This thesis was completed as part of a Master of Equality studies programme. It is hoped it contributes something worthwhile to the ongoing battle for a free public sphere.
Genevieve Carbery
This thesis aims to assess the potential of the Internet as a tool for egalitarian social change, to examine the ability of governments and market forces to filter this egalitarian potential and to suggest a direction to combat these threats.
It is established why the Internet has potential to be used as a tool for egalitarian social change, as opposed to the mass media. One of the main reasons that the Internet is potentially emancipatory is because it facilitates Freirean dialogue and action.
Governments and international governing bodies filter the emancipatory potential of the through direct censorship and covert filtration. Gramsci’s (1971) theory of hegemony and Herman and Chomsky’s (1994) propaganda model are used to demonstrate the importance to the ruling class of maintaining control over the Internet and disrupting counter-hegemonic voices using government power.
The political economy of the Internet is outlined in order to examine the power held by private bodies in filtering the Internet and question their accountability. The main patterns of consolidation and ownership happening within this political economy are identified and the implications of this compared to the mass media are ascertained using Herman and Chomsky’s (1994) propaganda model. This shows how economic and power inequalities within the market system affect the mass media and the Internet.
The best approaches for facilitating an emancipatory Internet are considered.
The main approaches (namely government, market and self-governance) are flawed
and an alternative egalitarian approach to the management of the Internet in
the form of participatory democracy is outlined.