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Abstract

This dissertation explores identity portrayals during the professionalisation of YouTube as a career through the life narratives of seven members of ‘BritCrew’, depicted in the Draw My Life (DML) video trend of 2013. It explores the process from hobby to Influencer in relation to our Goffmanian relationship with technology and selfhood in a digital age.
Research specifically concerning YouTube is sparse but what is available covers a vast range of topics. Consequently it was necessary to draw upon related literature on celebrity, technology and identity. The works of Rojek (2001) and Turner (2010) helped shape the understanding of what it means to be a celebrity. Literature about how the advancements in technology got us to the social media world that we have today was made use of (Turkle, 2011). Then, understanding of identity firstly relied on Goffman’s (1959) dramatological analogy and secondly, the psychological concept of ‘narrative identity’ helped understanding of how we shape those identities through narratives (McAdams and McLean, 2013).
Narrative methods were utilised to understand the digital life narratives in their own terms, as stories (Georgakopoulou, 2006; 2015). Following a thematic narrative analysis, thirteen themes were identified. The main findings ranged from the relationship that YouTube has with the mass media, to the commodification of identity, to the emotional labour required to maintain the backstage.

Course: Sociology with Pyschology - BSc (Hons) - C1509

Date Deposited: 2020-10-13

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis13565.html