Social Identity and Knowledge Gap Theories on Social Media

This presentation examines two communication theories and its relevance to modern social media. The first is social identity theory, developed by Henri Tajfel and John Turner, which asserts that group membership creates in-group/self-categorization and enhancement in ways that favor the in-group at the expense of the out-group. The second is knowledge gap theory first purposed by Philip Turner, George Donohue, and Clarice Olien. They believed that the increase of information in society is not evenly acquired by every member of society. People with higher socioeconomic status tend to have better ability to acquire information.

Group members: Sandeep Gourkanti, Hongyue Guo, David Onoue & Alan Taylor Jr.

References:

Social Identity Theory. (n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2017, from https://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20Clusters/Interpersonal%20Communication%20and%20Relations/Social_Identity_Theory/

Knowledge Gap. (n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2017, from https://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20Clusters/Media,%20Culture%20and%20Society/knowledge_gap/

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