Between responsibility and positioning – a study about young people’s interactions in social media

• This article examines young people’s argumentation about their communication in social media. The purpose is to uncover what is taken for granted in their experiences and illuminate discursive patterns in their representation of everyday life online. 32 youths (14-15 years old) were interviewed. The result shows that there are three discourses involved that in different ways condition the youths’ acting space online. The discourses are called ‘taking responsibility’, ‘saving face’ and ‘social positioning’. There is a struggle between the discourses and they take on different power positions depending on the relation between three parameters: with whom the interaction takes place, the content that is to be published and the online characteristics. The discourse ‘taking responsibility’ is superior in interactions with close friends, unlike interactions with peripheral friends, where ‘social positioning’ is superior. The discourse ‘saving face’ is found in interactions with both close and peripheral friends.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Youth

social media

discursive patterns

taking responsibility

saving face

social positioning

communicative act

strategic acts

Sociology

Sociologi

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)