Memeification: Ontological Security of Nomadic Internet Identities

• In Event: Information Technology and Politics; Formal Theory; and American Political Thought Virtual Poster Session
  In Virtual Poster Session: Information Technology and Politics Virtual Poster Session

Abstract

This paper offers a constructivist approach to social movements and “meme culture” on the Internet by emphasizing the role of ontological security as a main driver of collective action online. As Mitzen and Steele assert, the need of actors to constantly reaffirm identity can be a main determining factor in how, when, and where they act. When applied to the physical world of politics, ontological security exists as an alternative to traditional physical survival. On the Internet, however, where presence is artificial and inherently constructed, both identity and the need to affirm identity become simultaneously more fluid and consequential. Lacking physical characteristics -- against which individuals may base their bodily identities and states their sovereign identities -- the presence of actors on the Internet is wholly constituted of adopted identities. When coupled with the norm of default anonymity on the Internet, actors are compelled to construct their online existence through rigid and reflexive routines. Ontological security becomes a virtual analogue for physical survival. The widespread usage of memes and the resultant phenomenon of meme culture should be interpreted as a macrocosm of ontological security considerations. The ease of access to, and fleeting nature of, meme trends imposes nomadic identities on online actors. Moreover, the propensity of memes to be loaded with specific meaning results in zealous -- at times seemingly irrational -- actions taken in preservation of ontological security. Using the 2016 QAnon conspiracy and the 2021 r/wallstreetbets stock short squeeze as case studies, this paper seeks to explain why decentralized social movements seem to suddenly adopt, and work zealously towards achieving, radical goals. Through ontological security-seeking, a new understanding may be forged about the meanings, goals, and motivations behind online social movements.

Author

• Jackie Chuan Yin Ku, University of California, Irvine