Begrippenlijsten PBMU
Week 1
Lecture 1
The sisyphean cycle of technology panics – Orben (2020)
Technology panic: times in which the general population is
gripped by intense worry and concern about a certain
technology. Is a recurring feature of the societal landscape.
Sisyphean cycle of technology panics: a framework that
highlights the diverse actors that interact to cause technology
panics to develop in repeated and almost identical cycles and
outlines the consequences this has for academic and policy
progress.
Expansion technological concerts by trends: First, the idea that
adolescence is a distinct part of childhood emerged between
the 18th and 19th centuries, and state involvement and
general concern about this age group increased (France,
2007). Secondly, the inclusion of science and scientists as
actors trying to address societal concerns.
Technological determinism: the idea (a) that the technologies used by a society form basic and
fundamental conditions that affect all areas of existence and (b) that when such technologies are
innovated, these developments are the single most important driver of changes in said society
(Leonardi, 2012). Technological determinism is therefore a widespread assumption that allows panics
to arise quickly by linking technological developments to current societal changes that concern the
population.
Moral panics: Flurries of public concern (Cohen, 1972); are rapid increases in concern that occur
regularly throughout public life. A person, group, thing, event, or other entity is perceived as
challenging societal values and norms. Moral panics are most often focused on “The Other”: a group
that does not constitute the main powerholders of society (e.g., children, immigrants, or women).
Technological affordances: allows for insights to be translated between different types of technologies
by examining the activities that they allow users to perform.
Retrospective work: type of evaluation of new technologies; learning from the past. Is often
problematic because the past is different than the future.
Formative work: type of evaluation of new technologies; in which they test technological products
when they emerge into the market. Is limited severely because technological innovation is so fast that
it is often impossible to evaluate it in a timely manner on release.
Risk: type of evaluation of new technologies; using probabilistic judgments and cost-benefit analysis.
But technological events cannot be that well estimated.
Prospective work: type of evaluation of new technologies; trying to forecast technologies, which is
known to be extremely difficult and inaccurate.
Summative evaluation: whereby researchers or policymakers examine the impact of a technology on
certain groups as quickly as possible. This is currently the go-to method for informing policy.
UnITEd framework for technology research: describes five aspects that, if addressed in future research,
could improve the accrual of evidence about emergent technologies; 1) Unique use, 2) Individual, 3)
Time frame, 4) Effect size and 5) Direction.
,Dangerous media? Panic discourses and dilemmas of modernity – Drotner (1999)
Media panics: emotionally charged reactions and morally polarized (the medium is either good or bad)
on the appearance of new media; the negative pole being the most visible in most cases. May be
considered a specification of the wider concept of moral panic.
Information super highway: metaphor; (Al Gore) denoting ways in which computer technology will
advance not only technical but, more importantly, economic and social growth.
Discourse of optimism: voiced by proponents of the new medium in question, is primarily linked to
aspects of mediation that may be associated with rationality.
Discourse of pessimism: voiced by critics of the very same medium in question, is linked to aspects of
mediation that equally readily may be associated with emotionality.
Moral panic: conflicts of interests – at community and societal levels – and the presence of power
differentials which leave some groups vulnerable to such attacks (Cohen); serve as ideological safety
valves (kleppen?) whose effect it is to restore social equilibrium (evenwicht).
Societal task debate (Samfundsopgave-debatten): is the first Danish hint of a media panic. The debate
was sparked off by the fast-growing circulation of serial publications, almanacs1 and ballads.
Bildung (Dannelse): question about the general character formation of the common man (and
progressively women and children).
General learning (folkeoplysning): development of modernity; as opposed to education for specific
competences.
Culture: assumption of panic. The dichotomy of high and low culture is defined as a hierarchy of values.
Some familiar oppositions are usually associated with this dichotomy: art vs. entertainment,
innovation vs. tradition.
Media having an immediate part: assumption of panic. Deals with social psychology and has a
simplified notion. E.g. if we see violence on the screen, we become criminals.
Children and young people are continuously defined as objects: assumption of panic. Deals with the
relation between culture and social psychology. According to this assumption, cultural development
and human development are aspects of one and the same process.
Modernity: everybody must live with the possibility of social, cultural, and psychological change;
fosters individuality as a social norm. modernity facilitates the creation of difference (gendered
individuality), while at the same time it nurtures the common rammifications (gevolgen) of difference
(the social norm).
Safety valve theory: (Cohen) emphasizes that the social regulation is performed through a cultural
character formation of the young. The media panics focus on the young precisely because, within the
discourse of modernity, their development is the most decisive and the most vulnerable.
Emotions: assumption of panic (zelf de term samengevat); children are panic targets just as much
because they inevitably represent experiences and emotions that are irrevocably lost to adults: one
cannot go back in time and become a child again.
1
Een almanak is een jaarlijkse publicatie met steeds terugkerende informatie op bepaalde gebieden,
deels geordend volgens de kalender.
, Children and computers: new technology
– old concerns – Wartella & Jennings
(2000)
Social development: the process by which children
develop role-taking skills, learn to comprehend
the motivations and consequences of behaviors,
and come to understand human relationships in
the social world. Major markers in a child’s social
development include 1) the ability to see
perspectives other than one’s own, 2) make moral
judgments, and 3) demonstrate a command of
basic social skills.
Effects of children’s behavior: determined by 1)
the diversity and wide range of themes depicted
on the screen, and 2) the social environment,
attitudes, and interests of the boys/girls studied;
the relationship is always between a kind of
television and a kind of child in a kind of situation.
Interactivity: the exchange of ideas and thoughts
that build on previous statements within a given
context; key elements are 1) responsiveness, and
2) engagement.
Rating system for internet: focusing on 1) the
possibility that children might interact with
strangers and meet online pedophiles, and 2) the possibility that children might access objectionable
content, including sex, violence, and hate sites.
Media literacy: consists the practices that allow people to access, critically evaluate, and create or
manipulate media. Media literacy is not restricted to one medium.
Moral panics analysis: past, present and future – Critcher (2008)
Theory of deviant: holds that behaviors are deviant only when society labels them as deviant. As such,
conforming members of society, who interpret certain behaviors as deviant and then attach this label
to individuals, determine the distinction between deviance and non-deviance. The individual whose
behavior has been labelled deviant may adopt this deviant identity and behave in ways which confirm
the label.
Moral panic: according to Cohen
Processual model of moral panics: Cohens unique contribution was to provide an account of the key
agents in a moral panic and a model of its overall trajectory. It embodies Cohen’s views about the key
agents and dynamics of moral panics, their causes and their consequences.
