About Cultural Mythology and Social Media
Cultural Mythology and Social Media
About this Collection
Roland Barthes’ Mythologies famously analysed seemingly banal artifacts of 1950s popular culture to reveal how ideology works through naturalised signs. By showing how cultural texts communicate simplifications disguised as common sense, Barthes highlighted the ideological function of myth: to deny contradiction, complexity, and ambivalence in favour of comforting clarity. Building on this foundation, this collection investigates the myth-making processes that define contemporary digital culture—such as the mythologies of the algorithm, influencer authenticity, masculinities and the politics of “manosphere” discourse, AI sentience, wellness capitalism, conspiracy ecosystems, collective psychology, online shaming and mobbing, protests and resistance movements, and utopian narratives of decentralisation and the metaverse.
Bringing together scholars from discourse studies, media and cultural studies, communication, digital anthropology, and critical theory, this volume uses tools including discourse-mythological analysis, Jungian archetypes, and social semiotics to explore how modern myths circulate, evolve, and entrench themselves within everyday digital life. It also interrogates the affective and psychological power these myths hold over individuals and groups, offering case studies across global contexts that speak to the mythological undercurrents of digital culture.
The collection has a broad enough focus to be of interest to scholars from a range of disciplines including media and cultural studies, depth psychology, anthropology, sociology and political science. It will also be a useful source for undergraduate and postgraduate students.
As Richard Clay argues in 21st Century Mythologies, we seldom interrogate the familiar stories that frame our realities. This makes myth a potent ideological force. In a world where politics, identity, and truth itself are increasingly mediated through affect-driven social media platforms, critically examining mythologies is essential for individual agency and collective resilience. By unpacking the recurring archetypes and symbolic structures shaping online discourse, content and user interaction scholars can better understand the psychosocial forces guiding behaviour in an era of digital storytelling.
Social media accommodates cultural mythologies, protest movements and influencer identities from across the political spectrum. Recent right-wing online movements illustrate how digital platforms have become fertile ground for contemporary myth-making. Hashtags such as #SaveTheChildren, originally framed around protecting vulnerable children, have been co-opted by QAnon narratives that cast followers as heroic saviours battling hidden evil—mobilising moral outrage through archetypes of innocence and corruption. The #WhiteGenocide myth perpetuates a racialised narrative of existential threat, positioning white populations as victims of orchestrated erasure, echoing deep-rooted tribal and ancestral fears.
#TradWife and #TradLife promote a nostalgic ideal of gender roles rooted in patriarchal structures, evoking the archetypes of the nurturing mother and the protective patriarch. Movements like #GreatAwakening channel Gnostic mythologies of hidden knowledge, casting believers as enlightened heroes resisting mass deception. Similarly, #BuildTheWall reinforces the myth of the nation as a sacred space under siege, appealing to primal instincts of defense and belonging. These affective, archetypal narratives gain traction not through rational argument, but through emotionally charged symbolism and digitally amplified storytelling.
Other online movements also mobilise powerful mythologies through emotionally resonant hashtags and digital storytelling. Campaigns like #MeToo channel the voice of the silenced victim-turned-survivor, drawing on archetypes of truth-telling, justice, and the moral reckoning of abusers—turning personal testimony into a collective myth of empowerment and accountability. Movements such as #ClimateJustice or #FridaysForFuture position young people as prophetic figures fighting for a threatened Earth, invoking apocalyptic and messianic mythologies around environmental collapse and renewal. These movements galvanise mass affect through digital myth-making, offering symbolic coherence, moral urgency, and emotional solidarity in the face of injustice and uncertainty.
The cultural mythologies of contemporary social media are as varied as the contexts in which they emerge. Whether seen as divisive or unifying often depends on the ideological positions of those producing and interpreting them. This collection offers compelling insights into these mythological forms and their psychosocial power.
Bringing together scholars from discourse studies, media and cultural studies, communication, digital anthropology, and critical theory, this volume uses tools including discourse-mythological analysis, Jungian archetypes, and social semiotics to explore how modern myths circulate, evolve, and entrench themselves within everyday digital life. It also interrogates the affective and psychological power these myths hold over individuals and groups, offering case studies across global contexts that speak to the mythological undercurrents of digital culture.
The collection has a broad enough focus to be of interest to scholars from a range of disciplines including media and cultural studies, depth psychology, anthropology, sociology and political science. It will also be a useful source for undergraduate and postgraduate students.
As Richard Clay argues in 21st Century Mythologies, we seldom interrogate the familiar stories that frame our realities. This makes myth a potent ideological force. In a world where politics, identity, and truth itself are increasingly mediated through affect-driven social media platforms, critically examining mythologies is essential for individual agency and collective resilience. By unpacking the recurring archetypes and symbolic structures shaping online discourse, content and user interaction scholars can better understand the psychosocial forces guiding behaviour in an era of digital storytelling.
Social media accommodates cultural mythologies, protest movements and influencer identities from across the political spectrum. Recent right-wing online movements illustrate how digital platforms have become fertile ground for contemporary myth-making. Hashtags such as #SaveTheChildren, originally framed around protecting vulnerable children, have been co-opted by QAnon narratives that cast followers as heroic saviours battling hidden evil—mobilising moral outrage through archetypes of innocence and corruption. The #WhiteGenocide myth perpetuates a racialised narrative of existential threat, positioning white populations as victims of orchestrated erasure, echoing deep-rooted tribal and ancestral fears.
#TradWife and #TradLife promote a nostalgic ideal of gender roles rooted in patriarchal structures, evoking the archetypes of the nurturing mother and the protective patriarch. Movements like #GreatAwakening channel Gnostic mythologies of hidden knowledge, casting believers as enlightened heroes resisting mass deception. Similarly, #BuildTheWall reinforces the myth of the nation as a sacred space under siege, appealing to primal instincts of defense and belonging. These affective, archetypal narratives gain traction not through rational argument, but through emotionally charged symbolism and digitally amplified storytelling.
Other online movements also mobilise powerful mythologies through emotionally resonant hashtags and digital storytelling. Campaigns like #MeToo channel the voice of the silenced victim-turned-survivor, drawing on archetypes of truth-telling, justice, and the moral reckoning of abusers—turning personal testimony into a collective myth of empowerment and accountability. Movements such as #ClimateJustice or #FridaysForFuture position young people as prophetic figures fighting for a threatened Earth, invoking apocalyptic and messianic mythologies around environmental collapse and renewal. These movements galvanise mass affect through digital myth-making, offering symbolic coherence, moral urgency, and emotional solidarity in the face of injustice and uncertainty.
The cultural mythologies of contemporary social media are as varied as the contexts in which they emerge. Whether seen as divisive or unifying often depends on the ideological positions of those producing and interpreting them. This collection offers compelling insights into these mythological forms and their psychosocial power.
- Cultural myths, hashtags and viral campaigns
- Archetypal power of social media myth-making
- The dynamic of the individual and collective on social media
- Social media and the mythology of nationhood
- Non-Western approaches to cultural mythology – case studies
- Gender and media representations
- The interaction between ideologies and cultural myths
- Cultural mythology and political conflict
- Global politics and cultural mythology
- Cultural myth as a form of intangible heritage
- The dynamics of cultural myth – an exploration of how it changes through time, with case studies