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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol.7, No.6
Publication Date: June 25, 2020
DOI:10.14738/assrj.76.8370.
Bal, N., & Kasapoglu, A. (2020) A Relational Sociological Analysis of Instagram in Turkey. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal,
7(6) 165-189.
A Relational Sociological Analysis of Instagram in Turkey
Dr. Nazar Bal
Lecturer, Istanbul Gelisim University,
Department of Sociology
Dr. Aytul Kasapoglu
Professor, Baskent University,
Department of Sociology.
ABSTRACT
The research problem with the study that underpins this article is that
Instagram manipulates the consumption habits of daily life in an intense
manner. In this context, the main purpose of the article is to examine
how people change their professional (consumption) habits by being
affected by Instagram in daily life. In this context, answers to the
questions of what Instagram and consumption mean in daily life and
what are their effects were sought. Along with the globalization process
and capitalism, Instagram, which is one of the popular social media tools
especially in recent years, has started to affect people positively and
negatively in cultural, social and economic terms. One of these effects is
consumption habits. However, people's lifestyles and social identities
are changing. The theoretical basis of this study is relational sociology
and Pierre Bourdieu's (1984) concepts of “habitus”, “field” and “taste”.
How Instagram manipulates consumption habits has been tried to be
put forward with a Grounded Theory approach. In the empirical part of
the study, in-depth interviews were made with 14 women who are
Instagram users. Research findings reveal that the consumption habits
of individuals change from utilitarian consumption to hedonist
consumption. These hedonist consumption habits, on the other hand,
can be said to lead people away from their own social realities and to
alienate themselves and society.
Key words: Relational sociology, Grounded Theory, Instagram, consumption
habits.
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, with the development of mass media, the spread of social media networks has made the
effects of globalization and capitalism more prominent in every field of daily life and people's
consumption habits have begun to change. The fact that the internet, one of the mass media, creating
social media networks, made it possible for people to observe their daily life experiences more
easily. The Instagram, founded in 2010, is one of the most popular social media tools in today's life.
Instagram is a platform that allows users to communicate with many people, giving them the
opportunity to present cross-sections from their lives by shooting photos or videos.
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URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.76.8370 166
Bal, N., & Kasapoglu, A. (2020) A Relational Sociological Analysis of Instagram in Turkey. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(6) 165-189.
According to Lefebvre (2012: 58-60), the key points that uncovered the consumer society are
technological developments. In this context, it is stated that the developing industry and technology
cause changes in the consumption habits of the individuals and resulted the consumption society to
be born. Instagram, a social media tool, also showed a change in the consumption habits of people.
Instagram is used in different forms depending on the person: such as to put photographs of special
moments, to watch what other users share, to display the products with a visual presentation (such
as a breakfast table, a corner of the house, clothes combination), to announce the advertisement of
brands, to share ideas for hobbies (such as sewing-knitting-wood painting), to share pet
photographs, to investigate an interesting subject (especially about a product to be taken). Since
users can make their pages "open to all users", what they do in their daily life can be watched.
According to observations, it was determined that the biggest effect of Instagram on people in daily
life, is found to be in consumption. On the consumption axis, it is seen that the content of the photos
shared by the users in the Instagram affects other users' social relations in daily life and their
lifestyles. Instagram has four groups that affect consumption: celebrities, brand owners, ordinary
people and phenomena that have a certain number of followers. Some families and phenomena
share photographs to introduce a product for money in Instagram. Brand owners share
photographs to promote their products, too. The goal of all of them is to make more people see and
receive the product. The contents of these photographs are presented in a specific concept. The user
primarily is affected by this visuality and may tend to buy the product. These three groups
(celebrities, Insta-phenomenon, brand owners) influence the consumption of ordinary people.
Other reasons that affect consumption other than visuality are respectively the positive comments
made under the photographs, information about where the products are sold, convenience in
reaching the products, different combinations showing how to use a product, comments and likes
of people with more followers. These reasons lead other ordinary users to think, "I can present the
product, which I buy, in a concept." Especially for users who have a high number of followers,
presenting the photos of the products they use consistently in a certain concept affects other users.
This causes other users to buy products that do not come to mind, even if they do not need them. In
this context, ordinary people reposition themselves in Instagram, unlike their pages with the
products they buy, and their position in daily life. This triggers both pretentious and hedonic
consumption. It should also be kept in mind that users interact with other users to get an idea about
the product.
Concept of consumption is not just to meet needs, but also a part of daily life and a social activity
area. Consumers respond to the effects from external stimuli, however they reveal many images of
the product or brand within themselves
In this sense, they tend to make purchases that they can both please and enjoy emotionally rather
than pragmatist shopping (Unal and Ceylan, 2008). Purchases made with a sense of pleasure and
enjoy take place in the literature as hedonic consumption. According to Arnold and Reynolds
(2003), hedonism is the pursuit of pleasure or self-dedication to enjoy; hedonic consumption refers
to the cases where the consumer's pleasure and enjoy expectation are preferential. Arnold and
Reynolds (2003) argue that while they shop in hedonistic manner, consumers are acting with the
influence of different motivating factors such as seeking adventure, making others happy, having an
idea and look for the opportunities.
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol.7, Issue 6, June-2020
At first, Instagram was perceived as a program that only offered effects to play with the colors of
the photos. In fact, some users thought it was not seen by others after you recorded the photo. The
contents of such photos were mostly cross-sections of their private daily lives. As users discover
how Instagram is used, their share routines have changed. Increase in product-based sharing of
photos in Instagram has shown that it started to influence their consumption habits. Sharing of
newly purchased products’ photographs accompanied by appealing presentations by some users in
Instagram world would attract the attention of other users. Users, losing their rational expectations
about the product, would purchase the product to suppress the sense of pleasure of that moment,
whether they need the product or not. It is seen that the sharing of photographs about the products
in Instagram, with the influence of globalization in this way, has reached the users more quickly
than the attractive showcases presented by the real shopping malls. In addition, many people have
similar products. The sharing of photographs of the same products in a certain concept is a sign of
“I can buy and I can consume.” However, for some users it can also have adverse effect. Users who
see similar products can dishearten from those products.
According to Featherstone (1996:36-37) consumer culture can be considered in three different
aspects: (1) expansion of the capitalist commodity; production which results in increasing the
capacity for “seductive” containment of the people, (2) the desire for obtaining a social status and
(3) the question of psychological pleasures of consumption caused by the subconscious dreams and
desires of consumers. Instagram provided the society with these three perspectives of consumer
culture.
With the development of globalization, the possession of distantly produced goods through the
Internet is about the production of commodities that capitalism has produced. In Instagram, photos
shared by wealthy people about their lifestyles come to the forefront, affecting the desire of people
in the lower quarters to acquire status. Instagram causes the hedonist consumption by
manipulating the consumption behavior.
The products which people do not think of, are flashed around implying that “you should buy this,
as well”. In this way, people tend to buy the products they rarely notice in real life. Such shopping is
enabled by either the Instagram users who sell these products or through traditional market.
The increase in the standards of consumption with the development of capitalism, the emergence
of other structural changes, and especially the concept of consumption generated in Western
capitalism at the end of the 20th century indicate that there is a consumer culture which is based
on the desires rather than needs and in which the signs are more dominant than the economic
materialist powers. In a culture with these indications, the aim of the purchasing function can be
very different. Obtaining the goods can have the purpose of achieving the esthetic and emotional
pleasures in order to generate a personal space instead of mere utilitarianism. In modern
consumption, there a goods to meet the factors about the expectations of the individual such as
happiness, love, beauty, identity and youth. However, in reality there is no expectation from the
consumption of goods to satisfy the individual forever (Yanıklar, 2006:26).
In modern society, values attributed to the consumer goods is not confined to “use value” and
“exchange value”. Concepts like “fashion value”, “prestige value” and “time value” are also
incorporated into them and at the same time. Now goods can have the value of an identity. Identity