Demonstrating Honor Online: The Affordances of Social Media for Surveillance and Impression Management in an Honor Culture

• In Event: Negative Socioemotional Performances in Social Media

Abstract

Online impression management receives considerable scholarly attention, extending theoretical understanding of how individuals control attributions others form, given the increased visibility that social media afford. However, scant attention has been paid to impression management in cultures where surveillance is the norm. This qualitative study of Azerbaijan, an honor culture with both of a norm of surveillance and severe repercussions for deviating from behavioral codes, explores how youth are managing their online impressions. We find that social media are an onerous place for Azerbaijanis. Paradoxically, social media are an additional space for young women to adhere to codes of modesty and chastity, which is in contrast to the norms of disclosure on these sites. For young men, social media can be a battlefield of status. Young Azerbaijanis use the same strategies previously identified in literature; but the ramifications of negative impressions are so severe that impression management is taken more seriously.

Authors

• Katy Elizabeth Pearce, U of Washington

• Jessica Vitak, University of Maryland