ABSTRACT

Over the past decade, commercial social media platforms have scaled up, in terms of the number of users, and scaled out, in terms of integration into public life, taking on infrastructural significance. This paper adapts sociologist Norbert Elias’s conceptualization of the civilizing process to examine the role of social media in society, arguing that social media platforms establish socially sanctioned categories of people and modes of conduct. Taking Facebook as an exemplar, the paper analyzes the pedagogical, punitive, and incentivizing practices through which platforms produce social norms and societal ideals. From the company’s ambition to become the social infrastructure of the globe and its expansionist history, to policy documents and moderation practices, to formatted interactions and incentive structures, Facebook universalizes appropriate conduct and emotional expression in accordance with the interests of brands and advertisers. With its integration of information technology and automated decision making, Facebook takes over tasks traditionally associated with institutions like the home, the school, and the workplace and acts as a civilizing infrastructure in a double sense: first, infrastructure itself is civilized by the ability to sense and judge people and actions, and second, infrastructure becomes a civilizing force in the world on the basis of these abilities. Finally, the article concludes with a discussion of the implications of civilizing infrastructure for our understanding of civility, Facebook, and infrastructural politics.

摘要

在过去的十年里，商业社交媒体平台，已经扩大了，在用户数方面，并调整了，在融入公共生活方面，具有基础设施意义。本文采用社会学家诺伯特·埃利亚斯 (Norbert Elias) 对文明过程的概念化来研究社交媒体在社会中的作用，认为社交媒体平台建立了社会认可的人和行为模式。本文以 Facebook 为例，分析了平台产生社会规范和社会理想的教学、惩罚和激励实践。从公司成为全球社会基础设施的雄心及其扩张主义历史，到政策文件和节制实践，再到格式化的互动和激励结构，Facebook 根据品牌和广告商的利益普及适当的行为和情感表达。通过整合信息技术和自动化决策，Facebook 接管了传统上与家庭、学校和工作场所等机构相关的任务，并在双重意义上充当了文明的基础设施：首先，基础设施本身通过以下能力而文明：感知和判断人和行动，其次，基础设施在这些能力的基础上成为世界上的文明力量。最后，文章最后讨论了文明基础设施对我们理解文明、Facebook 和基础设施政治的影响。基础设施本身通过感知和判断人和行动的能力而文明，其次，基础设施在这些能力的基础上成为世界上的文明力量。最后，文章最后讨论了文明基础设施对我们理解文明、Facebook 和基础设施政治的影响。基础设施本身通过感知和判断人和行动的能力而文明，其次，基础设施在这些能力的基础上成为世界上的文明力量。最后，文章最后讨论了文明基础设施对我们理解文明、Facebook 和基础设施政治的影响。