The Democratizing Potential of an Online Leisure Space: Facebook and Critical Thought

Abstract

Critical theorists have long examined cultural processes and their often deleterious effects on social and political movements. Using Kracauer's mass ornament and Bourdieu's construct of habitus, this study empirically investigates political participation and e-mobilization of civil society in the United States' "democratic" regime. Through examining the popular social media application, Facebook, the authors sought to understand political participation and responses to a series of sociopolitical events over one month. Analyses explored the nature of the Facebook posts, evidence for various power inequalities, and the nature of political spaces created by Facebook users. Despite Facebook's potential to be a social leveler and organizational tool for Hardt and Negri's multitude, the authors' analyses left them less than hopeful about the mobilizing potential of Facebook use in the United States. They outline cultural constraints inhibiting such political participation and point toward the possibilities of a more socially and politically active social media landscape.