How has the digital revolution changed communication and social life, and do optimists or pessimists better describe its effects?
Component 3 Section A: the digital revolution and new media, including the shift to digital and social media, the network society, and the optimistic and pessimistic views of the digital social world.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Component 3 guide to the digital revolution and new media. Covers digital communication, social media and the prosumer, the network society (Castells), and the optimistic versus pessimistic debate including e-democracy, misinformation and corporate control (Cornford and Robins), with the exam skills the debates paper rewards.
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What this dot point is asking
OCR Component 3 examines the digital revolution and new media: how digital communication has changed social life, the idea of the network society, and the optimist versus pessimist debate about whether the digital world is good or bad for society. This is the heart of the compulsory Section A and a common essay.
The answer
The digital revolution and new media
New media have distinctive features: interactivity and user-generated content (users create and share, not just receive), convergence (phone, television, internet and camera combine in single devices), and Web 2.0 social networking. The prosumer both produces and consumes content, blurring the old line between media producers and audiences. Social media build networks and online communities that cross borders.
The network society
Castells argues we live in a network society, organised around flows of information, capital and communication enabled by digital technology. This represents a shift from industrial to informational capitalism, in which power lies in control of networks and the ability to connect (or be excluded). This idea links the digital world directly to globalisation.
The optimist versus pessimist debate
The central debate is whether the digital world is good or bad for society:
- Optimists argue digital media bring more democracy (e-democracy, online petitions and activism), more choice and information, and new global connections and support networks for marginalised groups.
- Pessimists point to misinformation and echo chambers, online abuse, the digital divide, corporate control (Cornford and Robins argue new media are run by the same old elites, so power continues rather than democratises), and harms to wellbeing (Turkle's "alone together", more connected but more isolated).
Examples in context
A top essay weighs optimist claims (democracy, choice, connection) against pessimist ones (misinformation, control, the divide), applies examples, and judges.
Try this
Q1. Outline two ways in which new media differ from old media. [4 marks]
- What the marker wants. Two differences (AO1, two marks each): interactivity and user-generated content versus one-way broadcasting, and convergence of devices and platforms, each briefly developed.
Q2. Outline and explain two pessimistic views of the digital social world. [10 marks]
- Cue. Two developed points: corporate control by old elites (Cornford and Robins) and the spread of misinformation and echo chambers, or harms to wellbeing (Turkle), each applied to a contemporary example.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of OCR exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
OCR H580/03 20196 marksOutline two features of new media. [6]Show worked answer →
A short Section A knowledge question (AO1, three marks per feature). Identify a feature and develop it with an example.
Feature one. Interactivity and user-generated content: unlike old broadcast media, new media let users create and share content, for example posting and commenting on social media (the "prosumer").
Feature two. Convergence: phone, television, internet and camera combine in single devices and platforms, for example a smartphone used to watch, message and shop. Develop each with an example for the second mark.
OCR H580/03 202120 marksAssess the view that the digital revolution has had mainly positive effects on society. [20]Show worked answer →
A Section A essay (AO1, AO2 and AO3), shown at the 20-mark cap, marked by levels of response.
For. Optimists argue digital media bring more participation and democracy (e-democracy, online activism), more choice and information, and new global connections and support networks.
Against. Pessimists point to misinformation and echo chambers, online abuse, the digital divide, corporate control (Cornford and Robins argue new media are run by old elites) and harms to wellbeing (Turkle, "alone together").
Judgement. The digital revolution brings real benefits but also serious harms and continuities of power, so "mainly positive" is too one-sided. This balance reaches the top band.
Related dot points
- Component 3 Section A: the concept of globalisation in its economic, cultural and political dimensions, and the competing theoretical positions of hyperglobalists (optimists), pessimists (sceptics) and transformationalists.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Component 3 guide to globalisation. Covers the economic, cultural and political dimensions, and the hyperglobalist, pessimist and transformationalist theories (Held, Giddens, Castells, Harvey), with the concepts of time-space compression and the network society and the exam skills the debates paper rewards.
- Component 3 Section A: the impact of globalisation on culture and identity, including cultural homogenisation and Americanisation, McDonaldisation, cultural imperialism, and the alternative of cultural hybridity and glocalisation.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Component 3 guide to global culture and identity. Covers cultural homogenisation and Americanisation, Ritzer's McDonaldisation, cultural imperialism, the global village (McLuhan), and the alternative of cultural hybridity and glocalisation (Robertson), with the debate and exam skills the debates paper rewards.
- Component 3 Section A: the digital divide and digital inequality, and the construction of identity online, including the presentation of self, online community and the postmodern view of consumption and hyperreality.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Component 3 guide to the digital divide and online identity. Covers inequalities of digital access and use by class, age and global region, online presentation of self (Goffman), online community (Turkle), and the postmodern view of consumption and hyperreality (Baudrillard, Bauman), with the exam skills the debates paper rewards.
- Component 3 Section A: surveillance and the digital social world, including Foucault's disciplinary power and the panopticon, the surveillance society, big data, and surveillance capitalism.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Component 3 guide to surveillance and the digital world. Covers Foucault's disciplinary power and the panopticon, Lyon's surveillance society, big data and social sorting, and Zuboff's surveillance capitalism, with the debate about power, privacy and freedom and the exam skills the debates paper rewards.
- Synoptic: the debate between modernity and postmodernity, including postmodernist theory (Lyotard, Baudrillard) and theories of late or liquid modernity (Giddens, Beck, Bauman), and the implications for sociology.
An OCR A-Level Sociology guide to the modernity versus postmodernity debate. Covers postmodernism (Lyotard's incredulity towards metanarratives, Baudrillard's hyperreality), late and liquid modernity (Giddens, Beck's risk society, Bauman), and the implications for sociology, with the exam skills the theory questions reward.
Sources & how we know this
- OCR AS and A Level Sociology (H180, H580) specification — OCR (2015)