IDOLS OF SELF-PRODUCTION: SELFIES, CAREER SUCCESS AND SOCIAL CLASS

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

    Abstract

    In this chapter I focus on one development of media culture
    which, I argue, connects to a set of messages about the manufacture of
    the successful self—that is the production of the selfie as a personal project and
    especially in relation to the worlds of paid work, careers, and economic security.
    As will be seen, work-related selfies are deployed across the social spectrum. Both working-class and middle-class subjects are invited to present their best selves
    via selfie culture. These are used to demonstrate their “passion” for work. Selfies
    bind together our personal biographies and social media profiles in the pursuit
    of advancement and financial security. I argue that worker subjects have become
    figured as the heroes of their own lives and self-portraiture is one important
    component of this self-fashioning. Bearing this in mind, I make the case for developing a new category of social role model, one which is fitting and theoretically useful for the current moment, namely the idol of self-production. I adapt the term from Leo Lowenthal’s work.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationMedia and Class: TV, Film and Digital Culture
    EditorsJune Deery, Andrea Press
    PublisherRoutldege
    Pages131-145
    Number of pages14
    ISBN (Print)1138229784
    Publication statusPublished - Nov 2017

    Keywords

    • selfie
    • Work, Capitalism & Alienation
    • social class
    • aspiration
    • production
    • Consumption experience
    • self branding
    • digital culture

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