului barman sau unui ofer de taxi. Asta e o mare jen pentru sociologie,
care odat aspira s fie tiin, s prospere i s
se organizeze. Cnd e practicat serios, sociologia este o profesie, ca preoia sau ca prostituia
(ONeil, 1972, 5-7).
Contextul sociologiei critice americane a
favorizat deschiderea cutiei Pandorei dup cum
afirm Friedrichs (1970), care a devenit iminent mai ales dup apariia Imaginaiei sociologice
(1959) a lui C. Wright Mills care avea s readuc n discuie teme importante i controversate
ale teoriilor sociologice americane dezvoltate
n principalele coli de sociologie din America
(coala de Chicago, Universitatea Columbia sau
Harvard). Logica tiinific a sociologiei devine
mai important ca oricnd mai ales dup rsturnarea paradigmei dominatoare a funcionalismului structural (teoriile aciunii sociale) dezvoltate de Talcott Parsons i de succesorii lui ctre
o perspectiv tiinific i mai orientat ctre
individ, mai ales prin abordrile microsociologice, ncepnd cu sfritul anilor 1960, ale lui Herbert Blumer, Erving Goffman, George Homans,
Harold Garfinkel sau Harvey Sacks.
Michael Burawoy (2008) afirma ntr-o scrisoare post-mortem adresat lui C. W. Mills, n
Open Latter to Wright C. Mills, (n care i scuza
familiaritatea cu care scrie aceast scrisoare), c
noiunea de public sociology a fost inspirat din
Imaginaia sociologic unde Mills susine emergena sociologului care trebuie s vorbeasc diverselor tipuri de publicuri. Cu o ironie aparte,
scrisoarea dorete s evidenieze amploarea de
care se bucur dezbaterile din ntreaga lume prilejuite de renaterea sociologiei publice, cu precdere odat cu ntlnirea Asociaiei Americane
de Sociologie din 2004 (San Francisco) care, n
opinia lui Burawoy, seamn izbitor de tare cu
109
110
lizat unde cantitativul depete cu mult calitativul, concretizndu-se astfel n teorii formale
care au fost publicate n una sau mai multe reviste de top, ceea ce a adus sociologiei un prestigiu printre celelalte tiine sociale (Boyns i
Fletcher, 2004, 17).
La mijlocul anilor 1980, sociologia se afla
ntr-o poziie vulnerabil, devenind dependent de existena sa doar, sau mai ales, n cadrul
universitilor. Ca reacie la tot acest demers, sociologia s-a acomodat prin extinderea formelor
sale antreprenoriale i profesionale pentru a se
legitima din punct de vedere profesional. Toate
aceste aspecte au ndeprtat sociologia de extinderea sa public i au diminuat misiunea sa n
rezolvarea problemelor publice sau sociale. Restabilizarea vitalitii disciplinei cere sociologiei
de a-i reclama publicul. Pentru a fi posibil acest
lucru, schimbrile ar trebui s fie fcute n cadrul
profesiei, pentru a ncuraja rolul intelectualilor
n spaiul public, de asemenea eforturile ar trebui s fie fcute pentru a extinde spaiile publice
unde discursul i aciunea social pot avea loc
(Black, 1999). Actualmente, una dintre cele mai
presante probleme ale sociologiei nu este faptul
c i-ar pierde spaiul, ct faptul c i pierde audiena, publicul. De ce sociologia se afl ntr-o
poziie vulnerabil? A. K. Erikson (1989) sugera
faptul c profesia de sociolog se distinge de celelalte profesii din tiinele naturii prin faptul c
ea implic o mare sensibilitate epistemologic.
tiina sociologic a cunoscut o extindere mult
prea mare n ultimii ani, am putea vorbi chiar de
o fragmentare, de o cretere a subdisciplinelor, a
sociologiilor (...) n detrimentul unei ncurajri
a dialogului critic sau a stimulrii argumentelor
interpretative. Vulnerabilitatea sociologiei se
mai datoreaz i lipsei unei ocupaii n afara universitii i spaiului academic, pentru a se putea
ancora singur din punct de vedere profesional
aa cum ceilali specialiti din tiinele sociale
i-au gsit rolul lor n societate, de exemplu economitii i psihologii. S-ar prea c sociologii
demonstreaz o incapabilitate de a se adapta cu
aceeai uurin: Muli sociologi se angajeaz
n domenii ca asistena social cnd n realitate
111
112
Sociologie profesional
Cunoatere reflexiv
Sociologie critic
Audien extraacademic
Sociologia fundamentat n politici
publice (policy)
Sociologie public
113
114
115
Note
. Public sociology este noiunea iniiat de Michael
Burawoy n cadrul Conferinei Asociaiei Americane
de Sociologie din 2004. (Burawoy, 2005). 2004
American Sociological Association Presidential
address: For public sociology. The British Journal of
Sociology 2005 Volume 56 Issue 2).
2
Societatea cunoaterii aa cum apare explicat n
cartea lui James S. Coleman (1990) Foundations of
Social Theory. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of
Harvard University Press.
3
Noiune care aparine lui Ulrich Beck (1986).
4
Teoria Agency-structure (Anthony Giddens) vs.
teoriile stratificrii sociale bazate pe clase sociale
(Karl Marx, Max Weber).
5
Conform schemei diviziunii muncii sociologice, un
tip de cunoatere tiinific care acord instrumente
116
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Berger, P. i Luckmann, Th. (1966) The social
construction of reality. A treatise in the Sociology of
Knowleage. London: Penguin Books.
Black, T. (1999) Saving Sociology, part II. Going
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Bourdieu, P. (1984) Homo Academicus. Paris: Les
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Bourdieu, P. (2001) Science de la science et reflexivit. Paris: Raisons dagir editions.
Boyns, D. i Fletcher, J. (2005) Reflections on Public Sociology: Public, relations, disciplinary identity,
and the strong program in Proffesional Sociology.
The American Sociologist, 36, 3-4, 5-26.
Bruce, S. (2000) Sociology. A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Burawoy, M. (2005) For Public Sociology. American Sociological Review, 70, 1, (Feb.), 4-28.
Burawoy, M. (2004) Public Sociologies: Contradictions, Dilemmas, and Possibilities. Social Forces,
82 (4), 1603-1618.
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Carey, J. T. (1975) Sociology and public
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eminent sociologists debate politics and the profession in the twenty-first century. Berkeley, CA; London:
University of California Press.
Coleman, J. S. (1990) Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Curtis, J. E. i Petras J. W. (1972) The Sociology
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TF%20on%20PS%20Rpt%20%2854448%29.
pdf.
Accesat n 28 mai 2014.
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RECENZII
Robert W. McChesney, Digital Disconnect. How Capitalism is Turning the Internet against Democracy, The New Press, New York, 2013.
119
solli, 1996), Bennett (1999) or of liquid modernity (Baumann, 2000), which the author ignores.
She defines the term subculture as being ...
constitued by groups of individuals who share distinct values and norms that are against
dominant or mainstream society... (p. 7). But
the following chapters, and in particular those
which target and describe cultural practices of
certain groups (Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) reveal that
this definition is not in good fit with the realities
studied by Kawamura. Thus, none of the groups
described in the second part of the paper do not
display any distinct subcultural characteristics,
being specific to post-modern fluidity of neo-tribes.
None of the groups exhibit elements of class
belonging or class subordination, a distinctive element for the neo-marxist interpretation
of Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies.
Although the book is riddled with numerous
quotes on consumers of these cultures, what
is missing are elements of ethnographic study,
which would facilitate an insider explanation
to more profound hermeneutic interpretations on
the subversion of senses of objects which these youngsters fetishize, as Hebdige does when
she refers to punk subculture in Subculture:
The meaning of stye (1979). In other words, the
author builds a good description of the state of
affairs of young Japanese fashion groups, without going into a deeper decoding of their potentially-subcultural signs.
At the same time, the author underlines the
fact that belonging to a group is not grounded in
structural determination, as is the case with skinheads and a large part of the classical 70s subcultures, but in voluntary affiliation to a certain
set of brands and consumer lifestyle, an element
which is particular to neo-tribes. In some instances, even cases of migration from a culture to
another are displayed (Mori Gyaru, Lolita and
Cosplayers), which goes against the theory of
subcultures that the author uses.
In the concluding remarks of the book, the
120
Note
One of the first theoretical approaches that have
tried sketching models for studying youth subcultures
is the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies
(CCCS) that has emerged in Birmingham in the
70s. The concept of subculture that has developed
throughout CCCS will usually represent a group of
young people that are in class subordination to the
dominant culture. Subcultures can be understood as
collective answers to the working class communities
break of the British post-war society, as a latent
Dinu Guu