From Cybernetics to Social Reproduction: Examining the Interconnectedness of Community and Technology with Dr. Erica Robles-Anderson
Jul 14, 2023
01:48:33
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Quick takeaways
Rethinking traditional notions of community is crucial to understanding how culture shapes technological advancements and economic transformations.
Community building requires a shift in perspective to embrace alternative organizing strategies and cultivate public cultures that support collective visions.
Challenging binary thinking is essential for a more nuanced understanding of community and offers alternative visions for social organization.
Conservative organizations possess innovative approaches to technology and social cohesion, offering valuable insights for progressive movements.
Deep dives
The importance of rethinking traditional notions of community
Rethinking traditional notions of community is crucial, as the dominant narrative often places technologies and capital as the drivers of history, with culture relegated to a secondary role. This narrative limits our understanding of how culture shapes technological advancements and how social relations impact economic transformations. Instead of separating economy and society, we should explore the constitutive causality between them. Examples such as the recognition of invisible labor and the essential worker concept highlight the need to challenge the dominant narratives and develop a more robust language that incorporates the complex and interconnected nature of economic activity and community.
Exploring alternative organizing strategies for community building
Community building requires a shift in perspective to embrace alternative organizing strategies. Mega churches and conservative organizations offer insights into how to coordinate heterogeneous actors, finding shared interests and visions, and utilizing innovative organizational forms. These organizations navigate complex topologies of coordination, bringing together diverse individuals who speak different languages and cultivating public cultures that support their collective vision. By studying and understanding these strategies, there is potential to develop new approaches to community organizing that transcend ideological boundaries.
The need to challenge binary thinking and embrace complexity
Challenging binary thinking is essential for fostering a more nuanced understanding of community. Binary narratives that portray community as either backward or progressive limit our ability to grasp the intricate relationships between social, economic, and technological forces. Acknowledging that social reproduction, gender relations, and material culture play fundamental roles in shaping communities allows for a more comprehensive analysis. By examining examples like multi-level marketing networks and homeschooling movements, we can see how these communities defy simplistic categorizations and offer alternative visions of social organization and validation.
Recognizing the potential of conservative organizations in technology and social cohesion
Conservative organizations, despite ideological differences, often possess innovative approaches to technology use and social cohesion. They emphasize coordinating work and organizing in ways that attract diverse actors, leveraging their different knowledge and skills. These organizations foster connections between individuals from various social arenas, leading to distinct topologies of coordination. Additionally, they prioritize social reproduction and prioritize women's work and validation, enabling more egalitarian structures. Understanding and learning from these organizations could offer valuable insights for progressive movements seeking to enhance their technological, organizational, and social strategies.
Importance of understanding social reproduction
Understanding social reproduction and its impact on various aspects of society, including social norms, structures, and integration, is crucial. Churches and other institutions, such as multi-level marketing schemes, play a significant role in social reproduction. For example, even after realizing the financial disadvantages, people continue to participate in multi-level marketing due to the social connections and sense of belonging it provides. Understanding these dynamics helps us grasp the range of reasons why people engage in certain practices and the different ways they contribute to societal structures.
Challenges of traditional business start-ups
Traditional business start-ups often require significant capital and can result in high levels of financial ruin. In comparison, the buy-in level for multi-level marketing schemes tends to be much lower, making it more accessible to individuals facing financial constraints. While multi-level marketing is often criticized for being exploitative, it is important to consider the opportunities it provides for individuals who struggle to find sufficient wages or invest in traditional businesses.
The importance of alternative community-building initiatives
Examining and learning from community-building initiatives, such as churches, can offer insights into constructing sustainable and supportive social structures. These initiatives often focus on providing resources, such as education, artistic skills, sports opportunities, and social support, that are relatively inaccessible through conventional channels. By implementing similar programs in other contexts, such as within left-leaning organizations, possibilities for empowering marginalized communities and fostering social change can be expanded.
What happens when we reframe our understanding of community and technology? Join us in a fascinating conversation with Dr. Erica Robles-Anderson, associate professor at NYU in Media, Culture, and Communication, as we explore this complex relationship and challenge our perspectives on cybernetics, Marxist theories, and the impact of historical and technological transformation.
In this thought-provoking episode, we discuss the financial crisis of 2008-2012, its effects on the publishing industry, and how social organizations leverage technology to achieve their goals. We also touch on the unique challenges of leftist goals, the need for coordination between different actors, and the public culture required for success. Delve into topics such as organizing, representation, and social reproduction, and learn how access to arts education, sports education, and other services can benefit working-class communities.
Finally, we examine the economic relations present in the service economy, the gender disparities in left media, and the need to cultivate the terroir of people who know a lot about music and other forms of art. Discover how churches and religious institutions play a role in providing social change, and how frameworks, models, and code-switching can bridge the gap between different language communities. Don't miss this eye-opening conversation that will broaden your understanding of the world and inspire you to think differently.
Erica Robles-Anderson is a professor of media, culture, and communication, at New York University. focuses on the role media technologies play in the production of space. In particular, she concentrates on configurations that enable a sense of public, collective, or shared experience, especially through the structuring of visibility and gaze. Trained as both an experimental psychologist and a cultural historian she has employed a range of methodologies to explore the definition of media-space. She is currently writing a book about the 20th-century transformation of Protestant worship space into a highly mediated, spectacular "mega-church" (under contract, Yale University Press).
Crew: Host: C. Derick Varn Audio Producer: Paul Channel Strip ( @aufhebenkultur ) Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake. Intro Video Design: Jason Myles Art Design: Corn and C. Derick Varn
