Towards a Sociology of Selfies (Routledge Advances in Sociology)

Description

This book examines selfies as a relational and processual networked social practice, performed between people within digital contexts and that involve online/offline intersections and tensions. It offers an analysis of selfies through a rich and interdisciplinary framework, that explores the ritualized and affective engagements selfies provoke from others. Given that selfies by definition are shared and posted through networked platforms, they complicate notions of traditional photographic self-portraiture. As such, this book explores how selfies invoke broader, stratified patterns of looking that are occluded in discourses of "empowerment" and "visibility", as well as the subjectivities these networked practices work to produce. Drawing on extensive qualitative research conducted over a period of three years, this book questions not only what selfies are but what they do, they worlds they create, the imaginaries that organize them, and the flows of desire, affect and normativity that underpin them, questions that can only be addressed through research that closely attends to the experience of selfie-takers. It will be of interest to those working in the fields of Sociology, Cultural studies, Communications, Visual Studies, Social Media studies, Feminist research and Affect Theory. Cover Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Figures Acknowledgments Part I Defining and Theorizing Selfie Practice Chapter 1 Introduction A Process-Project-Process The Digital-Forensic Gaze Overview of Chapters Notes References Chapter 2 Mechanics: Method and Analysis Introduction Theoretical Underpinnings: Dwelling Between “Posts” Theoretical Touchstones Unfolding Methodological Practice Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 What We Do When We “Code” Repetition as Intensification Conclusion Note References Chapter 3 This Is Not a Like: Selfies as Social Practice Introduction Desire and Liking Instagram: When “Liking” Is Obscured Tracking Likes Or “Looking at Looking” Ruptures in Liking Verified: Legitimation Processes Conclusion References Chapter 4 “Do I Look Like My Selfie?” Filters and the Digital-Forensic Gaze Introduction Filters, Faces, Power Theoretical Frame: Looking/Gender/Selfies Theories of the Gaze, the Forensic Eye, and the Digital-Forensic Gaze Discussion and Analysis: Authenticity/Gender/Trying Too Hard Conclusions Notes References Part II Affect and Gender Chapter 5 Becoming Digital She-Objects: From the Double To… Introduction Beyond Doubling Visibility Qua Empowerment Is She Pretty? Instagrind: The Exhaustion of Repetition Conclusion References Chapter 6 Soft Boys, Chads, and Fuckboys: Performing Selfie Masculinities Introduction Theorizing Masculinities Performative Irony Arms, Abs, and Jawlines Filters, Fuckboys, and Chads Conclusion References Chapter 7 As-If Happy: The “Forced Positive” and Post(ing)-Fun Introduction Beautiful Is the New Happy: Platform Ecologies Post(ing)-Fun Looking Good/Feeling Good? Conclusion References Part III Digital Constraints and Contexts Chapter 8 “Saturatedly Perfect”: Staring Down the Hegemonic Gaze Introduction “Saturatedly Perfect” Modeling Through Advice Literature Under a Hegemonic Gaze “Perfect Enough to Post” Background, Lighting, Angles, and Filters: How to Be Genuine You Must Smile Conclusion: Living in Post-Production References Chapter 9 Hashtags and the Optics of Optimization Introduction Studying Sociality Through Focus Group Discussions Dissonance With Academic Hashtag Literature Seeing Through an Optics of Optimization “I Hate Hashtags, I Hate Captions” Why Does Branding Get a Pass? Conclusion References Chapter 10 Algorithmic Sociality: It’s Not a Bug It’s a Feature Introduction Framing Our Thinking: There Is No Neutral The Algorithm: A Sociotechnical Mediation Straightjacket Fostering Triangulation: “They Feed You Stuff” Conclusion References Chapter 11 Conclusion: Selfies and the Ends of Photography Process Centered Research as a Way to Encounter the Question Epistemological Assumptions The Ends of Photography Notes References Bibliography Index