Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University
The “MacDonaldization” of Russian adolescent: Effect of social media
Abstract. The article focuses on a critical rethinking of the role and place of social media in the design of virtual spaces. Considering social media as part of a consumer society system, the author aims to determine their socializing potential in context of teens’ virtual daily lives. The research bases on the data from a corpus of domestic studies of adolescents’ behaviors on the Internet. George Ritzer’s concept of the McDonaldization of society serves a theoretical framework that enables to explicate the practices of using social media in conditions of an emerging consumer society. The study shows that the “MacDonaldized” influence of social media is characterized by encouraging the creation of template virtual self-presentations, simplifying virtual communications, transferring some forms of human relations to virtual dimensions and eliminating their value (for example, net-friendship), as well as trans-forming the mechanisms of public recognition. The author suggests an assumption that the influence of social media, on the one hand, encourages skills in younger generations to search out network resources and network solutions; however, on the other hand, it restricts a creative view of a teenager encouraging the creation of new forms or designer finds by coping what someone has already suggested.
Keywords: McDonaldization of society, social media, teenager, self-presentation, virtual communication, net-friendship
DOI: 10.5840/dspl20192116
References:
- Abrosimova, E.E. Detskij segment videoblogosfery: struktura, funktsii i vliyanie na sotsializatsiyu [Children’s Videoblog Segment: Structure, Functions and Influence on Socialization]. Diss. for CSc in Sociology. Lobachevsky State University. Nizhni Novgorod, 2018. 160 pp. Available at: https://diss.unn.ru/files/2018/881/diss-Abrosimova-881.pdf (accessed on February 11, 2019). (In Russian)
- Artamonova, A.V. Makdonaldizatsiya semji [McDonaldization of the Family], Universitetskij nauchnyj zhurnal, 2013, no 6, pp. 26–33. (In Russian)
- Bolz, N. Azbuka media [The ABC’s of Media / Das ABC der Medien] / trans. [from the German] by L. Ionin, A. Chernykh. Moscow: Evropa, 2011. 136 pp. (In Russian)
- Chem zhivet novoe pokolenie: statistika o rossijskoj molodezhi [What Line is the New Generation in: Statistics On the Russian Youth], IPSOS. Google audience research: Adolescents and young adults. September 2016. Available at: https://www.google.ru/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=2ahUKEwiR_qC5m7PgAhXRJpoKHbdpAdIQFjABegQIBRAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thinkwithgoogle.com%2F_qs%2Fdocuments%2F3169%2F00404_Google_Youth_Study_RU.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0PTg1tGmGS2DJmf4yuT0BD (accessed on February 11, 2019). (In Russian)
- Davydova, S.I. Makdonaldizatsiya vysshego obrazovaniya [The McDonaldization of Higher Education], Problemy vysshego obrazovaniya, 2018, no. 1, pp. 15–17. (In Russian)
- Doveryaete li vy novostnym, analiticheskim i ofitsialnym sajtam v Internete? [Do You Trust News, Analytical and Official Websites? All-Russian Survey], VTSIOM, 24 April 2017. Available at: https://wciom.ru/zh/print_q.php?s_id=1164&q_id=78135&date=24.04.2017 (accessed on July 11, 2018). (In Russian)
- Doveryaete li Vy sotsialnym setyam i blogam v internete? [Do You Trust Social Networks and Blogs on the Internet?], VTSIOM, 24 April 2017. Available at: https://wciom.ru/zh/print_q.php?s_id=1164&q_id=78136&date=24.04.2017 (accessed on July 11, 2018). (In Russian)
- Howe, N., Strauss, W. Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069. New York: William Morrow & Company Inc., 1991. 538 pp.
- Kazhdomu vozrastu svoi seti [To Each Age Its Own Network], VTSIOM, 12 February 2018. Available at: https://wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=116691 (accessed on July 11, 2018). (In Russian)
- Koroleva, D.O. Issledovanie povsednevnosti sovremennykh podrostkov: prisutstvie v sotialnykh setyakh kak neotjemlemaya sostavlyayushchaya obshcheniya [The Study of Everyday Life of Modern Adolescents: The Presence in Social Networks as an Integral Part of Communication], Sovremennaya zarubezhnaya psihologiya, 2016, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 55–61. (In Russian)
- Luneva, O.S. Konceptsii postmoderna v analize osnovnyh tendentsij razvitiya sovremennoj rossijskoj sistemy zdravoohraneniya [Postmodern Concepts in the Analysis of the Main Trends in the Development of the Modern Russian Health Care System], Ekonomika i sotsium: sovremennye modeli razvitiya, 2011, no. 2, pp. 74–79. (In Russian)
- Nikitin, A.P. Makdonaldizatsiya vysshego obrazovaniya [The McDonaldization of Higher Education], Idei i idealy, 2018, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 221–232. DOI: 10.17212/2075–0862-2018–3.2–221-232. (In Russian)
- Pestryakova, P.D. Makdonaldizatsiya v izdatelskom dele [The MacDonaldization in Publishing], Trudy GPNTB SO RAN, 2016, no. 11, pp. 82–88 (In Russian)
- Pokhomova, A.A. Vliyanie makdonaldizatsii kak sotsialnogo protsessa na fenomen volonterskoj deyatelnosti [The Impact of McDonaldization as a Social Process on the Phenomenon of Volunteering], Vestnik MDU im. A.A. Kulyashova, 2017, no. 1 (49), pp. 51–55. (In Russian)
- Prensky, M. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, On the Horizon, 2001, vol. 9, no. 5. Available at: https://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf (accessed on February 11, 2019).
- Ritzer, G. Makdonaldizatsiya obshchestva 5 [The Macdonaldization of Society 5] / transl. by A.V. Lazarev. Moscow: Praksis Publ., 2011. 592 pp. (In Russian)
- Rol virtualnykh sotsialnykh setej v zhizni sovremennogo shkolnika [The Role of Virtual Social Networks in a Modern School Student’s Life]. Report on the Research / Arzhanyh, E.V., Zadorin, I.V., Kolesnikova, E.Yu., Gurkina, O.A., Novikova, E.M., Maltseva D.V. Moscow: MGPPU, Laboratory of Monitoring Studies, 2014. 107 pp. (In Russian)
- Shchekoturov, A.V. WEB 2.0: osobennosti, strategii i tekhnologii gendernoj sotsializacii podrostkov v seti Internet [WEB 2.0: Features, Strategies and Technologies of Gender Socialization of Adolescents on the Internet], Vestnik Nizhegorodskogo universiteta im. N.I. Lobachevskogo, 2012, no. 4–1, pp. 437–444. (In Russian)
- Shchekoturov, A.V. Konstruirovanie podrostkami virtualnoj gendernoj identichnosti [Adolescents Constructing Their Virtual Gender Identity]. Diss. for CSc in Sociology Resume. Lobachevsky State University. Nizhni Novgorod, 2013. 22 pp. (In Russian)
- Soldatova, G., Lebesheva, M. Opasnoe lyubopytstvo. Kto i kak popadayet na sayty, nesushchiye ugrozu dlya zdorovya shkonikov [Dangerous Curiosity. Who and How Gets to Websites Destructive to Schoolchildren’s Health], Deti v informatsionnom obshchestve, 2011, no. 8, pp. 46–55. (In Russian)
- Soldatova, G. Naedine so vsemi [Alone with All], Deti v informatsionnom obshchestve, 2012, no. 11, pp. 60–67. (In Russian)
- Soldatova, G., Olkina, O. Komu mne otkrytsya? Drug, virtualnyy drug i prosto znakomyy: kakaya mezhdu nimi raznitsa? [To Whom Should I Disclosure? A Friend, a Virtual Friend and an Acquaintance: How Do They Differ?], Deti v informatsionnom obshchestve, 2015, no. 22, pp. 28–35. (In Russian)
- Soldatova, G. Deti v internete: onlajn-riski i kiberagressiya [Children on the Internet: Online Risks and Cyberagression], Files.runet, 2017. Available at: http://files.runet-id.com/2017/riw/presentations/2nov.riw17-blue.11–00–soldatova.pdf (accessed on July 11, 2018). (In Russian)
- Tsymbalenko, A., Harikov, A., Majorova-Shcheglova, S., Makeev, P. Vliyanie Interneta na rossijskikh podrostkov i yunoshestvo v kontekste razvitiya rossijskogo informatsionnogo prostranstva [The Internet Influence on Russian Adolescents and Young Adults in the Context of the Development of the Russian Information Space]. The sociological research results. Moscow: Liga yunyh zhurnalistov, 2012. Available at: http://krcdo.my1.ru/_ld/1/141_vliyanieinterne.pdf (accessed on February 11, 2019). (In Russian)
- Vanderburg, W.H. Our War on Ourselves. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011. 400 pp.
- Vyalkin, S.A. “Dostupnost’”, “kopiya”, “igra” v sovremennykh predstavleniyah o ratsionalnosti [“Accessibility”, “Copy”, “Game” in Modern Views on Rationality], Sotsialnye i dukhovnye osnovaniya sushchestvovaniya cheloveka v sovremennom obshchestve: Collected papers. Saratov, 2018, pp. 143–149. (In Russian)