(McFadden, C. 2018. Turn: The Foucault Pendulum. Retrieved from: https://interestingengineering.com/the-device-that-lets-you-see-the-earth-turn-the-foucault-pendulum)
Social power is the potential for social influence.
The available tools that one has to apply to influence another can lead to a
change in that person. Social power and social influence are separate and
diverse concepts. Social power has potential to be positive or negative, social
influence is an effect, an actual change in the beliefs, attitudes, behaviour, and
emotions of someone because of the actions or presence of another. The person
or group that is the source of influence is commonly known as the influencing
agent, whereas the object of the attempted or successful influence attempt is
commonly known as the target of the influencer (Raven, 2001).
Platforms
and networks in which this happens are everywhere on social media, YouTube is a
social power of another level as it has the potential to influence many people
of different likes/dislikes, nationalities, languages, hobbies, sports, and so
on. YouTube has the power to filter through channels or connections that will be
of interest. Social media influencers have a social power whether they choose
to exercise it or not, in a positive or negative way, they have power to
influence watchers. To think about power as something exercised rather than held,
we can gain an understanding of the different kinds of power. Allen talks about
powers of a particular kind, "modalities" such as domination, authority, seduction,
manipulation, and coercion (Allen, 2003).
Even as some people may feel the internet is a positive social space (Kollock and Smith, 1996), Michel Foucault elaborates a perspective on
information, communication, and power that undermines any easy links between
electronic communication and freedom. He argues that power in modern society is
imposed not by the personal presence and brute force but by the way each
individual learns the art of self-surveillance (Turkle, 1995). In addition to the way the internet urges us to be self-surveillance "docile bodies" (Kuttainen, 2020), sites like YouTube also exert the modalities of manipulation and seduction. The two go hand in
hand, influencers use seduction to manipulate viewers into spending time and
money to fund their lifestyle. This is now a career for many people, the
manipulation of others.
Social power comes in many forms as Allen has told, YouTube is a network of many different influencers the will cater to the viewers ideals to enforce a certain influential power. The influencers of YouTube are the ones who hold this power and exercise it as they see fit. Through sponsorships, content and viewer numbers, affiliate links through their channels, brand deals, and so on. Social media is a large platform where viewers flock in hope to get a sense of self-identification, a place to feel seen, to be a part of something. They are then manipulated to conform to a social standard without even realising it.
"The social
psychology of this century reveals a major lesson: often it is not so much the
kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that
determines how he will act.” (Kuttainen, 2020; Stanley Milgram, 1974)]. (501 words)
References
Allen,
J. (2003). Lost geographies of power. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Kuttainen, V. (2020.) BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, lecture 3: Power. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au
Milgram, S. (1974). BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, lecture 3: Power. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au
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