Abstract
This study works with data gathered from my Master’s thesis, Compelled to Comment, which asks that we view Christian subreddits as a place of neotribalism and conflictual harmony. Both are terms coined by Michel Maffesoli in his 1988 book, The Time of the Tribes. Neotribalism describes the fluid gathering and dispersing of performative groups of politicized peoples in western, late-stage capitalist society. Reddit, a popular social media forum, has been demonstrated by the scholar Brady Robards as a hub of neotribes where various anonymous users interact in ideologically-framed networks known as subreddits, and content is primarily self-governed by the moderators and frequenters of the subreddit. As such, Reddit is a fluid place of gathering, where users may espouse views and explore themselves through profiles that leave little evidence of who the real person behind the username is. Conflictual harmony describes a near-utopian concept of Maffesoli, where society should focus on maintaining a tasteful amount of conflict between social groups to ensure a larger sense of peace. My research shows that r/TrueChristian is both a fight against Liberal Christianity and a place of discernment among conservative Christians, where a quasi-conflictual harmony is maintained due to outcasting liberal theology such as universalism. As will be shown in my paper, the interdisciplinary approach of melding sociology, theology, critical discourse analysis, and digital ethnography allows a holistic understanding of what motivates Conservative Christians to use the platform Reddit and how we may understand this usage as indicative of a grander social and political alienation.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Interdisciplinary, Critical Discourse Analysis, Digital Ethnography, Tribalism, Theology, Political Theology
