Accidental Representation–The Reconfiguration of Representation through Social Media
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In: Representation, Vol. 61, No. 3, 2025, p. 449-466.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Accidental Representation–The Reconfiguration of Representation through Social Media
AU - Lappy, Tobias
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Social media has been recognized for its empowering potential in terms of participation, less so in terms of representation. Social media is said to be essentially a post-representative sphere because it allows citizens to speak for themselves. Against this backdrop, this paper shows how the simultaneous empowerment of authors and audiences in the interactive and participative culture on social media produces a distinct logic of representation. The exemplary case studies of the German ICU nurse Ricardo Lange and the evicted renter Kirsty Archer show how ordinary citizens are subjected to an accidental form of representation on social media. Challenging the constructivist understanding of representation, accidental representation refers to the emergence of de facto representatives due to a loss of control over the meaning of representative claims and means of authorization.
AB - Social media has been recognized for its empowering potential in terms of participation, less so in terms of representation. Social media is said to be essentially a post-representative sphere because it allows citizens to speak for themselves. Against this backdrop, this paper shows how the simultaneous empowerment of authors and audiences in the interactive and participative culture on social media produces a distinct logic of representation. The exemplary case studies of the German ICU nurse Ricardo Lange and the evicted renter Kirsty Archer show how ordinary citizens are subjected to an accidental form of representation on social media. Challenging the constructivist understanding of representation, accidental representation refers to the emergence of de facto representatives due to a loss of control over the meaning of representative claims and means of authorization.
KW - digital participation
KW - public sphere
KW - representation
KW - representative claim
KW - Social media
KW - Politics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=86000229484&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00344893.2025.2469502
DO - 10.1080/00344893.2025.2469502
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:86000229484
VL - 61
SP - 449
EP - 466
JO - Representation
JF - Representation
SN - 0034-4893
IS - 3
ER -