• Abstract

    MY FACEBOOK PROFILE REPRESENTS ME! A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FEMINISM AND THE DIGITAL EXTENDED SELF

    Published date: 17/11/2017
    Social media enable users to express their understanding of society, including their engagement with social movements, such as feminism. In this context, this study aims to understand how the user feminist user’s profile presents the “digital extended self” in relation to feminism on Facebook. A qualitative, exploratory study was conducted, based on interviews with Facebook users who consider themselves feminists, and documents generated from their profiles. Through content analysis of the data collected, two categories were identified: (1) Feminist actions (Engagement, Practices and Influence of Facebook); and (2) “digital extended self” (Identification, Differentiation, Centralization, Loss and Derivation). The results show that for users who consider themselves feminists, Facebook has helped them gain a stronger feminist identity. For the majority of them, their profile is part of who they are. These users also believe that they derive some of their identities through Facebook, and that this media can be a gateway to feminism. Thus, it is understood that the profiles constructed on Facebook digitally extend the “Self” for the individuals researched. This study seeks to deepen research on social movements in the virtual context, and the practice of feminism in the type of media studied.

Revista Alcance

Revista Alcance is a Brazilian free access journal, published every four months, linked to the Graduate Program in Administration and the Professional Master’s degree in Administration, Internationalization and Logistics Program of the University of Vale do Itajaí – Univali. We seek to publish theoretical-empirical and technological articles in the areas of Business Administration. Different theoretical and methodological perspectives are welcome, as long as they are consistent with and relevant to the development of the area.

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