TY  - JOUR
T1  - DO SOCIAL MEDIA UNDERMINE STRUCTURES? RETHINKING THE STRUCTURE-AGENCY DEBATE
AU  - Başkan, Burak
PY  - 2024
DA  - October
Y2  - 2024
JF  - Eurasian Research Journal
JO  - ERJ
PB  - Khoja Akhmet Yassawi International Kazakh-Turkish University
WT  - DergiPark
SN  - 2519-2442
SP  - 7
EP  - 27
VL  - 6
IS  - 4
LA  - en
AB  - The study reconsiders the structure-agency debate in a world dominated by internetisation and social media. To answer the question of whether social media weaken the structures embedded in societies, four phenomena are analysed: Dissemination and control of information are the main areas of conflict between actors and structures. The cyber public sphere has emerged as social media has become an important medium for shaping public opinion. Cyber activism, which has made important strides in moving political networks into the virtual world, has become an alternative to activism in the physical world. As individuals engage in human relations in virtual world just as in physical world, cyber identity has entered our lives. The study’s main finding is that although structures have developed new strategies and instruments to monitor, control and regulate the cyber world; social media continues to be a ground that increases the capacity of agencies for actors against structures.
KW  - International politics
KW  - Political philosophy
KW  - Structure
KW  - Agency
KW  - Social media
KW  - Cyber identity
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