Book Review: General: Understanding Social Media
| Date | 01 September 2014 |
| DOI | 10.1111/1478-9302.12067_83 |
| Published date | 01 September 2014 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
‘new’ security environment, which she terms ‘the
finance-security assemblage’ (p. 28) and which has
established new security intervention domains against
uncertain futures and worst-case scenarios. Even though
pursuing terrorist money is widely viewed as less violent
than other aspects of the ‘war on terror’, de Goede
refutes this assumption with examples demonstrating
the dramatic side effects on individuals and societies.
The main claim of the book is that ‘the finance-security
assemblage’ governs the use of pre-emptive security
interventions – which are uneven, unpredictable and
based on suspicion – to avoid uncertain chaotic future
events. Moreover, these new speculative applicat-
ions may cause substantial security problems. The
author also argues that counter-terrorist financing
mechanisms are infiltrating ever more spaces of every-
day life through pre-emptive interventions, instead
of cutting off money flows to terrorist organisat-
ions. In particular, the book focuses on the intervent-
ions and their negative effects that occur in formal
money transfers, informal remittances and charity
donations.
In the first chapter, the importance of the discourses
and narratives used for constituting urgency and the
importance of terrorist financing as a threat is explored.
In the second chapter, ‘the finance-security assemblage’
is examined from the perspective of governance and
sovereignty. Through the next three chapters de Goede
critically discusses the everyday implementations and
contradictions of these new unpredictable measures and
gives evidence of their violence with important exam-
ples. In the last chapter, the practice of blacklisting and
asset-freezing is discussed and it is claimed that the lives
of those people who are subjected to these measures in
this new juridical order are turned into a form of
‘modern exile’ (p. 158).
Overall, the book presents a new perspective in
the field of counter-terrorist financing; one which
critically challenges the presumed truths and illumi-
nates the dark side of them. Additionally, the ideas
expressed are well-formulated and supported with
substantial evidence and clear examples, stimulating
the reader to enquire more about the ongoing
debates in the book. While this book is both
informative and engaging, the lack of clarification of
theoretical concepts does at times require a slow and
patient reading from the newcomer to the field.
Speculative Security is highly recommended to those
interested in the role of discourse in politics, security,
governance, terrorism and surveillance, as well as ter-
rorist financing.
Burke Ugur Basaranel
(Swansea University)
Understanding Social Media by Sam Hinton and
Larissa Hjorth. London: Sage, 2013. 161pp., £21.99,
ISBN 9 781446 201213
‘[T]o understand social media, it is not enough to
simply log in to Facebook and start participating; we
have to look more deeply at the economic, political
and social dimensions of the changes that seem to be
associated with social media’ (p. 136).
This quote from the concluding chapter of Under-
standing Social Media provides a good summary of what
the book is and isn’t about. It is not a guide book to
using Facebook and Twitter. Rather, it gets under the
skin of social media to look at its implications across six
key areas. These are covered across six chapters. An
introductory chapter provides an overview of the
development of Web 2.0 and what it means, followed
by a chapter on social networking sites and whether
these are best understood as networks, communities or
both. The third topic covered is user-created content
and the blurring line between users as consumers and
users as producers. This is followed by a chapter on
social media and art, and a chapter on social media
games – in particular on how social media games are
used in China to bridge generational and geographic
divides. Finally, the authors look at Location Based
Services and the mediation of our sense of place. In
particular, they look at camera phones and how this
technology is leading to the creation of new
cartographies.
Each chapter is intended to stand alone and each
provides a useful, if brief (at 161 pages it is certainly a
quick read), introduction to the topic it covers, as well
as a good overview of the key literature. However,
although each chapter stands alone, there are three
themes that thread through the book and so it can
also be read as a whole with a developing narrative.
The three themes are: the empowerment/control
dichotomy; the relationship between online and offline;
and intimacy. Understanding Social Media also takes a
deliberately global perspective on the issues it discusses.
Paradoxically, this emphasis on the global provides a
442 GENERAL
© 2014 The Authors. Political Studies Review © 2014 Political Studies Association
Political Studies Review: 2014, 12(3)
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