Through free association, people will find those of mutual interests in every sphere of life to form groups on the basis of their affinity. But whether these various groups meet and coordinate their activity in workshops, gardens, or other spaces of encounter and whether they are invested in maintaining energy systems, growing food forests, or building homes, such a society cannot last without mutual responsibility.
The most beautiful and horrifying thing about the Internet we know and love is its capacity for specificity.
There is no niche too small, no ideology too fringe, and no distance too great for affinity groups to coagulate and grow.
Where you were once a lone weirdo, you now have access to a community of several other weirdos…if you know where to find them.
UNHINGED: A Guide to Revolution for Nerds & Skeptics – YouTube
Affinity Group: “the group of people associated with a given semiotic domain”
Semiotic Domains = Affinity Group + Situated Meaning
Affinity Space
Today, interest-driven interactions increasingly take place online as people join social media groups or ‘affinity spaces’ dedicated to specific interests. As defined by Gee (2004), ‘affinity spaces’ are loosely organized places (online or offline) built around shared passions, goals, and practices, rather than shared demographic characteristics. Newcomers and experts alike participate in the same space and learn from each other, and there are many ways of participating and gaining status. Different forms of knowledge are valued and encouraged, including intensive knowledge about a specialist topic and extensive knowledge about a variety of subjects. Consequently, affinity spaces may be suited for those with a monotropic processing style.
For example, while many social interventions aim at teaching communication ‘rules’ or social skills, autistic youth may benefit more substantially from participation in affinity spaces where they can connect with others based on mutual interests and communicate in natural, yet structured, settings. This is encapsulated by the words of ‘Ben’: ‘I am sick of social skills groups … Why can’t someone go to the bar with me or to chess club? That’s what I need’ (quoted in Bagatell 2007: 45). Following Koteyko et al. (2023), discourse research could be applied in the creation of resources for designing more inclusive affinity spaces so that everyone’s contributions are welcomed and accommodated. As Ito et al. (2018) outline, affinity spaces can foster ‘connected learning’ opportunities, that is the connection of personal interests to academic, civic, and career-related opportunities. Through the support of affinity spaces, autistic individuals may gain confidence and learn practical, transferable skills such as creative writing or programming. Thus, facilitating participation in such spaces would not only assist with social and communication opportunities but could also help to improve educational and employment outcomes for autistic people (see Department for Work and Pensions 2023).
If we cannot hold space for our own complexity, if we cannot process even the existence of these intrapersonal dialectics, then we also cannot hold that space for the complexity of others and instead default back to this sort of knee jerk reaction, this binary understanding of right and wrong.
UNHINGED: A Guide to Revolution for Nerds & Skeptics – YouTube
