Feminisms in Social Networks and their impact on Social Work students: A sociometric analysis and feminist pedagogical proposal

Enfoque

Introduction

Feminist communities in social networks form a meeting and discussion point that allows mobilisations, organisation, information, as well as opportunities to generate collaborations to be dynamised. As previous research has shown, the use of social networks among students has increased over the years, and with it its applications and uses, which translates into generational changes within the feminist movement (cyberfeminism). The plurality of feminisms and activisms present in social networks encompasses relevant accounts that are potential references for students of the Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work. Consequently, and given the relevance and cross-cutting nature of the gender perspective for training in the discipline of Social Work, this is a tool for teaching and learning for students. Based on the responses of Social Work students to a questionnaire on the feminist accounts they follow, on the content they share and create on the subject and on the accounts they consider to be contrary to the movement, a sociometric analysis is generated that aims to be an X-ray of the people, groups and/or institutions that are most influential among Social Work students. These results will allow us to understand the online mobilisation of social work students on social networks and, consequently, to translate them into the feminist pedagogy proposal presented.

 

Objectives

 (1) To visualise the accounts linked to the feminist movement on social networks most frequently used by Social Work students and their impact.

(2) To make a proposal for feminist pedagogy based on the results obtained from the test.

(3) To discuss the quality and veracity of the information related to feminist education on social networks and the basis of their discourses.

 

Methodology

 In order to respond to objective 1, the questionnaire technique was used (administered to students of the Degree in Social Work, during the second semester of the 2022/2023 academic year, at a Spanish public university).

For the development of the pedagogical proposal (objective 2), and therefore the selection of accounts linked to the feminist movement, a sociometric analysis was carried out, consisting of a sociometric matrix of nominations (both positive and negative) and a sociogram to analyse and visualise online social relations.

Results

The main results show how social networks are spaces for the dissemination of the feminist movement among Social Work students and how it constitutes and promotes cyberactivism. Based on the sociometric positions and configurations, the existing collaborations and interactions between the feminist referent accounts on social networks and their collaborative networks were detected. Differences were found between the frequency of creation and publication of content among the students according to the year they are in, as well as coincidences between the profiles followed on the networks.