Describe Reddit’s culture. How does it compare to the culture in “real life”?
its wierd.
you can't say reddit is culturally homogeneous because its subscriber base is in the millions and it has thousands of subreddits catering to diverse interests and political beliefs. Anyone and everyone can find something, however small, here that is worthwhile and worthy staying for.
There is no other place on the internet that I can regularly find the cultured, and intellectually stimulating discussions and writings that I'd say contribute greatly to my overall character. I subscribe to a lot subreddits that I don't necessarily belong to as an opportunity observe as a sort of 'fly on the wall' to learn from unique perspectives and keep up on news stories that I would not normally have been exposed to.
but if you just examine the largest, most popular subreddits, i.e. /r/askreddit, /r/pics, /r/videos, /r/news and others, take a stethoscope to that, and call that the identity of 'reddit' there is a slight trend.
basically if you are a woman or a minority ethnic group you can expect to find politically incorrect opinions that don't jive with you every single day.
it comes with the anonymity that the internet affords. reddit, with its free speech policy, is second only to 4chan as the dirty underbelly frontier of the internet.
it comes from the sites roots as a community of computer science students and otherwise tech literate young people which circumstantially lends itself to voices which are white, suburban middle to upper class, and male.
It also comes from reddit being targeted and used as a hub for hate sites 1, 2 that prey on the momentary deficits of empathy of these younger, relatively privileged, and sheltered minds
because of these things, racism, misogny, and general bigotry finds a resonance here that you wont find in day to day real life.
All of is easy to ignore by unsubscribing to defaults, straying away from the larger subs, and seeking out those well moderated subs like /r/askscience, /r/askhistorians, /r/truereddit, and /r/DepthHub and smaller other ones that cater to your niche interests.
