DIGITAL TASTES: Social class and young people's technology use

North, Suzanne Michelle; Snyder, Ilana Ariela; Bulfin, Scott

doi:10.1080/13691180802109006

Cited by 64 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Of possible concern is that education policies and schools are overlooking the opportunity for schools to expand students' experiences with technology in formal learning contexts (North, Snyder, and Bulfin 2008). Learning experiences that build students' cultural and social capitals, more specifically to socialise students into technology use that is different from their practices at home, that expose them to skills, knowledge and a techno-culture to expand their horizons and prepare them for their futures were absent in the study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…For example, Bourdieu's concepts were key to research on teenage technological experts to conceptualise their formal and informal learning experiences with technology and the implications for the school field (Johnson 2009a(Johnson , 2009b. While other studies have focused on particular elements of Bourdieu's theories, the concept of habitus was used to study the relationship between young people's digital tastes and social class (North, Snyder, and Bulfin 2008). The case studies of 25 Australian 15-year-olds suggested a strong link between technology use and class.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Understanding students' use and value of technology for learning

Beckman

Bennett

Lockyer

2014

Learning, Media and Technology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite significant research in the field of educational technology, there is still much we do not fully understand about students' experiences with technology. This article proposes that research in the field of educational technology would benefit from a sociological framing that pays attention to the understandings and lives of learners. Within a broader study that aimed to investigate students' use and value of technologies guided by Bourdieu's sociological theory, this article reports on qualitative embedded case study data of 12 students in years 9 and 10 from two Australian secondary schools. The article provides detailed accounts of students' experiences with technologies in various contexts with consideration of the milieu in which technology use occurred, illustrating the heterogeneous and complex network of influencing factors on students' technology practices. The findings and discussion augment the application of Bourdieu's concepts of field, habitus and capital as a tool to view and understand students' varied and complex experiences and relationships with technology. Despite significant research in the field of educational technology, there is still much we do not fully understand about students' experiences with technology. This article proposes that research in the field of educational technology would benefit from a sociological framing that pays attention to the understandings and lives of learners. Within a broader study that aimed to investigate students' use and value of technologies guided by Bourdieu's sociological theory, this article reports on qualitative embedded case study data of 12 students in years 9 and 10 from two Australian secondary schools. The article provides detailed accounts of students' experiences with technologies in various contexts with consideration of the milieu in which technology use occurred, illustrating the heterogeneous and complex network of influencing factors on students' technology practices. The findings and discussion augment the application of Bourdieu's con-cepts of field, habitus and capital as a tool to view and understand students' varied and complex experiences and relationships with technology.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding students' use and value of technology for learning

Beckman

Bennett

Lockyer

2014

Learning, Media and Technology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In their qualitative study, North et al (2008) found a strong link between the use of technology and the social class of young Internet users: how, when using digital media, experiences, objects, actions and accomplishments were directly related to the young people's habituses. In a similar study, Robinson (2009) has shown the relationship between access and non-access to digital media, habits of use, and in what ways users can benefit from these habits.…”

Section: Earlier Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These correlations are also supported by , Petrov & von Feilitzen (2008), and Kalmus, Realo & Siibak (2011). Capital-enhancing activities include searching for information and acquiring knowledge and skills that are also useful in other areas in society, whilst less capital-strong users do not benefit from their Internet use in the same way (Hargittai & Zillien, 2009).In their qualitative study, North et al (2008) found a strong link between the use of technology and the social class of young Internet users: how, when using digital media, experiences, objects, actions and accomplishments were directly related to the young people's habituses. In a similar study, Robinson (2009) has shown the relationship between access and non-access to digital media, habits of use, and in what ways users can benefit from these habits.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is already a path well-trodden by scholars who have used Pierre Bourdieu's sociology of taste to understand digital media practices (cf. Bengtsson & Lundgren, 2005;Petrov & von Feilitzen, Kvasny, 2006;North et al, 2008; Zillien & Hargittai, 2009;Robinson, 2009;Hargittai, 2010;Meyen et al, 2010;Gripsrud et al, 2011;Hollingworth, 2011;Kalmus et al, 2011;Danielsson, 2014). Many of them, however, have approached the uses of digital media as aspects of civic agency, and relate them to the "digital divide" and the democratic assets of the users.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Digital distinctions: mechanisms of difference in digital media use

Bengtsson

2015

MedieKultur

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

IntroductionThis article aims to understand digital media use as acts of distinction, and to explore the cultural mechanisms behind these distinctive acts. There is already a path well-trodden by scholars who have used Pierre Bourdieu's sociology of taste to understand digital media practices (cf. Bengtsson & Lundgren, 2005;Petrov & von Feilitzen, Kvasny, 2006;North et al., 2008; Zillien & Hargittai, 2009;Robinson, 2009;Hargittai, 2010;Meyen et al., 2010;Gripsrud et al., 2011;Hollingworth, 2011;Kalmus et al., 2011;Danielsson, 2014). Many of them, however, have approached the uses of digital media as aspects of civic agency, and relate them to the "digital divide" and the democratic assets of the users. These studies have given us detailed information about how Internet use is related to democratic behaviours and engagement, and of the variety in how different groups with diverse economic and cultural capital use and relate to digital media. Although indisputably important, I see some shortcomings in continuing to only use Bourdieu's theory in this way to understand digital media use. Firstly, it rarely relates the user's online preferences and practices to interrelated practices in a wider cultural context and, as a result, overemphasises the boundaries between offline and online spheres. Digital media use and preferences are not isolated from other cultural practices. Rather, they are interwoven in the wider context of everyday life. Secondly, it does not regard online practices as distinctive acts in their own right, thus ignoring the significance of the Internet as a cultural (and not just political) sphere. In this article, I explore the distinctive mechanisms of digital media use, analysing digital media use as a cultural practice among others. Besides quantitatively revealing differences between user groups, I also dig deeper into the ways four groups of university students articulate their own use of digital media.In doing this, I follow Jonathan Sterne's proposal to understand Internet use from an everyday life perspective, i.e. relating differences in Internet use and users' tastes, and preferences to distinctive acts in other cultural fields (Sterne, 2003). To understand the logic of practice of digital distinction, Sterne argues that:[T]echnologies do not have an existence independent of social practice, they cannot be studied in isolation from society or from one another. They are embodied in lived practice through habitus, and so even the basic 'phenomenological' aspects of technological practice and experience are themselves parts of the habitus. (Sterne 2003: 385) Bourdieu always put forward a relational understanding of cultural practices, following (post)structuralism in understanding the meaning of cultural signs in relation to other cultural signs. The significance of signs is thus revealed "by everything which distinguishes it from what it is not and especially from everything it is opposed to; social identity is defined and asserted through difference." (Bourdieu, 1979(Bourdieu, , 1984....

show abstract

Beyond Generations and New Media

Crawford

Robinson

2013

A Companion to New Media Dynamics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

DIGITAL TASTES: Social class and young people's technology use

Cited by 64 publications

References 10 publications

Understanding students' use and value of technology for learning

Understanding students' use and value of technology for learning

Digital distinctions: mechanisms of difference in digital media use

Beyond Generations and New Media

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About