Gatekeeping

Gatekeeping can be described in the Cambridge dictionary as "The activity of trying to control who gets particular resources, power, or opportunities, and who does not." In more modern terms, Gatekeeping can be described as concealing information by skating around the truth. The most prominent example of this for me is when influencers "gatekeep" where something they are wearing is from by not sharing that information with their viewers, with the fear of it selling out. Another prime example of this is when someone mentions a famous artist and someone responds with "Name 5 songs from them?" with the intention of trying to embarrass the person to see if they know the artist. 

The term gatekeeping was coined by social psychologist Kurt Lewin in 1942, whilst he was doing field research during World War 2. He coined this term through the eyes of the housewife, as they were rationing food from their families, which led Lewin to call them "gatekeepers." 

This could affect society in a number of ways, with the most prominent thought being the implications that it could have on our media or our consumption of daily news. Think about it, if a prominent new source were to disclose vital information to its viewers, that could be considered an act of fraud. I think about this through the lens of prominent medical developer Elizabeth Holmes and her company Theranos. She purposefully withheld information from her investors and patrons of her clinics because her devices were not up to the standard of which she could market and sell. This led consumers to feel betrayed and confused, as they could not begin to imagine why she would withhold this data from her marketed consumers. 

Gatekeeping could also have positive implications because it could help to filter out what you only want to hear, and not just complete jargon that could be spoken into the world. Again think about if you read news from a trustworthy source but the trustworthy received that information from an unreliable source. It could lead you to believe something unreliable, which is why gatekeeping is such an integral part of our society and how it functions effectively.

For different generations, gatekeeping could have different implications and different meanings. For younger generations, it could be as simple as the aforementioned example of the influencer gatekeeping where she bought an article of clothing entrapping the fear that the item would sell out and would become overrated. For older generations, it could be as simple as not being told something because of the fear of how they are going to react, or how they are going to perceive this information. A prime example of each is in the music industry when a famous artist's gatekeeps who is going to be featured on their latest album, like several artists do now to better market their album, building up suspicion on who is going to be a feature on the album. 

Gatekeeping is a serious form of deception that could have negative impacts on society: with one of the most important being how media outlets withhold information from their readers as a way to market their website and make them come back to continue reading. Gatekeeping also affects different generations in different ways, with a common example being music gatekeeping when an artist gatekeeps who is going to be featured on their newest album. All in all, gatekeeping is a very important term that is integral for every person to know to stay in the know.

Links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatekeeping_(communication)

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/gatekeeping

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203887011-13/media-gatekeeping-pamela-shoemaker-tim-vos