Performing the Digital Self: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Identity Construction and Symbolic Consumption in Physical and Virtual Consumer Environments
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32350/llr.121.04Keywords:
extended self, digital identity, consumer behaviour, social media performance, impression management, symbolic consumption, IndonesiaAbstract
The paper examines the evolution of the extended self-framework from its origins in material consumption to its contemporary application in digital environments. Drawing on a qualitative theoretical synthesis and critical discourse analysis, the study investigates how individuals construct, negotiate and sustain identities through the strategic curation of physical possessions and digital artefacts, including Instagram profiles, LinkedIn portfolios, and fashion displays, across global and Indonesian digital contexts. Building on Belk's extended self-theory, Goffman's dramaturgical model, and recent scholarship on digital consumer behaviour, the analysis identifies five core themes: (1) the incorporation of digital artefacts into the psychological self; (2) platform-specific persona management; (3) symbolic consumption as status signaling; (4) identity fatigue resulting from continuous impression management; and (5) the accumulation of social capital through digital visibility digital visibility. These five themes guide how identity construction has evolved from material consumption to digital environments. Analysis of secondary data drawn from documented consumer practices across Southeast Asian and global social media platforms reveals that the structural motives underpinning digital self-presentation, validation seeking, identity signalling, and ideal-self negotiation, are ewmain structurally continuous with those animating material consumption, However, digital platforms amplify and complicates these processes through their affordness The Indonesian context, characterised by exceptionally high levels of social media engagement, illustrates how globally operative identity construction are shaped by specific cultural configurations of status, belonging, and community. The paper concludes that continuous identity management across multiple platforms has become a normative dimention of consumer life. This transformation extends the theoretical scop that highlights the need for further empirical Investigation.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Maryyam Jabeen, Dwi Nita Aryani
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