Categorization of the Concept of Freedom by the Representatives of Different Information Subcultures

Abstract

The aim of the article is a comparative analysis of a structure and content of the concept «freedom» in the consciousness of adults who prefer different types of information media, traditional printed or new digital.

Methods. The study was carried out on a statistically large and homogeneous sample by age, level of education and professional activity (sphere of Intellectual labour). The differentiation of respondents into different information subculture representatives was carried out on the basis of two criteria: 1) the choice of an information media in their free time (printed media or the Internet); 2) the amount of time devoted to interaction with the chosen carrier. The criteria were determined through anonymous and voluntary questionnaires.

To study the structure and content of the concept «freedom» the author’s version of the method of semantic differential has been implemented. The author’s research method includes descriptors previously obtained by other researchers, on the basis of which, 7 categories («Assessment», «Strength», «Activity», «Complexity», «Orderliness», «Reality» and «Usuality») of everyday consciousness were extracted.

Results of the research. The results of a comparative analysis carried out in two contrasting groups choosing different information sources: the reading subjects and the active web-users are presented. Statistically, there is no significant difference between the two samples. As a result of a primary processing of the data of the average estimates on the scales of the semantic differential, the profiles coincide in the two groups. As a result of secondary processing (factor analysis), the representatives of different information subcultures revealed the same cognitive complexity of the concept «freedom» (12 factor-categories according to the Kaiser criterion, 4 of which are not accidental in their subjective significance for the respondents) and similar content of the leading categories.

Conclusions. There has empirically been revealed the cognitive simplicity of the «freedom» construct in the everyday consciousness of adult Belarusians and the unity of the representatives of various information subcultures in the understanding of the concept. This cognitive commonality can be explained by the common life experience background, which in the hierarchy of determinants of the content of consciousness turns out to be more authoritative than information habits and, therefore, information itself, regardless of its carrier. The obtained data partially dispel the frightening myth about possible rapid transformations of users’ consciousness through digital technologies.