ABSTRACT
In this chapter, dissent is defined as a means of coding and decoding dominant social discourse, which is then related to dissenting practices in contemporary social media. Stuart Hall argues that social norms and values are “structured in dominance.” This dominance is coded through discourse, which Hall suggests can be resisted through the development of “oppositional codes.” These codes, in effect, disrupt the dominant meanings established through social institutions, offering the types of alternative discursive structures that Herbert Marcuse argues is necessary to resist the abuses of the “totally administered society.” Contemporary social media is often represented as an effective means of dissent, especially in light of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising. However, as Malcolm Gladwell and others note, social media can fracture dissent, removing it from its persistence in place and association with the lived community, leaving it open to control from external forces.
