Narracja tożsamościowa a zjawiska internetowe na przykładzie narracji doomerów

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present results of qualitative study regarding narratives of people that build identity based on Internet meme, in this case doomer meme. The theoretical framework for the presented study is based on concepts of narrative psychology, mainly the concept of narrative identity by Dan P. McAdams. According to this concept, a person’s identity is constructed through narratives that relate to his/her life, therefore, in order to discover what a person is like, one needs to know the stories he/she tells about himself/herself. In the presented study, participated 82 people aged 14–31 (M = 19; SD = 3.71). Most of the respondents were from Poland (26.58%) and the United States (24%). A questionnaire composed of open questions was used for the study, so the gathered data could be of narrative nature. The analysis of the acquired data was based on the principles of hermeneutic method proposed by Magdalena Żurko and the method of hermeneutic analysis by Ewa Kruchowska. The results shows that a person identifying himself/herself with a doomer is a person with a pessimistic view on the modern world, people and life in general. In life stories of respondents, there were critical moments that made them uphold such identity, e.g. loss of a close relative or major life setbacks.