The Social Media Study From The Perspective Of Honneth’s Recognition

Today, why social media of China is so flourished, while sometimes is so troubled. What with the popular of the communication means to China? Based on the Theory of Recognition from Honneth who is the third generation scholar of the Frankfurt School, this article carries out research on social media in China. The Frankfurt School studies the people’s state under the changes of communication media and analyses the relationship between man and man, man and society. Honneth inherits and develops the previous theory in his Theory of Recognition. He elaborates three kinds of acknowledgment form: love, legal right and unity, as well as the corresponding three Contempt experience: violent, disfranchise and insult. And he puts forward "the Struggle for Recognition" and makes the concern of the relationship between man and society prominent. Honneth’s Recognition Theory provides a different perspective for communication studies of China ’s social media. Social media is a paradise for grassroots and "we media". Everyone can serve as media; everything can be shared and widely spread. The "love" of communication, either for self or others, makes the public take active part in the communication. In Honneth’s opinion,"love" is "attention", in other words, recognize oneself and accept others. Honneth’s description that "law" is of importance to one’s self-esteem development aims to illustrate the positive significance of individual rights. The specialty of today’s communication lies in social media’s "recognition" of individual’s communication rights and powers. In addition, the social media circle emphasizes "unity" so as to give same weight to its members and gain "recognition", thus avoiding the risk of social differentiation. So social media represents a certain victory of communication, but there are still some problems inevitable. That is the spread of "contempt" experience. It’s harm to the communication and the relationship between communications. Although social media doesn’t reach the acme of perfection, it’s an important driving force for social change. The "good life" will be close to us slowly in the new media.