Assessing Students’ Perceptions towards the Use of Facebook in the Promotion of Human Rights in Morocco

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Assessing Students’ Perceptions towards the Use of Facebook in the Promotion of Human Rights in Morocco

Journal Title: Saudi Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences - Year 2017, Vol 2, Issue 10

Abstract

The paper examines the use of social media among speakers of English in Morocco and the extent to which it has empowered users in various struggles against political and social injustices. More importantly, it explores whether these media have helped students and enhanced their capacity to challenge and speak out against human rights abuses. In so doing, the thesis addresses some key polemical issues and questions germane to the topic, mainly the dialectic between technological and social determinism, the role of social media, mainly Facebook, in shaping democratic change among students. The thesis uses a combination of methodological approaches to explore the structural, textual and contextual dimensions of social media’s implications and impact on the promotion and protection of students in Morocco. Through analysing students’ writings, the research draws on rich data derived from in-depth qualitative research design conducted with Moroccan students. It offers insights into the embeddedness of social media as a technological medium and also into the interplay between students’ perceptions, practices and their political participation. Moreover, the study examines the complex and multi-layered interconnections between Facebook in particular and the various social, political and cultural processes shaping its appropriation and its potential, and enhancing democracy. The study concludes that social media play a significant role in enhancing Moroccan social and collective action capabilities by favouring different forms of mobilization, and facilitating linkages between dispersed constituencies and national public spheres with a view to promoting human rights practices among students in Morocco. The paper argues, however, that the medium does not affect in any radical way the dominant political and social orders inasmuch as its implications and potential remain considerably limited by the various digital divides, and are mediated through the power relations characterizing society in terms of the degree of literacy and political involvement. Keywords: Social media, digital activism, Arab Spring, social networking sites, democracy, and human rights

Authors and Affiliations

Mustapha Zanzoun

Keywords

Social media digital activism Arab Spring social networking sites democracy and human rights

EP ID EP396206
DOI -
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