In his studies, James (1980) was very concerned about the social aspects of the individual self: “a man has a many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him” (James, 1890 in Hermans, 2001: 247). Identity represents the uniqueness of the person, however, “the construction of identity does not take place in isolation nor is it a solitary activity” (Papacharissi and Giblson, 2011: 5).
In other words, by having personal self-identity, a person has also social identity, because “the sense of self is developed through the collaborative, collective experiences of our social interactions” (Papacharissi and Giblson, 2011: 6).
Markus (1977) presented the idea of cognitive schemas also in interaction with social environment, where people construct knowledge structures about the self or self-schemas. Self-schemas integrate and summarize a person’s knowledge, including one’s own thoughts, experiences and feelings about the self, as well as others’ evaluations of one’s physical and behavioral characteristics (ibid). In the digital realm, people tend to perform the self that makes sense to multiple audience without compromising the truly sense of the self (Papacharissi and
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Gibson, 2011). In other words, the self seeks to achieve self-definition and self- interpretation, and incorporates multiple selves with the main two distinctive selves of personal and social self. The personal self refers to person’s learning abilities and one’s unique traits, which are achieved by differentiating from others in order to protect or enhance the person psychologically. While social self tries to protect or enhance significant other and maintain person’s social relationships (Markus, 1977; Brewer and Gardner, 1996). Moreover, the complexity and contradictions of personal cultures provide people with different identities and, at the same time, with the choices of the self-identity components.
People define themselves in large part by the social roles they play. Those roles are provided by the society. Thus, people choose roles from those already recognized and understood by the society in which they live. Social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1979) suggests that identity includes both personal or self-identity (i.e. a person’s sense of self), and social identity (i.e. relates to groups to which one belongs). Different contexts can cause temporary shifts in identity, such that the person categorizes the self as being a member of one group (Taifel and Turner 1986). Thus, the person may see the self in terms of one of several possible social memberships depending on the context (for example, as a sister, a student) and to more strongly identify with the activated identity, and think, feel, and act as a group member rather than as an individual (Tajfei and Turner 1986).
One’s belonging to the group can become a vital part of the self-concept. Thus, people involved in particular social group are motivated to perceive the self and, as a result the audience involved positively. In addition, consumers are motivated to positively differentiate the self from the other out-groups (White and Dahl, 2007).
At the same time, (Hermans, 2001) presented the concept of dialogical self. This concept is based on the assumption that person has many I positions that can be occupied by the same person. The I in one position can experience variety of feelings, contradictions, with the I in another position, it even can ridicule another position. The dialogical self is always tied to a particular position in space and time. It is also social, it does not mean that a self-contained person enters into social interactions with other outside people, but it means that other people occupy some kind of positions in a multi-voiced self (Hermans, 2001). Thus, the person can act as if one were the other. Similar to the dialogical self, Higgins (1987) presented the theory of self-discrepancy, in which people evaluate themselves by comparing their actual self with the ideal or normative self by taking into account the viewpoint of three possible audiences, such as themselves, reference groups, or others. Thus, a discrepancy can arise when one aspect of the self conflicts with another (Higgins, 1987). However, according to the author, this discrepancy can be reduced by meeting the standards set by various self-guides.
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All in all, the identity and its construction is a life-long process that requires continuous reconstruction and re-assessment. The identity construction can be viewed as two separate but simultaneous processes of social and personal self- identity. In social identity projects people are trying to fit into the society, to reach sameness with the community, while in personal identity project the self is
constructed by otherness and aims to present the uniqueness of the self to others.
People can also have multiple identities that can change according to the
situations and environment, as those multiple identities can also create conflicts.
Thus, in order to escape conflicts, the consumer in the postmodern world cognitively and actively creates one’s identities by taking into account the environment within person performs. The purpose of this research is not to identify specific identities of a person at the particular privacy type or function, but rather to see the influence of the self-identity when consuming social media and creating desired level of privacy. For clarity purposes, I will use the concept of the actual and personal self as private self, and as opposed, the ideal or social self as disclosed self. Here, privacy is essential if a personal self, defined by multiple social roles, is aiming to fulfill all those roles successfully.
4 Narratives – life-stories
The “linguistic turn” in the social science has transformed many disciplines by focusing on the interpretive activities by which people make sense of their lives and the roles that language and narrative play in shaping these interpreted
meanings (Thompson, 1997). This turn has influenced consumer research field as well by realizing the fact that narratives can be used as an interpretive tool which helps to understand how consumers structure their consumption experience and make sense of their lives (Shankar, Elliott and Goulding, 2001). Consumers’ lives are intertwined with the stories they tell, listen to or even imagine, as they “live in an immerse narrative, recounting and reassessing the meanings of our past
actions, anticipating the outcomes of our future projects, situating ourselves in an intersection of several stories not yet completed” (Polkinghorne, 1988 in
McAdams, 1996: 160).
Narratives are socially and culturally constructed stories mediated through language (Giddens, 1991: 47). As language is “the universal medium in which understanding occurs” (Arnould and Fischer, 1994: 58), language constructs the reality and shapes the course and meaning of the human condition (Shankar et al., 2001: 437). Therefore, the reality or narrative is constructed by person through language, and is also shaped and modified by the society and culture within which the person is embedded (Shankar et al., 2001: 439).
This research interprets consumers’ narratives by utilizing the ideas of narrative paradigm, where consumers construct meanings and realities through their life
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stories, which in turn reflect their personal identity (Shankar et al., 2001). By providing deeper understanding of personal experiences of consumption, narrative is the most suitable way to study privacy from consumers’ perspective, as they provide an understanding of self-identity and the meanings and goals behind one’s privacy.