| Abstrakt: |
The paper analyzes Instagram in the context of metamodern cultural logic, focusing on the study of 1) the structural and (non-)class characteristics of the Instagram community using the theory of capital by Pierre Bourdieu, Robert Putnam, and Michael Woolcock as well as the concepts of master and small narratives; 2) the Spectacle versus Authenticity practices of Instagrammers using the performance concepts by Guy Debord, Jean Baudrillard, and Erving Goffman; 3) heterochronicity as a new temporality on Instagram in the metamodern condition. I examine the oscillation between the modern features of Instagram, orienting Instagrammers towards the creation of a like-minded community with hierarchical divisions into status groups, and its postmodern features as a fragmented field where actors play their performances that can be perceived ironically. It is emphasized that on Instagram “small narratives” are not imposed from the outside but are involuntarily created by Instagrammers themselves through sharing, liking, and commenting practices. The content of the social (bonding, bridging, and linking), cultural (objectified, incorporated, and certified), symbolic, and economic capital of Instagrammers has been revealed. The paper concludes that Instagram visual practices in metamodern condition oscillate between performances played out by celebrities and authentic self-presentations in which Instagrammers reveal their sincere selves. It demonstrates that Instagram’s heterochronicity is manifested in the simultaneous co-presence of different modes of time in Instagram narratives and the simultaneous appearance of visual posts over different years, which allows to trace the visual self-narration of an Instagram user over time. The heterochronicity of Instagram is its metamodern feature that makes different temporal moments to co-present each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
