Social Media and the College Community

• In Event: 30.080 - Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: 30.080-1 - Deweyan Perspectives on Social Media, Communication, and Reconceptualizing Community

Abstract

For John Dewey, the great challenge facing Americans in the 20th century was to continue to advance democracy and to make progress towards achieving the “Great Community” (Dewey, 1946/1927). The Industrial Revolution and the changes it brought to communal life by its new economics and ways of living had dampened optimism about democracy’s communal future. Dewey observed that in the 20th century the conditions for community had been altered because relationships themselves had been transformed by technology. Twenty-first century technologies present us with similar concerns. Today technologies have transformed communication, relationships and what constitutes community. What does this suggest for the college campus? Are social media one means to develop campus community, to achieve Dewey’s “Great Community” on campus?

Author

• Ana M. Martinez-Aleman, Boston College