Why noting really changes
By: Olda Šubrt
Tags: Change, Social Media, Politics, Social Movements, Sociology

Granovetter argues then not only macro-level interactions but also micro-level social ties impact social mobility. His social network theory looks at the strength of relationships in relation to the potential effect that this relationship can have in the current society. The strength of a tie is calculated by time spent, reciprocal service, intimacy, and emotional intensity.

For example, the strong tie relationship could be a family member and a weak tie relationship could be an interaction with a stranger who shares similar interests. The stronger the tie is, the more contacts people share with each other. So, for social mobility purposes. It is better for the individual to seek weak ties relationships because they serve as bridges to another part of society. With weak tie bridges, one gets better access to new information and one can influence society even more than just with strong tie relationships .

Income inequality is intertwined with social inequality. One works through the distribution of resources and the other operates through recognition of identity that legitimises the current merit. Lamont is mostly focusing on social inequality. She identified morality as the key aspect upon which recognition of identity is constructed. Morality has a direct impact on the evaluation of self-worth. It is central to meaning-making. Therefore, the symbols about how one’s life should look like have exclusionary effects for a certain part of the population.

Contemporary merit is shaped by neoliberal morality. The focus is on: economic performance, professional success, competitiveness, rationality, and self-reliance. However, the neoliberal ideal of a worthy self can only be archived by the top 20% of the world’s population that is living in western societies. The possibility to become the neoliberal archetype is almost unattainable, especially if one does not have sufficient resources. Even though the low-income family’s lack of success is due to structural causes that are outside their own control. The system’s winners still have a legitimate means to stigmatise them. This particular exclusion process produces lower cross-interaction between groups and higher social instability .

Adam Curtis'docmunetary is the best piece of art that sumarises current affairs ant their impacts on social behaviour. The fundamental premise of the documentary is that we are living in times of great uncertainty. The people in power who persuades the public into believing that they are in control, are actually paralysed by the world’s complexities. Citizens are realising that those in power, experts, politicians, managers, journalists do not know what is going on. Everyone knows that the system is broken. But everybody is playing along. The situation has become hyper-normal. Nobody knows how to change the system. Therefore, everyone has retreated to their own simplified versions of reality to try to make sense of the world.

I am focusing on his observation about the simplified versions of the realities and their impacts on social networks. Social media algorithms are so strong that they only give the individuals what they know they like. Social media produce a safe conformable space where one is detached from all uncertainties and complexities of the modern world. However, this individualised virtual space is inherently fake. It is an echo chamber, and the only thing that a person hears and sees is herself. The fundamental problem with social media algorithms is that they want users to stay engaged on their sites. And what are the most engaging emotions? Anger and fear. Now, through this framework, one’s thoughts and beliefs are manufactured and validated. The virtual and real have already started to interact. It is hard for the individual to really distinguish the real from fake.

Social media absorbs all the opposition

The rise of social media can be explained by the increasing necessity to have a strong weak tie network to sustain or advance one’s position in times of constant pressure by the globalised labour market. Unreachability of the current merit , weakened welfare state and uncertainty of globalised risks have forced individuals to self-isolate in their simplified realities. The competition over diminishing resources have changed the social media interaction. People no longer seek weak tie relationships because they know that their utility does not hold true anymore. With the awareness that nothing is true and that social mobility is possible only for the top 20%, individual loses incentive to seek new information. One rather seeks comfort in the social media space.

However, not an emotional comfort. Algorithms are still inflating the out-group hostility. But, comfort from the known that is facilitated by the strong tie relationships.This dynamic explains why in our society nothing really changes, and why social movements are so ineffective. Social media absorbs all the opposition. And with the lack of willingness to seek weak ties, connections nobody knows and therefore cares about the other group problems. Groups are becoming even more distinct due to the lack of group overlaps. Nobody can effectively address the structural causes of inequality, either the detached top 20% or the rest of the population that is fragmented into small groups. Thus, social and income inequality deepens and persists.