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Article published In: Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 33:1 (2023) ► pp.1–26

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“I AM HERE AND I MATTER”

Virtue signaling and moral-political stance in progressive activists’ Facebook posts

ORCiD logo with link | University of Houston
Published online: 25 March 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.20117.zen
Abstract
In this article I operationalize the term “virtue signaling”, a term generally pejoratively used towards people’s assertions of values on social media platforms, as “moral-political stancetaking”, an activity that is actually quite common on- and offline and that works to exert peer pressure toward onlookers and addressees so that they will adopt certain values. Using analytical frameworks of small stories and stance, I examine a narrative sequence from one political activist, demonstrating how she situates long-term aspects of her biography in relation to present moral-political crises in order to make assertions that culminate in the construction of a moral-political framework for the progressive grassroots organizations that she leads. Through this analysis I assert that the notion of virtue signaling, while new to the social media era, fits well within repertoires of communicative behavior that long pre-date the rise of social media.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Pantsuit Republic Texas and Pantsuit Republic Houston
  • Entextualizing small stories on Facebook
  • Stance in Facebook narratives
    • Analyzing stance
    • Hashtags in stancetaking
  • Data collection and methods of analysis
  • “I AM HERE AND I MATTER”: Signaling a moral-political stance on immigration and assimilation
    • PSRH post caption
    • IH post caption
    • Video text
    • PSRH post caption
    • IH post caption
    • Video text
      • Segment 1.Story announcement and evaluative preview
      • Segment 2.“Distant past Lucy’s” identity destabilization
      • Segment 3.Recent past Lucy’s identity stabilization
      • Segment 4.Evaluative stance/making an example of Brokaw’s utterance
        • Segment 4a.Claiming her epistemic power/authority
      • Segment 5.Reinforcing her message
      • Segment 6.Accountability for a broader public
      • Segment 7.Closing
    • Summary of the narratives
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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