| Description |
This thesis examines the ideological significance of "personalized online environments." POEs are environments on the internet that are engineered to adhere to individuals' preferences. Most influential theories of ideology - those of Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Stuart Hall and others - were developed long before what is known as the "fourth industrial revolution." The fourth industrial revolution is defined by a blurring, if not collapse, of borders between digital and physical environments. In this project, I begin with the premise that POEs are key sites today for the dissemination of ideology. I then ask whether traditional theories of ideology offer tools that help us understand the dynamics of POEs or whether the distinctive features of POEs render most reigning theories of ideology moot. Understanding the ideological dynamics of POEs is important because they may serve as a new and highly effective means of indoctrination. Due to the intimacy generated for individuals by personalized online environments, ideologies disseminated in online environments could be able to dominate an individual's perception of reality. |
