Sözde Kamusal Alanlarda Hayalet Demokrasi: Kamusal Alan Kavramına Simülasyon Kuramı Üzerinden Eleştirel Bir Değerlendirme

ICHES Uluslararası İnsani Bilimler ve Eğitim Bilimleri Kongresi

The great revolution accompanying the emergence of internetthe most important extension of today's age of technologyactualized along with the digital transformation though creation of individuals socializing increasingly though their keyboards. As easily accessible smartphones have replaced computers occupying the head corners of houses, digital media platforms became as essential as breathing. This study focuses on the drawbacks of this transformation, which were largely neglected alongside its benefits. The study draws on the conjecture that the mentioned transformation resulted in emptying of a number of significant concepts. Undoubtedly, the concept of democracy stands at the forefront of the emptied concepts. Present study draws on Jean Baudrillard's Simulation Theory to evaluate users' discources (such as Tweets, and Facebook posts) which appear in the digital media platforms addressed here as "nominal public spaces", free expression of ideas, and their circularion. Accordingly, individuals' posts on digital media platforms reflect an illusion rather than reality. Present study aims to answer one of the most widely discussed questions of today "What is democracy, and what is it not?" within the framework of the definition of new public space provided by digital media. In this context, the study is significant as it argues that the concepts mentioned in the discussions of public space, democracy and digital media have been emptied and gained new meanings. Discourses on "democracy" in digital media platforms defined as new public spaces in the method of this study, were examined through the method of Foucault's discourse analysis.

2019

Reyhan YILDIZ KAYADEVİR