Systems of Power and Inequality in Early
Digital natives and emergent social change agents united over the Kony 2012 campaign in a manner that put a new spin on the concept of critical consciousness. While Paulo Freire and other critical theorists tend to focus primarily on the evolution of awareness of oppressed people, the new digital media appears to support revolution on both sides of the equation. In the discussion that follows, I examine how critical theory is being applied in the new digital media to address structural and cultural violence. I contend that the overlapping systems of power and equality, which are justified on the basis of class, wealth, gender, race, religion, and sexual orientation, have reached highs of exposure and vulnerability through the enhanced populist communication that is enabled by the new digital media. The Kony 2012 campaign, the Occupy Movement and the studies of American education by Jonathan Kozal will act as the touchstones of my argument. I begin the discussion with a brief exploration of the terms critical consciousness, critical pedagogy, structural violence, and cultural violence.