To understand how a group of individuals might engage in different processes of empowerment, such as utilizing the flexibility of expression offered on the Internet, we must first understand how individuals and groups are marginalized and disempowered by social institutions in real life. It is appropriate to consider marginality, development and empowerment in conjunction since the concept of development participation has largely been equated with the betterment of the poor and oppressed. Essentially, all of these concepts compromise part of a world-view whose terms have largely been defined by wide range of scholars (cultural analysis, sociologists, political scientists, etc..). This world-view posits that individuals and groups can be oppressed and disempowered by other individuals, groups, social institutions and cultural contexts, and that individuals and groups do have the potential to empower themselves, to be liberated from these limiting factors. My principle reference in researching this knowledge base has been Lucia Vargas' book Social Uses & Practices: The Use of Participatory Radio by Ethnic Minorities in Mexico. This work looks at how indigenous ethnic groups utilized and participated in INI(Instituto Nacional Inigenista) public radio stations in central Mexico. Thus, the literature that informed her research on the cultural and development implications of grassroots participation in mass communication projects, as well as her methodology in reception studies and ethnography, have guided my understanding of these vital themes.
The writings of Antonio Gramsci and Paulo Freire, Vargas explains, are principle to the understanding of how participation in developmental communication can lead to empowerment. Gramsci's concept of hegemony has shaped how cultural studies scholars have viewed the perpetuation of marginality of subordinate groups within societies. According to Vargas this theory, "proposes that the ruling class governs not just by grounding its superiority in economic matters, but also by establishing a widespread belief in its moral and intellectual leadership; it rules by molding, through the church, the school and the media, the attitudes and convictions of the members of subordinate classes." For scholars in the communications sector of cultural studies, Gramsci's focus on the ideological sphere as the site of indoctrination highlights the need of marginalized groups to form oppositional readings of dominate texts and the need for these groups and individuals to be able to communicate these readings as well as creating there own cultural texts to be distributed within the group or community.
Another link between cultural/communication studies and development participation is Paulo Freire's concept of conscientizacao. Freire's ideas were shaped by existentialist philosophy, liberation theology and his experiences as a missionary in Brazil. The concept of consientizacao is that, "[b]y substituting a naive (in existentialist jargon, romantic) or magic (fatalistic) perception of reality with a critical awareness, people who were treated as mere objects become subjects of their own social destiny." For Freire, peoples' relationships with their environment hold many possibilities for adapting things to their own needs. Personal relationships can encompass possibilities for collaboration, solidarity, communication, love and friendship. He observed that for the powerless, the potential for communication has been replaced by a "culture of silence." Thus, he proposes development based on horizontal relationships between individuals and groups. In summation Vargas posits that, "[d]evelopment for Freire means liberation from all forms of oppression, freedom from social and economic domination and emancipation from the culture of silence."
It is Freire's emphasis on the individual's role in establishing horizontal communication, seeking critical awareness and supportive relationships that offers the most salience to the importance of participation in development. His ideas have been very influential in the rhetoric of development communications, whose political heyday evolved with the emerging UNESCO debate in the 70s, concerning the New World Information and Economic Order. This debate has been described as a conflict between two development paradigms, the modernization or orthodox paradigm (linear growth model) and the political-economy paradigm. Generally speaking, the modernization paradigm describes the models of economic stimulation and subsequent growth that industrialized nations and the Third World envisioned would propel developing nations to more equal status with their wealthier and more stable counterparts. The political-economy paradigm has emerged from dependency and Marxist theories. Basically, it observes that the international economy is based on western dependence on raw materials from developing nations. Developing nations serve a subordinate role in this equation due to their dependence on the industrialized nations for finished products, especially technologies and capital from selling off cheep labor and raw materials. Thus, this paradigm predicts that western development schemes based only on injection of capital for economic growth in developing countries, do little to stimulate political and economic self-sufficiently or increased empowerment and quality of life for the large populations of impoverished communities in these nations.
Arising out of UNESCO solidarity, politicians and scholars alike
began to seek consensus on an alternative development that could
draw from the strengths of developing countries, while recognizing
their limitations within oppressive international and intranational
political economies. "Development communications," is
one arena where consensus emerged. The definitions of marginality
and participatory development proposed at the First Seminar on
Participatory Communication in 1978, are noted by Vargas as being
excellent examples of pinnacle concepts within this intellectual
movement. Marginality refers to situations where groups within
a society do not participate in most economic, social, cultural
or political activities. Vargas recounts that: "[i]n this
seminar, participation was equated with liberation, and participatory
communication was seen as both a means and as an end ."
For her own research, Vargas expanded this dual view of
participation, originally by Freire, into two working concepts
of participation:
1. Participation as a means (equated to liberation):
The organized efforts to increase control over resources and institutions
in given situations, on part of groups and movements hitherto
excluded from such control, for the emancipator purpose of achieving
a better life, self-reliance, self-esteem, and freedom from servitude.
2. Participation as a goal (equated to moral and
psychological empowerment): The set of feelings, beliefs, and
attitudes that accompany the sense of self-worth, on the part
of groups and individuals historically regarded by a given society
as being unable to cope effectively with situations concerning
control over resources and institutions.
The UNESCO meeting at Belgrade in 1977, also contributed to the growing development terminology by attempting to define access, participation and self-management as they pertain to participatory communication. From Vargas' summery, access can be viewed as: peoples' opportunities and abilities to use communication systems; to receive messages of their choice and to have a range of selections; and to be able to interact with programs' producers by giving feed back, such as criticisms. Participation means the audience's direct participation in production of messages/programs/texts and involvement in the management of communication systems. The last term, self-management was viewed as the "highest level of participation, " implying complete control of production and management.
The advent of increasingly widespread use of the Internet in many
parts of the "developed" world has added a new outlook
to the definitions of access and participation. As opposed to
having access to a television or a radio, access to the Internet
truly begins to fulfill these definitions. While being able to
allow everyone in a community to create their own programming
for local TV and radio stations is technically problematic due
to time, revenue, space and technical limitations, access to a
wide range of Internet technologies implies that users can receive
email from all over the world; can send messages to government
officials, web sites authors, friends, strangers, etc; can publish
their own creative expressions and thoughts on personal or group
web pages (self-management); and can access more information than
from anywhere else in the world. When you consider the potential
benefits of individuals and groups having access to the Internet,
the implications are that this form of participation might not
only imply psychological empowerment (participation as a goal)
and the potential for group empowerment as a means, but also liberation
from marginality. Thus, use of the Internet implies the type
of integral participation through access and self-management that
many development and cultural scholars insist are vital to individual
and group empowerment.