Independent Research Project

Independent Research Task

Kayla Burazin
4192345

The Facebook page Embarrassing Nightclub Photos of the Week is a page created strictly for the exposure of others misfortunes. Through looking at code of conduct, presentation of self and dramaturgy this Facebook page will provide a well-grounded exposition and interpretation of this naturally occurring data, with particular focus on the negative aspects and misinterpretations at the expense of others

Facebook is an online world that has enabled sociologist to explore another genre of everyday interaction. This online world, whilst still following some rules of everyday interaction, have created a new set of rules for what is and isn’t acceptable within everyday interaction. Facebook has allowed individuals to interact with each other across continents in a matter of seconds within leaving your seat. It has provided a new an invigorating way to invite people to events and to accept or deny a reservation. All of these remarkable things that Facebook provides in regards to everyday interaction, needs to be assessed as to what cost society pays as a result of this?

The Facebook page, Embarrassing Nightclub Photos of the Week is designed so other Facebook users can upload (as the name of the page suggests) embarrassing photos taken whilst in a nightclub. The genre of the photos can range from wardrobe malfunctions, flashing, people having sex (or sexual actions) in the background/ foreground of photos, people becoming physically ill from alcohol consumption and outrageous behaviour. These photos are displayed on this public page for the humour of many people through the breaking face of one individual.

This site can be seen as a piece of naturally occurring data due to the amount of “likes” and users talking about this page has received. When the page was first chosen on the 10/10/2012 to be the piece of naturally occurring data records of the likes and users talking about the page were recorded. On this day this site has over 885,722 likes and 44,633 talking about the page at 17:00. When the site was revisited at 22:00 (the same day) the page had 891,683 likes.  In a space of five hours the likes had rose a total of 5,961. At 14:08 on 1/11/2012 the page had 1,383,884 people who had liked the page and had 83,688 who had talked about this page via their Facebook accounts. When re-checked at 14:12 the same day the page likes had risen to 1, 383,887. In the timeframe of less then a month (10/10/2012- 1/11/2012) the likes for this page had risen 492,204 and the amount of users talking about this page had risen 39,095.

People are live their lives by (whether is be subconsciously or not) the societal norms and the unwritten ‘rules’ of everyday interactions. We don’t cut people off in the middle of them talking or cough in there face because it is not what society deems acceptable. These un-witten rules are like codes of conduct in regards to verbal and physical everyday interaction within society. When using the Internet there is also a code of conduct that must be maintained. These online written and un-written rules are all established as a means of maintaining not only order but ones face. Maintaining a sense of decorum through politeness and respect must be established and if this is not attained the ‘social code’ of the Internet is broken. Embarrassing Nightclub Photos of the week displays this broken ‘social code’ explicitly.

FIGURE 1

In this figure (1) it is apparent that the code is broken through comments about this particular photo. The photo is of an obese woman (See Appendix B) and the comments regarding this photo consist of no politeness or respect. The demeanor in there comments is not present at all, with many referring to her as a ‘wale’ (SIC).
            These photos are not simply breaking the code but are also a form of online bullying that is rapidly growing within western culture. Cyberbullying can leave victims feeling isolated, dehumanized, or helpless at the time of the attack. (Donnerstein, 2012). As a result of this social solidarity is formed between the person commenting and the person featured within the image. This social solidarity then creates a split in authority levels between these individuals in this online space through the enforcement of power (from the individual commenting) onto the victim (the person within the photo) by means of their negative comments (Daly, 2004).

The presentation of self and peoples demeanor are both acts that every person performs to society in order to be accepted. When people are in different environments, these acts can alter to stay ‘true’ to the nature of the environment.  A young adult might be quite civilised and never sware when around their parents or their boss yet once they are with their friendship group they use profanity like there is no tomorrow. Whether we realise it or not every individual will have multiple performances that they perform everyday to stay ‘true’ to their environment.
            As humans we have a basic need to feel accepted, loved and like we belong. We have learned about the necessity of it for humans within school, when we would have all studied Maslow’s hierarchy.  Love/ belonging is the third stage of this pyramid whilst esteem is second. Belongingness and Love are achieved though affiliation with a group, a process that is very much impacted by cultural values and beliefs about what is acceptable to the group. (Gorman, 2012). There is a great deal put on humans to ‘fit in’ and to keep face so that they will be accepted. We do this through abiding by the societal norms that everyday interaction is governed by.

When people break societal norms, however, their presentation of self has been broken and their demeanour shattered. Then this causes embarrassment and the fear of being judged by other members of society and this fear of being judged also leads to fear of isolation and being disassociated from society.
The reason for this fear is due to acceptance and belonging being apart of our basic human needs. 
            For the people that view this page and especially those who go to the effort to like, share and comment on them, it enables them to point out and be humoured at the expense of those who have broken their presentation of self and demeanor. As it is not happening to us, and our presentation is still intact ( through the use of our online alias) we are able to find humour out of situations where people don’t. 
            Power is another aspect that people draw from this page. Through using an online alias to point out another’s misfortunes as a result of them breaking face users can feel a sense of power. The bullying that goes on within this site enables the user to gain a sense of power through pointing out negative social aspects of the victim (person within the photos) and using them as a form of humour- this becomes their source of power. Butler discusses this need for power that is used as a form of social solidarity when stated that bullying, exploits the desire for existence, where existence is always conferred from elsewhere; it marks a primary vulnerability to the Other in order to be’ (Butler 1997).

 FIGURE 2

  As seen in this Figure (2) the comments towards the individual within the photo who had a bad spray tan (See Appendix C) are used as a form of power to produce social solidarity. This is so as the comments are of an attacking nature to the individual who has broken their presentation of self and this then segregates them socially.

Dramaturgy is a theoretical position…which uses the stage and the theatre as its key organizing metaphor (SIC) (Scott, 2009). This theoretical framework is present within this Facebook site is present through the considerable amount of impression management.  Images of women and men that are dressed and posing a certain way exemplify what impression management is as they are trying to gain a particular perception of themselves via their pose. Dramaturgy can be linked to the photos of individuals that are unaware a photo of them has been taken but for the means of this paper: this framework will be associated with individuals who are aware a photo is being taken of them.
            Individuals make a conscious decision perform a particular way and this is seen through the way they choose to dress and pose.  The frontstage of these photos are a means to, perform the roles that leads the audience to form an impression (Houts, 2004). Their frontstage performance within these photos can be a means of portraying a particular persona about the individual but these perceptions can be either socially positive or negative from other members of the public.

 FIGURE 3

The position of the girl in the purple dress on the left in this Figure (3) portrays the negative effects from the impression management that is present within this Facebook page. To this girl her pose may simply be to show her flexibility via this pose yet to some there may be a negative meaning behind this pose. The title of the photo is “flexible much” yet some Facebook users have taken this pose as a quite sexual and have commented in a sexually derogative way. Within the figure, a comment was posted on 17/10/2012 from the Facebook user Steven Smiths exemplifies the sexually approach taken from a photo that could of simply been to show flexibility. 

Code of conduct, Presentation of self and Dramaturgy were the aspects used to analyse the social everyday interactions of Facebook users from the Facebook page Embarrassing Nightclub Photos of the Week. By assessing certain examples through the frameworks the negative aspects and misinterpretations were shown as a result of the misfortune of others.

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REFERENCE LIST

 

Butler, J. (1997), The psychic life of power. Theories in subjection, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press

Daly. N, Holmes. J, Newton. J, Stubbe. M (2004) ‘Expletives as solidarity signals in FTAs on the factory floor.’ Journal of Pragmatics 36: pp. 945-964

Donnerstein, E (2012) “Internet Bullying”, Pediatric clinics of North America, Vol.59, No.3. Accessed 25/10/2012 http://ey9ff7jb6l.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Internet+bullying&rft.jtitle=Pediatric+clinics+of+North+America&rft.au=Donnerstein%2C+Ed&rft.date=2012-06-01&rft.volume=59&rft.issue=3&rft.spage=623&rft_id=info:pmid/22643169&rft.externalDocID=22643169

“Embarrassing Nightclub Photos of the Week”, Facebook. Accessed 1/11/2012 http://www.facebook.com/EmbarrassingNightclubPhotosOfTheWeek

Goffman, Erving (1967) “The Nature of Deference and Demeanor., Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behaviour. New York: Pantheon Books, pp. 47-96.

Goffman, Erving, (1971), “Performances.”, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Harmondsworth: Penguin, pp. 28-82

Gorman, Don. (2010) “Maslow's Hierarchy and Social and Emotional Wellbeing” Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal, Vol. 34, No. 1,. Accessed 25/10/12 <http://search.informit.com.au.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=651117215450696;res=IELIND> ISSN: 1037-3403.

Houts, L (2004) “Backstage, frontstage interactions: Everyday racial events and white college students” thesis, University of Florida, Florida. Accessed 25/10/2012  http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/docview/305181606

Scott, J, Marshall, G (2009) “dramaturgy (dramaturgical perspective)”, Oxford Dictionary of Sociology, Vol 3, pg192

Wieder, L.D, (1974) “Telling the Code”, Ethnomethodology. Harmondsworth: Penguin, pp. 144-172
 

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Appendix A

http://www.facebook.com/EmbarrassingNightclubPhotosOfTheWeek

NOTE: Since the submission of this essay Facebook may have taken down some of the photos referenced due to complaints from other Facebook users that deem them offensive and have reported them.
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Appendix B

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Appendix C

Expletives, epithets, profanity and rudeness

I did my group presentation on this weeks topic so I thought I would Comment on others ideas about profanity for this weeks blog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYAMDhVT50I

Group Presentation

This is my group presentation that I presented yesterday in the 10:30 tutorial with Monika Grant.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/109776565/Group-Powerpoint

Mediated identity and interaction

This week I Commented on Josh Nobles blog in relation to the Internet and interaction.

http://nicholsoncartoons.com.au/mobile-media-expands-exponentially-tablets-mobiles-social-media.html

Cultures and Language

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The differences in the ways cultures use language was what was discussed this week.

The Australian culture has a tendency to use a lot of slang and colloquial metaphors within our language. We do not pick up on this as it is the way we talk everyday but its not until we really look closely that we realize how greatly affected our language is by our culture. As a society we shorten our words constantly and say many metaphors in a way to explain what we mean (EG- blind as a bat). In our context these metaphors/ phrases are easy to understand and we know that what is being said is not what it literally means. For someone from another culture, however, this is not the case.

I have had persona experience with this confusion when my Aunty came over from Canada with her new husband. My grandfather said “she stood out like a lily on a dirt tin” – we knew that that statement meant simply that the women simply stood out in the crowd yet to my Aunties new husband he had no idea what this women had to do with lilies being on dirt tins. Once explained he understood but it is not until this explanation is given that the cultural differences can be understood.

Semiotics is always going to be something that separates cultures within language, as it is inevitable that each culture takes different meanings on words within each context it is presented.

There is one language, however, that is enabling people cross-cultures to understand regardless of the culture is coming from- online. The use of terms (ROFL, LOL, LMFAO) are all, due to the internet (and its ability to connect people from different parts of the word within a few seconds) and as a result of this has formed a globally accepted language.

Social and Moral Codes

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In relation to everyday interaction within society we must look at social and moral codes. These codes are present in every interaction we have as human beings whether we recognise it or not. These are subconscious things that we perform everyday to ensure that we do not violate the ‘unwritten’ laws of society.

These codes are all around us everyday in every situation we are ever in. From being in a tutorial or lecture to being out for lunch with friends; society has strict codes that we must follow to not diminish face. As stated in other blog posts, as a society being accepted or feeling like we belong, is apart of our natural basic human needs. Thus, the reasoning for the fear, of diminishing face and therefore abiding, by these social and moral codes.

Every society has a different ‘set’ of social and moral codes due to their context. The convict code example was used within the reading and is one that I believe explains this point quite well. The reason our society does not fully understand or are unable to relate to is because their context does not match ours.
This example can also be linked to our schooling. Within my primary school the saying “dibber-dobbers wear nappies” was chanted at any person who would state they were telling the teacher on another student. The ‘rule’ that you didn’t ‘dob’ on another student was quite strong within our year and fear of isolation was present if you did ‘dob’. In this situation there was an ‘unwritten’ law amongst the students that you didn’t not tell on other students and if you did that was diminishing face. What I am trying to establish by using these two examples is that even though they are completely different contexts and these contexts affect what is the social and moral code- these codes are present in all different walks of life at any age.

Wieder, D. Laurence. 1974. “Telling the Code.” Pp. 144-172 in Ethnomethodology, edited by

Roy Turner. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Jimerson, Jason B., and Matthew K. Oware. 2006. Telling the Code of the Street: An Ethnomethodological Ethnography.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography vol. 35, no. 1: pp. 24-50.

Ethnomethodology

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The issues of ‘un-written social laws’ in relation to everyday interaction an interested topic that really made me assess my own everyday interaction. I found that until looking at this I never really considered the fact that as a society we do actually have social rules and regulations in relation to interaction between individuals.

An example that I thought of that gave me a relation between the reading and my own understanding of the topic was an incident that happened within the tutorial during the group presentations. Whilst one of the group members presenting was explaining and presenting her section of the information- the other member walked from the front of the room and sat back in the ‘audience’. He chose a seat directly in front of another student and continued to move seats until it was his time to present his section of the information. Even though it was later pointed out to the class that this was intentional to express what they were trying to convey about the breaking of these codes, the class were given the opportunity to express how this situation made them feel. It was unanimous that the class didn’t (at the time) understand why he would do that and thought it quite rude that he left his partner at the front of the class alone (whilst presenting) and he went and sat back down. This was simply because it is not following the ‘law’ of everyday interaction especially in relation to presentation ‘decorum’.

Garfinkel’s idea of contextualization cues is something that I really could relate to. Basically its where you are presented with a particular situation in a social environment and your brain automatically processes an appropriate response. Obviously sometimes this idea isn’t really put into practice, when people have a ‘foot-in-mouth’ moment and say something that really wasn’t appropriate for the situation. As a whole, however, this concept is really something genius and happens constantly.

Heritage, John. 1984. “The Morality of Cognition.” Pp. 75-102 in Garfinkel and

Ethnomethodology. Cambridge: Polity Press. 

Dramaturgy

Week 5 Reading: Goffman, E 1971, ‘Performances”, in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, pp28-82

Actual self, performance of self, audience, frontstage and backstage were all aspects that were addressed this week when looking at Dramaturgy.

When looking at Dramaturgy I found it unable to completely understand the issues of frontstage and backstage from just the reading and lecture. After completing the tutorial though and being able to talk about these theories in greater detail with the rest of the class I was able to gain a more complete understanding. When seeing others examples of their foreground and background experiences it became a lot easier to see my own examples and attach these to further my understanding.

The group presentation split us up into groups and gave us questions to consider then report what we came up with back to the rest of the class. One of the questions that I was given was addressing presentation of self and the actual self. What we found was that before you can look at presentation of self you first have to address what is actual self. This is then contradicted with the fact that, how can you actually consider something to be ‘actual’ self. Is it defined by a common set of characteristic that we have on a variety of different performances? Do we even have an actual self because in one way or another (no matter how small) we are always performing for different audiences?

After this week I started assessing my own life. I started looking at: how I act around different groups of people; the similarities or differences that, each ‘performance’ contains and how others act around me in those different situations. Who knew everyday life was so layered?