The Power Relation In Virtual Community

This paper studies the power controlling and rebelling tactics in virtual community in the condition of body absence. It takes Chinese Muslims Community as the example and uses ethnography to explain the power relation in virtual community.This research argues that virtual community is a local scene and the power relation there takes on multiple forms. The administrators make great efforts to remake rules, shape hierachical power frame and control community by distributing duty and popedom. Once we go deep into the discussing activities there, we will encounter a variety of power controlling tactics. Firstly, the netizens publish the processed information. All of information will build up a database and it is convenient for supervising. Secondly, every theme tries to deal with a local topic, and those unexpected themes will be removed. Finally, the netizens dispute, control or rebel through upholding, opposing, debating, playing, fleeing and so on in the process of arguing. In a word, remaking rules, supervising information, limiting topics and arguing opinions become the main ways of power relation in the condition of body absence. Netizens set up leagues in the process of solving local topic. Once the topic has been solved, the league will break up immediately, and the netizens will reset to deal with other topics. As a result, cyberpower is a flowing power, its body, objects and ways have become instability.Conceiving the power in the virtual community needs to refer to other power sights. Max Weber took the power as a belonging, and the typical power sight was the power pyramid in hierachical organization. Michel Foucault took the power as the controlling tactics in the idiographic relation, and the typical power sight was the complete visibility in panopticism. The flowing power overthrows the steady form of power, challenges the controlling pattern of nation-state and makes the controlling ways more diversification and validity. When the virtual community grew up, nation-state began to control it. In addition, netizens may do extreme actions. So cyberpower may lead to freedom or domination.