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"Internet Banging" - Desmond Patton & Colleagues

Desmond Patton, PhD, MSW is a forerunner for social workers in the digital age. He is spearheading critical investigations into the social media realm and connecting existing bodies of research and knowledge to emerging phenomena. These investigations are making use of the avalanche of new media opportunities and data to inform future research and practice. His work is particularly concerned with violent communities and internet- or cyberbanging, a phenomenon where gang involved youth have used social media platforms to instigate, document, or otherwise connect their street life to the online world.

Some of his publications are available through the SAFElab Social Work Hub via Columbia.edu. The actual S.A.F.E. Lab site is available at this link, dedicated to Supporting Aggression Free Environments (S.A.F.E.) for Urban Youth.


Linking Real World & Online Behaviors
The purpose of the article by Patton, Eschmann, and Butler (2013) was to define and discuss internet banging, a term coined to point to an online trend among those with apparent or suggested gang affiliation. Patton et al. (2013) assert that the trend is a “manifestation of adaptive structuration theory” (pg. A59). Meaning that while social media platforms are intended to promote and facilitate social or professional networks, a trend has emerged whereby certain members are using these platforms to “provoke, perpetuate and publicize violent acts” (pg. A59).
The article reflects on literature that distinguishes between “real world behaviors” and “online aggression” then asks “so why does internet banging seem to connect these two distinct worlds?” (pg. A56). Links between gangs, collective identity, masculinity, and hip hop help to explain the connection between gangsters’ real and online worlds. One answer has to do with the need for gangsters to make a name for themselves and the powerful role social media can play in legitimizing their reputation on the streets. Importantly, reference to Bakari Kitwana’s text The Hip-Hop Generation helps form a perspective on urban groups that differs from other groups within the same generation (Generation X, 1965 to 1985, in the case of Kitwana’s text).
The attention to contextual factors influencing online trend highlights the importance of qualitative explorations of any quantitative or surface level evaluations of new age data.

Procedures for New Age Data Analysis

Patton, Sanchez, Fitch, Macbeth, and Leonard (2017) make use of tweets (i.e. posts on Twitter) related to trauma surrounding the life of one gang member in particular. The article makes light of a confounding element of analyzing social media data, not all users observe standard English. In fact, many youth groups develop their own codes and vernaculars, street code being the norm within gang communities.

More updates to this post yet to come...

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