title: Social media and body image: It's complicated

authors: Elliott, Darren Jack

subjects: Body image

abstract: Body image is an important dimension of life, and in a media-saturated world, we are supposedly surrounded by images of 'idealised' physical body types that are harmful to people's body image. Many theories have been put forward to account for the growing idealisation of 'thin' and 'toned' women and 'lean' and 'muscular' men. Historically, psychological body image research has reliably linked exposure to 'ideal' bodies in mainstream 'traditional' media (along with moderating processes of internalisation, self-comparison, and objectification) and experiences of body image dissatisfaction; for increasingly diverse populations of women and men across the lifespan. In recent years, researchers have turned their attention to social media's impact on body image. Some quantitative and correlational studies suggest that social media use is associated with body image dissatisfaction and, in some instances, further intensifies its scope and scale. Findings also contend that social media can promote body image satisfaction by enabling the distribution and consumption of alternative, 'realistic' body types and body positive content.

This thesis suggests inconsistent, and binary findings come from the limited and partial ways research often conceptualise and analyse the relationship between social media and body image. Studies are typically based on singular aspects of social media (i.e. exposure to particular pages or technological affordances) and often overemphasise body image as a static, cross-situational trait, ignoring its complex and situational-specific nature. The current study counters this by bringing together the critical psychological view that body image is complex, multidimensional, and fluid and contemporary Screen and Media scholarship that emphasises how people can simultaneously be users of and used by social media. I combine these two perspectives to critically explore how people experience their body image through social media in ambivalent ways and how social media can enable and challenge the process of developing positive body image experiences.

Specifically, I take a Critical Realist informed, qualitative approach to exploring how the social and technological affordances of social media ('Facebook' and 'Instagram') shape attitudinal body image (thoughts, feelings and behaviours relating to research respondents' physical appearance and embodiment) of adult, New Zealand and Australian women and men who are actively using social media to improve their body image. The research findings draw from an online survey of 552 respondents and 30 semi-structured interviews that highlight the simultaneous risks, rewards, and ever-present tensions - which, I argue, are inherently characteristic of the reflexive relationship between particularly situated individuals, social media, and body image.

text: Social media and body image: It's complicated Body image is an important dimension of life, and in a media-saturated world, we are supposedly surrounded by images of 'idealised' physical body types that are harmful to people's body image. Many theories have been put forward to account for the growing idealisation of 'thin' and 'toned' women and 'lean' and 'muscular' men. Historically, psychological body image research has reliably linked exposure to 'ideal' bodies in mainstream 'traditional' media (along with moderating processes of internalisation, self-comparison, and objectification) and experiences of body image dissatisfaction; for increasingly diverse populations of women and men across the lifespan. In recent years, researchers have turned their attention to social media's impact on body image. Some quantitative and correlational studies suggest that social media use is associated with body image dissatisfaction and, in some instances, further intensifies its scope and scale. Findings also contend that social media can promote body image satisfaction by enabling the distribution and consumption of alternative, 'realistic' body types and body positive content.

This thesis suggests inconsistent, and binary findings come from the limited and partial ways research often conceptualise and analyse the relationship between social media and body image. Studies are typically based on singular aspects of social media (i.e. exposure to particular pages or technological affordances) and often overemphasise body image as a static, cross-situational trait, ignoring its complex and situational-specific nature. The current study counters this by bringing together the critical psychological view that body image is complex, multidimensional, and fluid and contemporary Screen and Media scholarship that emphasises how people can simultaneously be users of and used by social media. I combine these two perspectives to critically explore how people experience their body image through social media in ambivalent ways and how social media can enable and challenge the process of developing positive body image experiences.

Specifically, I take a Critical Realist informed, qualitative approach to exploring how the social and technological affordances of social media ('Facebook' and 'Instagram') shape attitudinal body image (thoughts, feelings and behaviours relating to research respondents' physical appearance and embodiment) of adult, New Zealand and Australian women and men who are actively using social media to improve their body image. The research findings draw from an online survey of 552 respondents and 30 semi-structured interviews that highlight the simultaneous risks, rewards, and ever-present tensions - which, I argue, are inherently characteristic of the reflexive relationship between particularly situated individuals, social media, and body image.

year: 2022

title: Television characterizations of homeless people in the United Kingdom

authors: Hodgetts, Darrin

subjects: homeless

abstract: Media link events in society into meaningful plotlines for public consumption. For social issues such as homelessness this storytelling process continues until an issue is resolved or another concern takes precedence. This article investigates British Independent Television News1 (ITN) portrayals of homelessness from January 1993 to December 2002 (n= 99). News items are explored as instalments in a larger news narrative through which the public is offered engagements with homeless characters. A quantitative content analysis was used to establish the general prevalence of items throughout the year, story locations, causes and solutions offered for homelessness, and character roles. A qualitative narrative analysis was used to explore the function of these story elements in the overall patterning of the ITN story of homelessness. Of particular note was the promotion of a philanthropic approach to service delivery through the characterization of homeless people as needy victims and the maintenance of estranged relationships between the viewing public and homeless people. The significance of ITN's exclusion of homeless people from public deliberations regarding their needs is discussed in relation to the failure of this wealthy nation to resolve homelessness.

text: Television characterizations of homeless people in the United Kingdom Media link events in society into meaningful plotlines for public consumption. For social issues such as homelessness this storytelling process continues until an issue is resolved or another concern takes precedence. This article investigates British Independent Television News1 (ITN) portrayals of homelessness from January 1993 to December 2002 (n= 99). News items are explored as instalments in a larger news narrative through which the public is offered engagements with homeless characters. A quantitative content analysis was used to establish the general prevalence of items throughout the year, story locations, causes and solutions offered for homelessness, and character roles. A qualitative narrative analysis was used to explore the function of these story elements in the overall patterning of the ITN story of homelessness. Of particular note was the promotion of a philanthropic approach to service delivery through the characterization of homeless people as needy victims and the maintenance of estranged relationships between the viewing public and homeless people. The significance of ITN's exclusion of homeless people from public deliberations regarding their needs is discussed in relation to the failure of this wealthy nation to resolve homelessness.

year: 2005

title: Is there evidence that traditional mōteatea (Māori laments) were composed from a common stock of oral formulae?

authors: Roa, Raukura

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: Oral formulaic composition, which involves the use of communally owned formulae of various kinds, is a common feature of verbal arts produced in many different languages. It is particularly associated with pre-literate cultures and tends to be gradually replaced by more individualistic verbal art forms when societies become literate. There are very few publications in which the analysis of mōteatea (Māori laments) is linked explicitly to oral formulaic theory. Nevertheless, there is sufficient evidence in published sources to indicate that traditional mōteatea (defined here as mōteatea that are not fundamentally influenced by European cultural beliefs and practices) exhibit evidence of regularly recurring, conventional themes (such as death, separation, loss and travel) and motifs (such as the setting sun, the presence of rain or mist and sleeplessness). The research reported here set out to test the hypothesis that traditional mōteatea were made up of verbal formulae, that is, of the same or very similar groups of words derived from a common store of poetic resources. Based on the analysis of the mōteatea included in Ngā mōteatea, a collection initially established by Sir Apirana Ngata, I conclude that this hypothesis must be rejected.

text: Is there evidence that traditional mōteatea (Māori laments) were composed from a common stock of oral formulae? Oral formulaic composition, which involves the use of communally owned formulae of various kinds, is a common feature of verbal arts produced in many different languages. It is particularly associated with pre-literate cultures and tends to be gradually replaced by more individualistic verbal art forms when societies become literate. There are very few publications in which the analysis of mōteatea (Māori laments) is linked explicitly to oral formulaic theory. Nevertheless, there is sufficient evidence in published sources to indicate that traditional mōteatea (defined here as mōteatea that are not fundamentally influenced by European cultural beliefs and practices) exhibit evidence of regularly recurring, conventional themes (such as death, separation, loss and travel) and motifs (such as the setting sun, the presence of rain or mist and sleeplessness). The research reported here set out to test the hypothesis that traditional mōteatea were made up of verbal formulae, that is, of the same or very similar groups of words derived from a common store of poetic resources. Based on the analysis of the mōteatea included in Ngā mōteatea, a collection initially established by Sir Apirana Ngata, I conclude that this hypothesis must be rejected.

year: 2007