Future Internet 2013, 5(2), 251-267; doi:10.3390/fi5020251
Racial Exclusion in the Online World
1
Department of Sociology, Loyola University Chicago, 1032 W. Sheridan Rd., Coffey Hall 4th floor, Chicago, IL 60660, USA
2
Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 420 E. Superior St., Rubloff 12, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 11 March 2013 / Accepted: 7 May 2013 / Published: 24 May 2013
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Inequality in the Digital Environment)
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Abstract
As the internet has become an integral part of everyday life, it is understood that patterns of racial stereotyping and discrimination found in the offline world are often reproduced online. In our paper, we examine two exclusionary practices in an online environment for adult toy collectors: First, the exclusion of non-white individuals who are expected to form immediate friendships with other non-white members; and second, the essentializing of racial issues when concerns over the lack of racial diversity in the toys are discussed. This dismissal is often directly connected to non-white members’ decisions to no longer participate, resulting in a new form of segregation within virtual space. View Full-TextKeywords:
racism; whiteness; exclusion; Internet; American Girl; online message boards
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0).
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MDPI and ACS Style
West, R.J.; Thakore, B.K. Racial Exclusion in the Online World. Future Internet 2013, 5, 251-267.
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