American Culture Studies Ph.D. Dissertations
Title
Making Profit, Making Play: Corporate Social Media Branding in the Era of Late Capitalism
Date of Award
2020
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Department
American Culture Studies
First Advisor
Radhika Gajjala (Advisor)
Second Advisor
Thomas Mowen (Other)
Third Advisor
Lisa Hanasono (Committee Member)
Fourth Advisor
Timothy Messer-Kruse (Committee Member)
Abstract
This project is concerned with the forms of play that modern restaurant companies engage in online and the implications of them. I evaluate the strategies of corporate social media accounts through 3 critical lenses--postmodern theory, affect theory, and critical race theory. Using a combination of methods, including textual and discourse analysis, as well as grounded theory, I deconstruct the various strategies utilized by corporate social media accounts to connect with their consumers. My argument rests on the notion that these interactions represent a larger dialectic between consumers and producers of culture. Social media has impacted this relationship by increasing consumer freedom and agency. As a result, companies have found ways to adjust to this consumer freedom in different ways—through mocking and dismissal, or perhaps a viral social challenge as well as racialized performances. While on a spectrum, these strategies represent the anxiety of modern corporate representation in late capitalism.
Recommended Citation
Stephens, David F. II, "Making Profit, Making Play: Corporate Social Media Branding in the Era of Late Capitalism" (2020). American Culture Studies Ph.D. Dissertations. 122.
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/acs_diss/122