Censorship (Communication)

The practice of supervision over behavior and morality. Censorship is historically inculcated in the tension of power relations, both structurally (in the Foucauldian sense, wherein institutions function to censor their subjects) and in day-to-day communication (e.g., between a supervisor and an employee). Censorship is shaped by cultural ideologies surrounding truth and is generally concerned with the control, interpretation, content, and dissemination of information. Ideologies relating to censorship include who has access to and who needs protection from information. Furthermore, the ability of an individual to effectively articulate may be undermined by self-censorship and structural censorship. These types of censorship are largely determined by the subjectivity of the individual, which is shaped by factors such as age, race, gender, and class, as well as structural positioning. Late 20th- and early 21st-century debates about censorship often occur over questioning the information found in communications media, such as books or the Internet. The power of these texts to aid in intellectual freedom (supported through literacy and critical thinking) may be sites of concern for censors, who do not want the presence of competing ideologies in their communities, families, and other groups. Moreover, critics have identified communications technologies as potential threats to face-to-face communication because of the loss of a shared sense of space and temporality. Critics maintain that the online space is contributing to a sense of fragmentation in communication and a type of disconnected intimacy in human relationships. Hence, the use of communications technologies is often subject to the censorship of parents, schools, and spouses. Audiences who have access to the content of media are censored as well, as seen in parental control software. Censorship attempts to edit (and perhaps delete) access to and the exchange of ideas, the growth of personal opinion, and the relationship of audiences to media messages.