Constructing Gender Inequality in Online Public Spaces of Expression

Lucile RIBAUT

Diplomová práce

Feminisms and their oppositions on French and British public online spaces of expression

Abstract:

The current and global omnipresence of social media has changed our communicative practices, which shape discourses that constitute and underlie society's power structures, such as those relating to gender. Current feminist and anti-feminist movements make extensive use of social media communicative affordance. Drawing on sociological notions, Feminist Studies and Digital Studies, and using Critical Discourse Studies as my methodological framework, I analyse discourse fragments at the micro-level of interactions between individuals on comment sections on Facebook. Online anti-feminism is the entry point of the critical aspect of my research. The analysis is contextualised with information at the macro-level, as this paper provides contextual background on gendered power relations and digitally mediated communication. This research aims to investigate how gender and gendered power relations are construed and, additionally, evaluate the democratic quality of comment sections as online public spaces of expression.

Abstract:

The current and global omnipresence of social media has changed our communicative practices, which shape discourses that constitute and underlie society's power structures, such as those relating to gender. Current feminist and anti-feminist movements make extensive use of social media communicative affordance. Drawing on sociological notions, Feminist Studies and Digital Studies, and using Critical Discourse Studies as my methodological framework, I analyse discourse fragments at the micro-level of interactions between individuals on comment sections on Facebook. Online anti-feminism is the entry point of the critical aspect of my research. The analysis is contextualised with information at the macro-level, as this paper provides contextual background on gendered power relations and digitally mediated communication. This research aims to investigate how gender and gendered power relations are construed and, additionally, evaluate the democratic quality of comment sections as online public spaces of expression.

Keywords

gender inequality, anti-feminism, social media, discourse, online spaces of public expression.

Jazyk práce: angličtina

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 1. 6. 2021

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Vedoucí: Mgr. et Mgr. Michaela Antonín Malaníková, Ph.D.

UNIVERZITA PALACKÉHO V OLOMOUCI

Filozofická fakulta

Magisterský studijní program / obor:
Humanities / Euroculture