Revealing the politics in “soft”, everyday uses of social media: the challenge for critical discourse studies

Abstract

ABSTRACT Social media content is diverse, ranging from political and social commentary to more mundane, every day, ‘soft’ content. Here we argue that all of this content, at core, is ideological and political. Communication about everyday events, actions, issues and people articulates dominant (and sometimes alternative) ideological discourses about the nature of our society. Arguably, even the most banal comments are infused with norms and values, with scripts about what should be done, what is important and what is not, based on discourses about how we should run our societies. It is in these banal and everyday instances of communication that deeper senses of who we are, and values and judgements about the social order, reside. Using a range of examples from Weibo, such as anti-Trump posts, women fitness influencers, and posts about gender inequalities in the workplace, we argue for the importance and value of looking for politics in all kinds of social media comments and platforms, not so much in terms of formal politics, but a more banal and everyday kind. This means looking deeper at all individual instances, even if at first glance they appear to represent a counter point or marginalised voices.