Can Social Media Resolve Social Divisions? Inquiry Essay?

“Can Social Media Resolve Social Divisions,” written by danah boyd does not read as an inquiry essay because the author performs neither an experiment nor an exploration. Reading this essay, it is more of an analytic and observatory paper on the social divisions in modern society. The beginning of this essay observes an issue and presents different groups of people that are analyzed, but no other question is being asked. Rather than an inquiry essay, it is more of a rhetorical essay. Danah states that technology can be and was made to be a tool to end social division. However, she claims that the existence of technology neither creates nor magically solves cultural problems. Boyd writes, “In fact, their construction typically reinforces existing social divisions.” She utilizes pathos when describing stories of black or Asian students. Hateful comments from racist students that the author included manipulates the audience to sympathize (possibly even empathize). Boyd also discusses segregation in everyday life and states the comforts of human nature. Technology makes it possible to socialize with a variety of different cultures, but people tend to connect with those they know and with whom they have the most in common. The author uses a lot of examples and clear distinctions that support her claim that racial divisions are existing. Another example she uses is the distinction between Myspace and Facebook. The essay describes white students moving on to a newer and cooler Facebook, while the “ghetto” were still lingering within the old and boring Myspace. Facebook and Myspace have such big culture gaps that people start to categorize identities among social media. Danah Boyd finishes her essay by making a bold statement, “We don’t live in a postracial society, and social media is not the cultural remedy that some people hoped it would become… Instead, it lays bare existing and entrenched social divisions.” At the end of this essay, boyd does answer the question: the answer to the title. However, it seems to me as though it is not an inquiry essay.