Activism, Memes, and Social Constructionism: Transforming Public Policy?

• In Event: The Internet and Perceptions of Crime and Justice

Abstract

A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture. Similar to biological evolution, memes may evolve by natural selection through the processes of variation, mutation, competition, and inheritance. Each of these influences the meme’s success at reproduction and continuity. Based on social agreement, institutional practices or collective social action these meme’s garner power and carry a lasting message. Surveying a sample of undergraduate students at a regional university on the west coast, the current research explores the level of student activism, student’s perceived ability to enact change, their hopefulness for the future and the relation of current memes. Are the students apathetic or do they enact a lasting message? The current study utilizes differing criminological and social questions to explore these perceptions- from juvenile justice policies to green criminology, conservation efforts, and poverty. Policy and pedagogical implications are discussed.

Author

• Alison S. Burke, Southern Oregon University