This week the presentation focused on how identity has been shaped online since the developed of the ‘Networked Self’. Since the development of the internet, we have been able to create profiles that represent ourselves in virtual form.

“The choosing, deciding, shaping human being who aspires to be the author of his or her own life, the creator of an individual identity” as “the central character of our time” (Beck & Beck-Gernsheim, 2001, p 22–23)

Another quote from the presentation (slide #14), this captures the idea of a ‘project of self’. “Individuals are to become, as it were, entrepreneurs of themselves, shaping their own lives through the choices they make among the forms of life open to them” (Rose, 1989, p. 226). Although Rose was discussing the workplace, this quote ties in Beck and Beck-Gernsheim. We are now in an age where we can help to construct our own lives, to build them up as projections of ourselves. And this too, applies to cyberspace.

Cohen, J. (2012) ‘Configuring the Networked Self’.

Julie Cohen’s book has a primary focus on the legal and informational policy formation around cyberspace. While she does focus on information law and policy, Cohen delves into sociological theory: bringing explanations for concepts into her field.

Connecting Goffman.

Jacobson notes that Goffman’s The Presentation of Everyday Self is consistently rated as one of the most important sociological texts of the 20th century (Jacobson, p. 4). Goffman’s seminal work concerns how we perform in public. While his work was born long before the time of cyberspace, it’s concept of a construction and multi-faceted presentation is evident online. We can create different profiles, of which we control almost all elements. Our screen names, profile pictures, usernames, who you choose to follow and what you tweet are all nuances that were not available in the presentation of everyday self.

References:

Center for Media & Social Impact (2013). Visiting Scholar Series 2013 | Julie Cohen – Configuring the Networked Self [Video] Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHiMIkLOPdI [Accessed: February 2019]

Cohen, J. (2012). Configuring the Networked Self. New Haven; London: Yale University Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5vm24d

Jacobsen, M. H. (Ed.). (2010). The Contemporary Goffman. Routledge.

Rose, N. (1989). Governing the Soul: The Shaping of the Private Self. London: Routledge.