Bourdieu: A Social Analysis

While the need to belong has always been a basic aspect of being a human, the ways in which we, as a society, satisfy this need have changed over time. Online communities such as Facebook and dozens of online dating sites have been arisen from the development of the internet. Some people think that these online communities are causing our society to lose our sense of community — that the faceless, anonymous nature of such communities is taking us away from the world and depriving us of the basic need to feel as though we are part of something bigger than ourselves. However, these unique communities actually benefit our society. They give us networks of relationships in a convenient setting and enable our society to function effectively.

Sociologist

Regulations have had to be set in areas such as work and school when they otherwise would not have in earlier generations. For example, teachers and employers now put privacy locks on their internet so that computers cannot access Facebook while using their Wi-Fi. But just as these communities negatively destruct to our society, they also advance our society in many ways, as well. I believe that Bourdieu’s ideas on social capital can be expanded to explain the positive effect social media has on our society. Every form of social media in our world, from Facebook to eHarmony, serves a valuable purpose in helping us, as individuals, connect with one another as a society and gain a sense of our position within that

Today, approximately 40 million Americans are looking for love through the internet (Rudder). When that feeling can’t be found in the physical world, people sometimes turn to the online world in search for true love. While you, as a person, have the goal of finding the right person, you also do not want to hurt anyone’s feelings just as you do not want to be hurt by someone. So rather than rejecting a potential match from the beginning, you engage in conversation with this person. Through this conversation, you begin to see more of this person than you originally had from first glance at their