Exploring the Possibility of Ethical Self-Formation in Climate Change Discourses Online

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate to what extent the writing that takes place in online discussion forums could contribute to ethical subject-formation. We acknowledge the potential negative effects that the use of digital technologies could have for human agency, but also explore its potential contribution in shaping ethical agency. To do so, we draw out the intricacies of subjectification/ subjectivation as it is described in Michel Foucault’s (2008) writings on governmentality, and explore to what extent a more positive conception of subjectivity can be articulated in and through contemporary online writing practices. We approach our empirical data abductively, comparing the writing in online forums (Reddit) to/ with Foucault’s description of specific writing practices that are central to ‘the care of the self’, and as such, of ethical subject-formation. We then return to a further investigation of Foucault’s (1994) discussion of polemics that characterize polarizing discourses online. We conclude that the subjectivation emerging within online writing functions both positively and negatively, but that care of the self is made unlikely due to a lack of critical self-reflection and the prevalence of polemics.