Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ISSN No:-2456-2165
Abstract:- Since last twenty years, human race has places. People then both draw from and contribute to the
experience digital revolution. This revolution has three construction of places and are motivated to “place”
major dimensions i.e. penetration of internet in society, themselves to provide alternative or personalized
growth of social media and social networking and growth perspectives of these places but also to represent their
of mobile (smart) & wearable technologies. with quick self.
surge in technologies, an idea of ‘selfie’ has emerged and
transformed. Keywords:- Selfie, Presentation of Self, Dramaturgy,
Technology and Society, Social Fact, Selfies, Place, Space,
In sociological terms, the emergence of ‘selfie’ can be Place Making, Third Space, Self-Representation,
located in domain of new culture that transformed Heterotopias.
representation self, social relationships, social interactions
and social consumptions. The study adopts quantitative I. INTRODUCTION
and qualitative Netnography techniques to explore and
describe sociologically relevant theories to grasp this The 'selfie' has a long past but short history, the term
phenomenon of selfie. For this purpose, the study adopts 'selfie' was officially incorporated in Oxford English
dramaturgy, sociosemiotic and dialectical frameworks. Dictionary in 2013 defining a selfie as “a photograph that
Based on descriptive diagnostic explorations the study one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or
provides sensibleness for symbolic utilization, discursive webcam and uploaded to a social mediawebsite” (BBC News,
stratagems, communicative representations and 2013). The media, culture and society at large have smoothly
performance tactics with reference to (re)presentation of adopted this social fact, opening an avenue for sociological
self within various social interactions and social order. inquiry. The first self-portrait is accredited to an American
This research aimed to understand selfie behavior in photographer Robert Cornelius, who captured his own photo
social networking sites (SNSs). The research was on 10 August 1893 (Karwowski, Brzeski, 2017). But the term
conducted on the basis of the functional theories of 'selfie' is can traced back to 2004 when Flickr, a social media
attitude, verified self-presentation attitude, and self- platform used the word 'selfie' to label digital pictures of &
expression attitude that affect selfie behaviors (i.e., taking by an individual (Shah & Tewari, 2016). Google (2016)
selfies, posting selfies, and taking selfies for fashion reported 24 billion selfies on the google photo platform and
product exposure). The moderating effect of satisfaction 93 million selfies are captured by Android devices per day.
toward one’s appearance was identified. Self-presentation Selfies, digital images characterized by the desire to frame
attitude exerted a significant effect on the number of the self in a picture taken to be shared with an online
selfies posted and those uploaded for fashion product audience, are important reflections of the contemporary self.
exposure. When satisfaction toward one’s appearance Extant psychological research on selfies has taken a
was high, self-presentation attitude increased the anthologizing view of the phenomenon, focusing on its
influence of the behaviors of posting selfies and uploading relationship to narcissism. Selfies are public reflections of the
selfies for fashion product exposure. Self-expression way we view and present ourselves, an intriguing
attitude also significantly influenced the number of selfies combination of inward and outward looking. Their
taken due to the moderating effect of satisfaction toward pervasiveness has been facilitated not only by networked
one’s appearance. The rise of digital and visual technology and devices such as front facing cameras and
communication has brought an increased focus to the selfie sticks, but also by the internalized social conventions
places that people occupy. While places are created that make the capture and sharing of self-images desirable
through various meaning-making processes, one way of and acceptable.
establishing the meaning of a place is by inserting oneself
into spaces by taking selfies. The places depicted in selfies Émile Durkheim, a French sociologist coined the term
may reflect a desire to associate oneself with the place, to 'social fact' which consists of ways of behaviour, thinking
make a statement challenging that place or the dominant and feeling that are external to an individual. These social
meaning associated with it, or to create new meaning facts have their roots in coercive power that exercises control
concerning the place and the self. Drawing on the over a particular individual (Durkheim, 2016). Social facts
concepts of Third space and heterotopias, we proffer a are representations and actions. In other words, social facts
framework for the practice of taking and sharing selfies can be viewed as a thing that members of society do very
that depict a place. We argue that people colonize points similarly because of communal socialization or because of
in space to reproduce, counter, or mix the meanings of influence exert over them to do common action. Based on