The Theory of Social Networking and Political Movements
In 1954, a little-known social scientist traveled to a remote Norwegian fishing village to study social structures in communities.
What the sociologist, J.A. Barnes, found there changed how scientists interpret social interactions in large and small groups. Fishermen, herring oil factory workers, farmers, people working in market cooperatives, all played a part in an intricate social network, even though they rarely communicated face-to-face.
Barnes’ observations, and the term he coined, “Social Networking,” also provided a key to understanding how the Internet impacts political movements more than 50 years later and lent its name to the phenomenon of Web sites like MySpace and Facebook.
This project explores the connections between two New York University undergraduate students, Bumhe Han — B to his friends — and Samantha Goldman, and their network of political activists. The Web site is intended as a model of a much larger project that introduces users to a new network of political leaders and the virtual ties that bind them. But the key to understanding how their brand of political organizing works lies back in that Norwegian fishing village, in Barnes’ work and the theories it inspired.
Continued...
Posted by Team B 2:40 PM