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Social Media & Masculinity
- 1. The Influence of Social Media Use on Male College Students’ Gender Identity and Gendered Performance Charlie Potts OLPD University of Minnesota 2017
- 2. ADULT-NORMATIVE vs YOUTH-NORMATIVE Junco (2014) Cabellon & Junco (2015)
- 3. • How do college men describe their behavior on social media and social networking sites? • What role do social media and social networking site use play in the identity and experiences of college men? • How do college men articulate the intersection of male gender identity and digital identity? GUIDING QUESTIONS
- 4. How does the influence of social media use on male college students’ gender identity and gendered performance affect first-year students and graduating seniors? CENTRAL RESEARCH QUESTION
- 5. Constructivist Grounded Theory Used to generate a “theory that was derived from data, systematically gathered and analyzed through the research process, informed by data” (Strauss & Corbin, 1998, p. 12). Allows for “developing theories from research grounded in data rather than deducing testable hypotheses from existing theories” (Charmaz, 2006, p. 4).
- 6. Participants White Asian African-American Participants Focus Groups: 186 first-year men received recruitment email 136 senior men received recruitment email 5 first-year men (in order of response) 6 senior men (in order of response) Interviews/Observations: 186 first-year men received recruitment email 135 senior men received recruitment email 10 first-year men (in order of response) 10 senior men (in order of response)
- 7. Participants White Asian African-American Participants First Years FOCUS GROUP = 5 participants (3 white, 1 Asian, 1 African-American) INTERVIEWS = 10 participants (9 white, 1 Asian) Seniors FOCUS GROUP = 6 participants (5 white, 1 Asian) INTERVIEWS = 10 participants (7 white, 2 Asian, 1 African-American)
- 8. Participants 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Facebook Twitter Instagram Snapchat Social Networking App Use First Years Seniors
- 9. Data Collection Individual Interviews • Understand social media use. • Understand definitions of masculinity. • Explore intersection of identities in digital & physical worlds.
- 10. Data Collection Individual Interviews • Understand social media use. • Understand definitions of masculinity. • Explore intersection of identities in digital & physical worlds. Synchronous Digital Ethnographic Observations • Observe how participants use social media. • Explore expressions of self in digital space. • Explore & discuss digital interactions/connections/engagement.
- 11. Data Collection Individual Interviews • Understand social media use. • Understand definitions of masculinity. • Explore intersection of identities in digital & physical worlds. Synchronous Digital Ethnographic Observations • Observe how participants use social media. • Explore expressions of self in digital space. • Explore & discuss digital interactions/connections/engagement. Focus Groups • Explore role of social media in a social context. • Explore role of masculinity on campus. • Discuss differences between first-year and senior year experiences.
- 12. How does the influence of social media use on male college students’ gender identity and gendered performance affect first-year students and graduating seniors? Central Research Question
- 13. Data Analysis (Charmaz, 2006, 2014) Initial Coding • Line by line coding • 600+ initial codes Focused Coding • General thematic or topical similarities between codes • Clustering initial codes into broader categories accounting for concepts within each category • Organized the 600+ initial codes into 13 categories
- 14. Coding Theoretical Coding • “Selecting certain codes as having overriding significance or abstracting common themes and patterns in several codes into an analytic concept” (Charmaz, 2014) • Gerund-based, action words/phrases • 5 codes
- 15. • Defining male gender identity • Defining social media use • Understanding audience and context • Defining digitized gender • Balancing physical and digital communities Coding
- 16. Key Findings • Masculinity is just one part of competing & connecting identities. • Pre-college definitions stick with us. • Navigating identity alignment is a difficult and confusing process for many. • Context matters!
- 17. Idealized Masculinity vs External Expectation Idealized “fight for equality” “care for others” “treat women with respect” Expectation “be cool” “be big/muscular” “tough” “stoic” VS
- 18. Socialized concepts of masculinity exacerbate the complexities of establishing and presenting ones self in digital spaces.
- 19. Defining Social Media Use “I use [social media] at like toxic levels. There’s rarely downtime when I’m not checking something. It really is just force of habit for me – like it’s there and I know it’s there so I check it.” - Miguel (senior) “I definitely check it more frequently than ever before [at college]. It is part of my day just like eating and studying.” – Felix (first year)
- 20. “I’m like an adult, I should be able to not eat the whole chocolate cake that’s sitting in front of me. I should be able to control how I use [social media] and how I balance it with things I do in my life.” – Forest (senior) Defining Social Media Use
- 21. “…when you’re a senior in high school, you basically have this metaphorical chair whenever you walk into the building. You have this position that you’ve established and you know that’s where you sit. When you get to college, you come in and think about whether you’ll be able to find that chair, if you have to find a new chair, or if you even have a chair at all. And you have to re-establish yourself and decide which side of you that you want to show. I think when that happens – that re-establishment – that’s when you revert to some of the stereotypical masculine things that have defined you or that you think could help.” - Jean-Luc (first year) Understanding Audience & Context
- 23. “I do try to be a strong person in all settings, but social media is something where I kind of neuter myself. Because being overly masculine could get in the way of a message I’m trying to send about what I believe.” – Forest (senior) Defining Digitized Gender “We still seek external validity for who we are by idealizing an image of masculinity online.” - John (senior)
- 24. Interaction in a residence hall and interacting on social media are not mutually exclusive. The co-occurrence of the two may contribute as much (if not more) to social connection than either one individually. Balancing Physical & Digital Communities
- 26. Key Findings CHANGE HAPPENS! FIRST YEARS • ability to build social capital • collect friends • impress others • look/be cool while doing it. SENIORS • more thoughtful & reflective • values alignment • forward-facing to attract employers and partners
- 27. Change Happens “As freshmen you are totally re-establishing yourself. You are thinking ‘How do I want these people to think of me?’ It brings up an interesting question – are you going to do stuff and post stuff to make people like you and does that stuff represent YOU? Are you going for masculine things to fit an expectation? Are you going for things you believe in? I don’t know, it’s really confusing sometimes.” - Jaden (first year)
- 28. “I spent a lot of time as a freshman trying to be cool, but now [as a senior] it’s about trying to be cool just a little bit, but more focused on being an ambassador of my values and the values of this place.” – Ken (senior) Change Happens
- 29. Emerging Theory
- 31. Stage 1: Understanding Pre-College Context • Pre-conceived ideas of masculinity and social media use • Definitions are socially-constructed and learned through behavior and observation • Limited perception of digital audience • Expectations set by cultural experiences.
- 32. Stage 2: Gathering Social Capital • Observing & experiencing social expectations at college • Collecting social connections in real life and online • Re-establishing self & creating an identity • Recognizing social norms on campus and in broader digital communities
- 33. Stage 3: Defining Role on Campus & in the World • Adapting to social norms on campus • Changing social roles • Pedagogical and social experiences influence identity & worldview • Institutional values are either ingrained or rejected • Emergence of social conscience in digital presence • Identifies collapsing contexts on social media
- 34. Stage 4: Understanding Context • Integration of social conscience into digital presence • Focus shifts from campus to outside world and post-college opportunities (job/vocation) • Mitigates context collapse on social media • Transcends external expectations
- 36. Recommendations • Extending digital citizenship education • NASPA/ACPA competencies (Technology) • Programming • Revising policy • Informal conversation (youth-normative approach) • Integrate into pedagogy • Integrate in-classroom & out-of-classroom • Integrate physical & digital communities
- 37. So what? Re-think engagement with college men •Intersecting identities •Digital vs physical communities •Values alignment
- 38. The Influence of Social Media Use on Male College Students’ Gender Identity and Gendered Performance Charlie Potts OLPD University of Minnesota 2017
Editor's Notes
- Good morning! I’ll be talking about social media and the influence it has on how college men understand and perform their masculine identities. My interest in this topic results from the convergence of some topics. I’ve long been interested in how college men behave and how they identify as men. I am an active social media user and have grown up as a student affairs professional with social media (Facebook came to be during my first year as a live-in professional), and I’m intrigued by how residential campuses function compared to non-residential places – the contrast of my work experience with my experiences at a place like the Univ of MN.
- My approach This is at the heart of why I wanted to take on this research. How and why do students use social media and how does it interact with and influence their identities. And this is at the center – how can we talk to students using their language and understanding their approach in order to really, truly understand why they do what they do.
- Decided to use Constructivist GT because of the richness of the conversations I was having with students. How our interactions were truly leading to the co-construction of data. I got to dig so deeply into masculinity, understandings of social context, pre-college perspectives, and a critical look at the college experience through the lens of masculinity – which was new for so many of these men.
- I actually had six respondents for FY Focus group, but one was a no-show
- First-Years – 100% had accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. First-Years – 7 of the 15 had Twitter accounts, but only 4 of those still regularly check it/update it. Seniors – 100% had accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Seniors – 8 of the 16 had Twitter accounts, but only 5 of those still regularly check it/update it. Other apps/networks mentioned: Reddit, Tumblr, WhatsApp, and Kik. They only mentioned Yik Yak if I brought it up… seniors talked about how it was big for awhile a couple years ago and comes in and out in bursts, but none admitted actively using. First-years were even less likely and many did not know what it was.
- Interviews were approx. 45 minutes a piece.
- Focus Groups were wonderful – talking about social networks in a social setting!
- Constructivist grounded-theory approach. Charmaz. Co-constructing data with participants. Transcribed all 20 interviews and two focus groups.
- Third level
- These five main categories from the final coding stage
- Context Collapse
- Pre-college understandings of masculinity already cause enough conflict for men in college, who are adapting their beliefs to the institutional norms. But then social media is an entirely new wrench being thrown into the machine, and it really makes it complex for these men.
- This is where Youth Normative vs Adult Normative approach paid off. They were waiting to be judged when they discussed frequency of use.
- Perhaps the most important finding in the context of this study is that CHANGE HAPPENS
- Context Collapse
- To illustrate an example of the change…
- Much like Maslow’s hierarchy, we progress from the basics – understanding what it’s all about, moving into the primary needs and ultimately progressing toward self-actualization…. Sort of a digital self-actualization. But Maslow is a hierarchical theory, and I purposely chose a stage theory – because it’s ultimately a progression toward an end, toward an achievement of a self-awareness of identity and the convergence of identities. Looked at many theories for lit review – like Chickering & Reisser, like Kohlberg, like Erikson, students progress through these stages. Flexibility exists to move around – it’s not necessarily entirely rigid for all people. Can regress (example: significant loss in a friendship group may cause moving from Stage 3 back to Stage 2 and re-starting. Or a junior who changes major or suddenly finds a job that aligns with interests he never knew he had, might open the door to once again gathering social capital). I don’t think students can skip ahead, though. Can’t leap from Stage 1 to Stage 4 without having the college experience.
- Stage theory – because it’s ultimately a progression toward an end, toward an achievement of a self-awareness of identity and the convergence of identities. Flexibility exists to move around – it’s not necessarily entirely rigid for all people. Can regress (example: significant loss in a friendship group may cause moving from Stage 3 back to Stage 2 and re-starting. Or a junior who changes major or suddenly finds a job that aligns with interests he never knew he had, might open the door to once again gathering social capital). I don’t think students can skip ahead, though.