• DOI:10.1177/009365098025006006
• Corpus ID: 145640433

Breaching or Building Social Boundaries?

@article{Postmes1998BreachingOB,
  title={Breaching or Building Social Boundaries?},
  author={Tom Postmes and Russell Spears and Martin Lea},
  journal={Communication Research},
  year={1998},
  volume={25},
  pages={689 - 715}
}

• T. Postmes, R. Spears, M. Lea
• Published 1 December 1998
• Sociology, Psychology
• Communication Research

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is sometimes heralded for its power to break down social boundaries and to liberate individuals from social influence, group pressure, and status and power differentials that characterize much face-to-face interaction. We review research conducted within the framework of the social identity model of deindividuation effects (SIDE) demonstrating that this is not always the case. When communicators share a common social identity, they appear to be more susceptible to group influence, social attraction, stereotyping, gender typing, and discrimination in anonymous CMC. Although CMC gives us the opportunity to traverse social boundaries, paradoxically, it can also afford these boundaries greater power, especially when they define self- and group identity.