The specular economy is explored by David
Marshall (2010, p.499) to be ‘where collectively we are becoming more conscious
of how we present ourselves and how others perceive us…’ Just like your day to day routine where you
get ready to present yourself to the outside world and check that you have done
so by looking at your reflection in the mirror. This is the idea that the
specular economy is based on. Today, unlike the years before, we have to
present ourselves to the public on social media. We ‘pose’ for our friends on
Facebook, for our employers on LinkedIn and for our fans on YouTube. Marshall
(2010) believes that the specular economy which is produces by the media, means
that we continuously construct ourselves to be viewed in a certain way.
In relation to my own social media
use, I choose not to post the fact that I reversed into my partner’s car today
because I do not want to be seen as an incompetent driver by my ‘friends’ on Facebook. I also chose
not to post that I can’t be bothered going to work on the weekend because I
want my colleagues and managers to see me as a motivated employee who enjoys my
work and the workplace. Yes, I have now shared two facts on the internet about
myself that I did not want my ‘friends’ to see, but they will not read this
blog post, nor will they even know that I have blog because I have chosen not
to share this site with them because I feel that my scholarly postings may not
be good enough. Can you see a pattern? I have chosen to hide negative aspects (aspects
that I perceive to be negative) about my life because I am constructing my persona to be more positive than it really is.
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| (Image: http://allfacebook.com/attractive-facebook-profile_b12124) |
Marshall (2010, p.499) believes that “The
online and mobile media screen as mirror has to be thought of as producing ‘persona’”.
This is exactly what I am doing, using
Facebook and other social media sites to develop a certain persona and pose to
be a specific way for my audience. With many more people online today than ever before, the specular economy is a global concept that applies to people all over the world.
References
Marshal, P.D 2010, ‘The Specular Economy’, Society,
vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 498-502
Hi Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI agree that facebook and social media have become a way of 'posing' others around us. I like the way that you drew on personal experience within the post, especially because it is behaviour that i can also relate to! I do however, believe that presenting ourselves online is more about producing a personality for others to absorb, rather than hiding away certain information. This is because, although we are able to hide pieces of information from people in person, it is harder to 'pose' in a face to face situation, as the underlying identity is bound to be exposed eventually!