Social media, riots, and revolutions

Abstract

This article analyses the mass media's claims about the role of social media in the 2011 UK riots and the Arab Spring, arguing that social media has become a new fetishism of technology that distracts from the contradictions of capitalism underlying contemporary societal changes and conflicts. Understanding contemporary capitalism, its contradictions and the role of the media requires a dialectical and critical analysis. © The Author(s) 2012.