Mythology of RuNet network communities
Sociology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17072/2078-7898/2020-4-649-658Keywords:
myth, mythologization, social media, discourse-mythological approach, online community, motherhood, footballAbstract
The article is part of a project aimed at researching the subjective policy space in a network society. It is dedicated to the mythology of RuNet online communities («MAMA™», «Real Football»). The myth is characterized as a discursive construct that conveys ideology. The study was carried out using content analysis, which made it possible to identify the thematic discourse structure of online communities, and the discourse-mythological approach, developed by D. Kelsey based on the integration of critical discourse analysis and the theory of myths. The research is based on C. Flood, R. Barthes’s concepts of the myth, M. Mauss’s explication of magic as a technique for changing the reality. The network community «MAMA™» broadcasts mythical narratives about natural motherhood, maternal instinct and altruism, universal maternal experience, the archetypes of «yummy mummy» and «pregnant beauty». Myths legitimize the ideology of intensive motherhood; there is discursive framing of consumption as a material expression of maternal love and care. On the page of the online community «Real Football», the football club is presented as a dream factory; the status of heroes and wizards is attributed to players and coaches; the creators of community unite supporters through a family myth. Myths spread and support the ideologies of «football-centrism», «football as a man's game»; mythology hides the «microphysics of power» of football life from the view of the «other».References
References
Chae, J. (2015). «Am I a better mother than you?»: Media and 21st-century motherhood in the context of the social comparison theory. Communication Research. Vol. 42, iss. 4, pp. 503–525. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650214534969
Douglas, S.J., Michaels, M.W. (2005) The Mommy Myth: The Idealization of Motherhood and How it has Undermined all Women. New York: Simon & Schuster, 400 p.
Hall, P.C. (1998). Mothering mythology in the late twentieth century: science, gender lore and celebratory narrative. Canadian Woman Studies. Vol. 18, no. 2–3, pp. 59–63.
Hays, S (1996). The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood. New Haven: Yale University Press, 252 p.
Johnston, D.D., Swanson, D.H. (2003). Invisible mothers: A content analysis of motherhood ideologies and myths in magazines. Sex Roles. Vol. 49, iss. 1–2, pp. 21–33.
Kelsey, D. (2015). Media, Myth and Terrorism: A discourse-mythological analysis of the ‘Blitz Spirit’ in British Newspaper Responses to the July 7th Bombings. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 226 p. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137410696
Kelsey, D. (2016). Hero Mythology and Right-Wing Populism: A discourse-mythological case study of Nigel Farage in the Mail Online. Journalism Studies. Vol. 17, iss. 8, pp. 971–988. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670x.2015.1023571
Kelsey, D. (2017). Media and Affective Mythologies: Discourse, Archetypes and Ideology in Contemporary Politics. London: Palgrave, 181 p. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60759-7
Littler, J. (2013). The Rise of the «Yummy Mummy»: Popular Conservatism and the Neoliberal Maternal in Contemporary British Culture. Communication, Culture & Critique. Vol. 6, iss. 2, pp. 227–243. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cccr.12010
Marres, N. (2017). Digital Sociology: The Reinvention of Social Research. Cambridge: Polity Press, 277 p.
Mauss, M. (2005). A General Theory of Magic. London, New York: Routledge, 192 p.
Oakley, A. (1974). The sociology of housework. New York: Pantheon Books, Random House, 242 p.
Potvin, J.M. (2015). Mobilizing motherhood: the use of maternal myths in popular development discourse. Global justice: theory practice rhetoric. Vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 23–43.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Perm University Herald. Philosophy. Psychology. Sociology
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.