University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Br J Sociol. 2023 Sep;74(4):638-656. doi: 10.1111/1468-4446.13015. Epub 2023 Mar 29.
This article develops a theory of selfies as reflexive practices of self-coordination. Building on pragmatist sociology of engagements, I conceptualize selfies as digital practices of coordinating with the self in formats that are recognizable for others. This framework allows approaching the self as an act of coordination, simultaneously shaped by, and equipped to subvert the cultural conditions of how we ought to be. As these conditions are increasingly enforced and negotiated in the socio-technological arrangements of digital platforms, the article proposes an approach for making sense of selfies as key contemporary tools of self-making. Based on ethnographic work among activists with marginalizing experiences, I ask how the self is coordinated in the activists' selfies. I identify four ways of coordinating with the self in selfies: the self in a plan, the self in exploration, the affirmed self, and the self as public critique. The article contributes to our understanding on how practices of self-making evolve in an increasingly visual-digital society, and provides an approach for conceptualising the self as plural. By approaching the selfie as different formats of relating to the self, the framework proposed accounts for the possibility of multiple selves now afforded by digital technologies and enables analysing their politicizing potential.
本文提出了一种将自拍视为自我协调的反思性实践的理论。基于参与的实用主义社会学，我将自拍概念化为以他人可识别的格式与自我协调的数字实践。这个框架允许我们将自我视为一种协调行为，同时受到我们应该如何存在的文化条件的塑造，并具备颠覆这些条件的能力。随着这些条件在数字平台的社会技术安排中日益得到强化和协商，本文提出了一种理解自拍作为当代自我塑造关键工具的方法。基于对具有边缘化经历的活动家的民族志工作，我询问了自我在活动家的自拍中是如何协调的。我确定了自拍中与自我协调的四种方式：计划中的自我、探索中的自我、被肯定的自我和作为公共批判的自我。本文有助于我们理解在日益视觉化的数字社会中自我塑造实践是如何演变的，并提供了一种将自我概念化为多元化的方法。通过将自拍视为与自我相关的不同形式，所提出的框架考虑到了数字技术现在提供的多种自我的可能性，并能够分析它们的政治化潜力。
