WHAT’S WRONG WITH PARTICIPATORY CULTURE?

Abstract

The article proposes a systematization of perspectives on participatory culture. The relevance of this research lies in critically examining both the phenomenon of participatory culture itself and its potential for shaping what is commonly referred to as “participatory democracy”. The first section explores key concepts such as collective intelligence, convergent culture, participatory culture, prosumption, and produsage, accumulating positive perspectives on participatory culture. The second section analyzes the creative activity of grassroots communities through the lens of Foucault’s microphysics of power and the political-economic critique of digital capitalism, providing some critical perspectives on participation and participatory culture. The analysis of both positive and critical perspectives allows to come to conclusion that participatory culture, as Jenkins envisioned it by studying fan communities, has little in common with participatory democracy for several reasons: (1) Fan communities demonstrate a new form of escapism, directing the creative energy of their members toward immersion in the imaginary worlds of popular culture, exploring and expanding these worlds rather than addressing real social issues. (2) Modern digital culture initiates a symbiosis of humans and technologies, creating a socio-technological ecosystem in which the creative activity of prosumers, if not fully subordinated, is at least significantly dependent on software design. (3) Social media are colonized by corporations for which prosumers are a source of surplus value; therefore, speaking of the participatory nature of social networks consciously or unconsciously supports the ideology of capital.