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Precarity and Social Media from the Entrepreneurial Self to the Precariatised Mind

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Precarity within the Digital Age

Abstract

Within the digital age, self-narrations of individuals unfold within social media, especially within Social Networking Sites (SNS) like Facebook and Google +. These online-based self-narrations actualize topoi of the entrepreneurial self (cf. Bröckling in The entrepreneurial self. Fabricating a new type of subject. Sage, Thousand Oaks, 2015). The entrepreneurial self can be understood as an ideal image of neoliberal self-government. The online-based self-narrations within SNS use topoi of the entrepreneurial self and effect thus the experience of precarity or—with respect to Standing (The precariat: the new dangerous class. Bloomsbury, London, 2011) a precarized mind. In the first subsection, the relation ‘neoliberal policy/precarity’ is discussed. The interpellations and subjection effects of neoliberal policy and the related experience of precarity will be analyzed. The second subsection uses a discourse-analytical orientated approach. Via the interpretation of different empirical data and study results it will be discussed, how narration topoi of the entrepreneurial self structure the self-narrations within SNS.

Research focus: E-Education, E-Science Research on Media-Education, Qualitative Research in Education and Learning

Research focus: Research on Precaritye-Education, Qualitative Research in Education and Learning.

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Heidkamp, B., Kergel, D. (2017). Precarity and Social Media from the Entrepreneurial Self to the Precariatised Mind. In: Heidkamp, B., Kergel, D. (eds) Precarity within the Digital Age. Prekarisierung und soziale Entkopplung – transdisziplinäre Studien. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-17678-5_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-17678-5_6

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