Online Discourse and Cultural Reproduction: The Impact of Social Media Tags on Shaping Identity and Ideology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1608.08Keywords:
digital pragmatics, ideological positioning, symbolic communication, identity performance, cultural negotiationAbstract
Digital tags function as important linguistic markers that enhance cultural cohesion and signal ideological perspectives within digital spaces. Although social research on cultural reproduction has examined how conventions and codes persist across generations, few studies have explored the specific discursive mechanisms through which such norms are transmitted or transformed in online contexts. This study adopts a pragmatic approach, drawing on concepts from indexicality, digital discourse, and pragmatics. The dataset consists of 160 English-language social media posts containing 361 hashtags. The analysis focuses on indexicality, framing, pragmatic functions, and presupposition. The findings show that hashtags are used to express identities, ideologies, and shared cultural awareness. They also position users within broader cultural discourses, frequently constructing contrasts between traditional values and modernity. Moreover, hashtags facilitate both the reinforcement and the critique of conventional values, sometimes through mockery or sarcasm, demonstrating their dual role in reproducing and challenging social norms. Overall, the study concludes that hashtags are pragmatically rich linguistic units that contribute to the maintenance of cultural norms in digital discourse and play a central role in shaping social identity and transmitting culture in online communication.
References
Alexander, V. D., & Jenks, C. (1994). Cultural reproduction. Contemporary Sociology, 23(1), 131–132. https://doi.org/10.2307/2074933
Archer, M. (1993). Bourdieu's theory of cultural reproduction: French or universal? French Cultural Studies, 4(12), 225–240. https://doi.org/10.1177/095715589300401204
Al-Shboul, O. K. (2025). Metaphorical framing of sad and happy narratives in Jordanian Arabic: A cognitive-discursive perspective. Training, Language and Culture, 9(2), 31–42. Retrieved December 28, 2025, from https://rudn.tlcjournal.org/archive.html
Blaskó, Z. (2003). Cultural reproduction or cultural mobility? Review of Sociology, 9(1), 5–26. https://doi.org/10.1556/revsoc.9.2003.1.1
Brenner, K. (2014). Digital stories: A 21st-century communication tool for the English language classroom. English Teaching Forum, 52(1), 22–29.
Bühler, H. (1986). Linguistic (semantic) and extra-linguistic (pragmatic) criteria for the evaluation of conference interpretation and interpreters. Multilingua, 5(4), 231–235. https://doi.org/10.5555/18973.18979
Christie, G. L. (1998). Some socio-cultural and psychological aspects of infertility. Human Reproduction, 13(1), 232–241. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/13.1.232
Corson, D. (1995). World view, cultural values and discourse norms: The cycle of cultural reproduction. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 19(2), 183–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/0147-1767(94)00033-9
El Kotni, M. (2017). Haunting Images: A cultural account of selective reproduction in Vietnam by Tine Gammeltoft. Anthropologica, 59(1), 171–172. https://doi.org/10.3138/anth.591.enbr02
Eriyanto, E. (2020). Hashtags and digital movement of opinion mobilization: A social network analysis (SNA) study on #BubarkanKPAI vs #KamiBersamaKPAI hashtags. Jurnal Komunikasi Indonesia, 8(3). https://doi.org/10.7454/jki.v8i3.11591
Fox, P. (1994). De/Re-fusing the reproduction-resistance circuit of cultural studies: A methodology for reading working-class narrative. Cultural Critique, 28, 53–83. https://doi.org/10.2307/1354510
Frolova, E. V., Rogach, O. V., & Ryabova, T. M. (2020). Digitalization of education in modern scientific discourse: New trends and risks analysis. European Journal of Contemporary Education, 9(2), 313–323. https://doi.org/10.13187/ejced.2020.2.313
Goswami, R., & Shougrakpam, D. (2025). Kinship terms in Marwari: A sociolinguistic study. Training, Language and Culture, 9(2), 43–56. Retrieved July 9, 2024, from https://rudn.tlcjournal.org/archive.html
Haddad, A. D., & Khalil, A. A. A. (2025). Lexicography of the Syrian dialect of Arabic: Sources and dictionary. Training, Language and Culture, 9(2), 20–30. Retrieved May 15, 2023, from https://rudn.tlcjournal.org/archive.html
Highfield, T. (2018). Emoji hashtags // hashtag emoji: Of platforms, visual affect, and discursive flexibility. First Monday, 23(9). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v23i9.9398
Highfield, T., & Leaver, T. (2014). A methodology for mapping Instagram hashtags. First Monday, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v20i1.5563
Irshad, N. (2022). Pragmatic Role of Offline Hashtags: Guide to Readers’ Inference. Linguistic Forum - A Journal of Linguistics, 4(4), 8–18. https://linguisticforum.com/index.php/ling/article/view/124
Jæger, M. M., & Breen, R. (2013). A dynamic model of cultural reproduction. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2208961
Jiang, L. (2019). Discourse and digital practices: Doing discourse analysis in the digital age. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 9(2), 92–96. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojml.2019.92009
Kashima, Y., & Yeung, V. W.-L. (2010). Serial reproduction: An experimental simulation of cultural dynamics. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 42(1), 56–71. https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1041.2010.00056
Kim, L., & Oh, S. H. (2023). Predicting telephone anxiety: Use of digital communication technologies, language and cultural barriers, and preference for phone calls. Communication Research Reports, 40(3), 156–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/08824096.2023.2221845
Klinker, M. J. (2016). #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen: Hashtags as a bridge to feminist “pasts”. Radical Teacher, 104, 82–84. https://doi.org/10.5195/rt.2016.211
Lamsehat, L., & Patria, A. N. (2024). Social media and language evolution: The impact of digital communication on language change. International Journal of Linguistics Literature & Translation, 7(12), 53–57. https://doi.org/10.32996/ijllt.2024.7.12.8
Larionova, N. A., & Demkina, V. A. (2021). Hashtag as a linguocognitive unit of Spanish political discourse. RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics, 12(3), 686–704. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://journals.rudn.ru/semiotics-semantics/article/view/27572
Laucuka, A. (2018). Communicative functions of hashtags. Economics and Culture, 15(1), 56–62. https://doi.org/10.2478/jec-2018-0006
Li, B., & Xie, C. (2017). The Routledge handbook of language and digital communication. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 39(2), 275–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/07268602.2017.1314803
Li, J., Pearce, P. L., & Low, D. (2018). Media representation of digital-free tourism: A critical discourse analysis. Tourism Management, 69, 317–329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2018.06.027
Li, Y. (2022). Research methods for digital discourse analysis. Critical Discourse Studies, 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2022.2149581
Lozano, G. A. (2013). Ethics of using language editing services in an era of digital communication and heavily multi-authored papers. Science and Engineering Ethics, 20(2), 363–377. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-013-9451-6
Lugo, A. (1990). Cultural production and reproduction in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico: Tropes at play among maquiladora workers. Cultural Anthropology, 5(2), 173–196. https://doi.org/10.1525/can.1990.5.2.02a00030
Marchie, C. L. (2012). Socio-cultural factors as correlates of maternal mortality in Edo South Senatorial District, Nigeria. Asian Pacific Journal of Reproduction, 1(4), 315–317. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2305-0500(13)60100-1
Michael, G., Ingunn, L., & Martin, P. (Eds.). (2014). Digital Russia: The language, culture and politics of new media communication. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315816470
Mohammad, S. M., & Kiritchenko, S. (2014). Using hashtags to capture fine emotion categories from tweets. Computational Intelligence, 31(2), 301–326. https://doi.org/10.1111/coin.12024
Mulligan, K., & Smith, B. (1986). Husserlian theory of indexicality. Grazer Philosophische Studien, 28(1), 133–163. https://doi.org/10.1163/18756735-90000296
Müller, M., & Stegmeier, J. (2018). Investigating risk, uncertainty and normativity within the framework of digital discourse analysis: Renewable energies in climate change discourse. In Critical studies in risk and uncertainty (pp. 309–335). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95852-1_13
Noveck, I. A., Chierchia, G., Chevaux, F., Guelminger, R., & Sylvestre, E. (2002). Linguistic-pragmatic factors in interpreting disjunctions. Thinking & Reasoning, 8(4), 297–326. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546780244000079
Nunberg, G. (1992). Two kinds of indexicality. Semantics and Linguistic Theory, 2, 283. https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v2i0.3042
Oshima, D. Y. (2006). Motion deixis, indexicality, and presupposition. Semantics and Linguistic Theory, 16, 172. https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v16i0.2942
Park, M. Y., & Park, K. (2017). Understanding visitor’s recognition of geosites by analyzing Instagram hashtags. Journal of the Geomorphological Association of Korea, 24(1), 93–104. https://doi.org/10.16968/jkga.24.1.93
Pérez-Hernández, L. (2018). Building brand narratives with hashtags on Twitter. Training, Language and Culture, 2(4), 69–82. Retrieved November 3, 2023, from https://rudn.tlcjournal.org/archive.html
Recuber, T. (2016). Digital discourse analysis: Finding meaning in small online spaces. In J. Daniels, K. Gregory, & T. M. Cottom (Eds.), Digital sociologies (pp. 47–60). Policy Press. https://doi.org/10.56687/9781447329022-008
Recuber, T. (2017). Digital discourse analysis. In Bristol University Press eBooks (pp. 47–60). Bristol University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1t89cfr.10
Saadna, S., & Larina, T. V. (2025). Addressing a stranger in Algerian Arabic: A sociocultural account. Training, Language and Culture, 9(2), 10–19. Retrieved November 1, 2025, from https://rudn.tlcjournal.org/archive.html
Samarin, W. J. (1994). Language shift and cultural reproduction: Socialization, self, and syncretism in a Papua New Guinean village. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 4(1), 111–113. https://doi.org/10.1525/jlin.1994.4.1.111
Scott, K. (2018). “Hashtags work everywhere”: The pragmatic functions of spoken hashtags. Discourse, Context & Media, 22, 57–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2017.07.002
Senft, G. (2007). Bronislaw Malinowski and linguistic pragmatics. Lodz Papers in Pragmatics, 3(1), 119–139. https://doi.org/10.2478/v10016-007-0006-7
Shields, R. (2012). Feral suburbs: Cultural topologies of social reproduction, Fort McMurray, Canada. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 15(3), 205–215. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877911433743
Song, Y.-J., Chang, K.-S., & Sylvian, G. (2013). Why are developmental citizens reluctant to procreate? Analytical insights from Shirley Sun’s Population Policy and Reproduction in Singapore and Takeda Hiroko’s The Political Economy of Reproduction in Japan. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 14(3), 481–492. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649373.2013.801624
Squier, S. (1998). Interspecies reproduction: Xenogenic desire and the feminist implications of hybrids. Cultural Studies, 12(3), 360–381. https://doi.org/10.1080/095023898335465
Terry, W. (2016). Precarious worlds: Contested geographies of social reproduction. Social & Cultural Geography, 17(8), 1166–1167. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2016.1200815
Wang, L., & Mak, B. (2016). Exploring digital communication: Language in action. System, 60, 138–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2016.05.009
Willis, P. (1981). Cultural production is different from cultural reproduction is different from social reproduction is different from reproduction. Interchange, 12(2–3), 48–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01192107
