The struggle between subaltern nationalisms and the nation-state in the digital age: China and its ethnic minorities

Technology-determined understandings of how the Internet can change society are usually not very accurate since the Internet’s impacts are always filtered through the structures and contexts of a particular society. Technological determinism tends to be flawed because it is more often the way in which a society receives and makes use of technologies that defines their technological significance. Perhaps, the Internet should not be simply treated as a transforming agent of society but more importantly as a channel for understanding the functioning of power and struggle in a given society.