Nudges, emojis, and memes
Mapping interpassivity theory onto digital civic culture
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8253072 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lukas Mozdeika (0000-0003-4940-9803) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 57 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 252-274 |
| Publication date | 2023-07-03 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Communication and Democracy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2767-1127 • E-ISSN: 2767-1135 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/27671127.2023.2252494 |
| OpenAlex | W4386712393 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 41 |
Once lauded for liberating audiences from their passive state by granting voice, the digital public sphere today increasingly resembles a cacophony of disjointed voices datafied for the gain of giant tech firms. Instead of bemoaning the co-optation of users’ activity, we might find it timely to reconsider the possibility that users’ passivity might be at stake, the key assumption of interpassivity theory implying a delegation of one’s affective subject position under seeming interactive practices. This article reviews burgeoning research on interpassivity and brings it to bear on pervasive phenomena in digital interactive environments: nudges, emojis, and memes. Tracing the artificial canned laughter of the broadcast era to the famous internet adage, Poe’s law, I argue that strategic ambivalence, vitriolic joking, and irony weaponized by far-right online subcultures exploit the interactive nudge logic of social media affordances. The means of expressing authentic feelings afforded by digital media entail a fissure that trades in illusions which users disavow. This explains how surprising phenomena beyond belief, such as “meme magic,” gain symbolic power. The theoretical takeaway upends the key premise of cultural participation theory suggesting that rather than serving as a precondition, relentless interactivity might paradoxically undermine the democratic ethos of participatory culture
Aesthetics · Art · Ascription · Digital media · Epistemology · Game studies · Media studies · Political science · Sociology · Digital Communication and Language · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Social Media and Politics · Law
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The Magical Theory of Politics
Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies
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Networked publics as agents of accountability
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Poe's Law, group polarization, and argumentative failure in religious and political discourse
Tweeting ourselves to death
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The Personalization of Politics
Three cultural turns
The Return of the 'Lurker
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |