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Social Media Mothering on Instagram: A Visual Analysis
Defense Date
5-2020
Document Type
Thesis - NSU Access Only
Degree Type
Master of Arts
Degree Name
Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Media
First Advisor
Kelly Concannon, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Janine Morris, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Juliette Kitchens, Ph.D.
Abstract
This thesis explores how four social media influencers (SMIs) depict their experiences with motherhood on Instagram. The study utilizes methods from Barthes’s “Rhetoric of the Image” to evaluate patterns in literal and symbolic messages found in the images and captions posted by the SMIs over the time period of a month. These patterns are analyzed for the ideologies connotated by the images. This research finds that the symbolic messages present in the influencers’ images serve to reproduce the ideologies of intensive mothering and postfeminism. Further, these ideologies are used to commoditize the SMIs’ accounts via paid advertisements. The SMIs are able to monetize their accounts in this way because they depict themselves as authentic and relatable to audiences. This thesis concludes by considering the impact this reproduction of intensive mothering and postfeminism may have on women’s mental health and social status, and it offers suggestions for further research.
NSUWorks Citation
Jessica Organ. 2020. Social Media Mothering on Instagram: A Visual Analysis. Master's thesis. Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved from NSUWorks, . (21)
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hcas_etd_all/21.
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