Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Self-Commodification and Value

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Production of the 'Self' in the Digital Age

Abstract

The self confronts capital directly in the online environment. While the self is a constant source of data, revenue and content for capital, it would be too limiting to imagine the self solely as an entity to create value online. This chapter examines the relationship between self and capital and how the politics of self-production feeds numerous strands of e-commerce online while enabling therapeutic and empowering elements for the self. The relationship between the self and capital enters a complicit arrangement where the insatiable appetite for non-events and non-news drives an economy of attention seeking and deriving pleasure from the banal.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Altheide, D.L. (2000). “Identity and the Definition of the Situation in a Mass-Mediated Context.” Symbolic Interaction, 23, 1–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bakhtin, Mikhail. (1986). “From Notes Made in 1970–71.” Speech Genres & Other Late Essays. Translated by Vern W. McGee. Edited by Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist, 132–58. Austin: U of Texas P.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baudrillard, Jean. (1983). Simulations. New York: Semiotext.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauman, Z. (2003). Liquid Love: On the Frailty of Human Bonds. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U. (2001). World Risk Society. Cambridge: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boltanski, Luc, & Chiapello, Eve. (2002). “The New Spirit of Capitalism”, Paper Presented at the Conference of Europeanists, 14–16 March, Chicago, IL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P., & Wacquant, L. (1992). An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Chicago, IL. University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (1991). “Imitation and Gender Insubordination.” In Inside/Out: Lesbian Theories, Gay Theories, edited by D. Fuss, 13–31. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (2005). Giving an Account of Oneself. New York: Fordham University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. (1997). “The Narrative Model of Self- construction.” In The Self Across Psychology: Self-Recognition, Self-Awareness, and the Self Concept, edited by J.G. Snodgrass& R.L. Thompson, 145–61. New York: Ann. NY Academy Off Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callero, J. (2003). ‘The Sociology of the Self.” Annual Review of Sociology, 29(2003), 115–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carey, S. (2000). “Cultivating Ethos Through the Body.” Human Studies, 23, 23–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. (2000 [1996]). The Rise of the Network Society (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cerulo, Karen A. (1997. “Identity Construction: New Issues, New Directions.” Annual Review of Sociology 23(1), 385–409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, J.S. (1988). “Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital.” The American Journal of Sociology, 94, S95−S120 (Supplement).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooley, C.H. (1902). Human Nature and the Social Order. New York: Scribner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cova, B., & Dalli, D. (2009). “Working Consumers: The Next Step in Marketing Theory?” Marketing Theory, 9(3), 315–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cover, R. (2012). “Performing and Undoing Identity Online: Social Networking, Identity Theories and the Incompatibility of Online Profiles and Friendship Regimes.” Convergence, 18(2), 177–193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Rochberg-Halton, E. (1981). The Meaning of Things: Domestic Symols and the Self. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Durkheim, E. (1893). 1984. The Division of Labor in Society. Beverly Hills, California: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobzhansky, Theodosius. (1964). “Biology, Molecular and Organismic.” American Zoologist, 443–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donath, J.S., & Boyd, D. (2004). “Public Displays of Connection.” BT Technology Journal, 22, 71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellison, N.B., Steinfeld, C. & Lampe. C. (2007). “The Benefits of Facebook Friends: Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), 1143–1168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Featherstone, Mike, ed. (1988). Postmodernism. Special Issue of Theory, Culture and Society. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1979). Discipline and Punish. New York: Vintage Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1980). “The Eye of Power.” In Power/Knowledge, edited by Colin Gordon, 146–165. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1988). The Care of the Self. New York: Vintage Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, Anthony. (1991). Modernity and Self-identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Anchor.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenblatt, Stephen. (1980). Renaissance Self- Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare. Chicago: U of Chicago P.

    Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter, M.S. (1983). “The Strength of Weak Ties: A Network Theory Revisited.” Sociological Theory, 1, 201−233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gubrium, J.F., & Holstein, J.A. (1995). “Individual Agency, the Ordinary, and Postmodern Life.” The Sociological Quarterly, 36(3, Summer 1995), 555–570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jameson, F. (1985). “Postmodernism and Consumer Society.” In Postmodern Culture, edited by H. Foster, 111–125. London: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. (1991). Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. London: Free Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, D. (1990). The Condition of Post-Modernity. Cambridge, Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hearn, A. (2008). “Meat, Mask, Burden: Probing the Contours of the Branded Self.” Journal of Consumer Culture, 8(2), 197–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger, M. (1977). “The Age of the World Picture.” The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays, 115–154. New York: Harper Torchbooks.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger, M. (1993). “Letter on Humanism.” In Basic Writings. Translated by D. Krell. San Fransisco: Harper Collins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knorr Cetina, Karin. (2001). “Postsocial Relations: Theorizing Sociality in a Postsocial Environment.” In Handbook of Social Theory, edited by Barry Smart & George Ritzer. Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lazzarato, Maurizio (1996). “Immaterial Labor.” In Radical Thought in Italy: A Potential Politics, edited by Paolo Virno & Michael Hardt, 133–50. Minneapolis, MN and London: University of Minneasota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levi-Strauss, Claude. (1966). The Savage Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, N. (1999). Building a Network Theory of Social Capital. Connections, 22, 28−51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manovich, L. (2001). The Language of New Media. Massachussets: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mead, G.H. (1934). Mind, Self and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • McClelland, D. (1951). Personality. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Meyrowitz, J. (1997). “Shifting Worlds of Strangers: Medium Theory and Changes in “Them” Versus “Us””. Sociological Inquiry, 67(1), 59–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, N.J. (1986). John Locke and the Rise of Capitalism. History of Political Economy, 18(2), 291–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prahalad, C.K., & Ramaswamy, V. (2000). “Co-opting Customer Competence.” Harvard Business Review, 78(1), 79–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Portes, A. (1998). “Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology.” Annual Review of Sociology, 24(1), 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, R.D. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rayner, T. (2001). Biopower and Technology: Foucault and Heidegger’s Way of Thinking. Contretemps 2, May 2001; 142–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Read, J. (2003). The Micro-Politics of Capital: Marx and the Prehistory of the Present. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Resnick, P. (2001). “Beyond Bowling Together: Sociotechnical Capital.” In HCI in the New Millennium, edited by J. Carroll, 647−672. New York: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ritzer, G. (2015). “Prosumer Capitalism.” The Sociological Quarterly, 56(3), 413–445.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg, M. (1986). Conceiving the Self. Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Said, Edward W. (1994). “Identity, Authority, and Freedom: The Potentate and the Traveler.” Boundary 2, 21(3, Fall 1994), 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sartre, Jean-Paul. (1974). “The Purpose of Writing.” Between Existentialism and Marxism. Translated by John Mathews. New York: Pantheon Books, 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sawicki, Jana. (1996). “Feminism, Foucault, and ‘Subjects’ of Power and Freedom.” In Feminist Interpretations of Michel Foucault, edited by Susan J. Hekman, 159–78. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schieffelin, E.L. (1998). “Problematizing Performance.” Ritual, Performance, Media, 35, 194.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steinfield, C., Ellison, N.B., & Lampe, C. (2008). “Social Capital, Self-Esteem, and Use of Online Social Network Sites: A Longitudinal Analysis.” Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29(6), 434–445.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, C.T. (1989). Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modem Identity. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Terranova, T. (2000). “Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy.” Social Text, 18(2), 33–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, J.B. (1995). The Media and Modernity: A Social Theory of the Media. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, I. (2000). “From the Question Concerning Technology to the Quest for a Democratic Technology: Heidegger, Marcuse, Feenberg.” Inquiry, 43, 203–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Todorov, Tzvetan. (1984). Dialogical Principle. Translated by Wlad Godzich. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turkle, S. (1995). Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. New York: Simon & Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vargo, S.L., & Lusch, R.F. (2004). “Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing.” Journal of Marketing, 68(1), 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Dijck, J. (2013). “ ‘You have one identity’: performing the self on Facebook and LinkedIn.” Media, Culture & Society, 35(2), 199–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, D. (2006). “On and Off the ‘Net’: Scales for Social Capital in an Online Era.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11, 593−628.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

    Yasmin Ibrahim

Authors
  1. Yasmin Ibrahim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Ibrahim, Y. (2018). Self-Commodification and Value. In: Production of the 'Self' in the Digital Age. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74436-0_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation