Browsing by Author "Kartalija, Trevor"

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    Neoliberalism and TikTok’s Day in the Life Trend
    (University of Oregon, 2024-08-07) Kartalija, Trevor; Philips, Whitney
    TikTok’s Day in the Life trend, in which users show a typical day in their work life, provides an example of how neoliberal ideology is reflected through social media content as users’ performances in this trend depict neoliberalism in various ways. A qualitative content analysis was deployed and a coding schema that identified behavioral markers of neoliberalism was created to examine 150 TikTok videos for depictions of neoliberal ideology. By using the folklore concept of conservatism and dynamism, this thesis analyzed videos in the trend for persisting elements of neoliberalism that are ingrained into the trend itself as well as how neoliberalism was presented and performed by the video creators in various ways throughout the trend. This thesis found that neoliberal ideology unified the Day in the Life trend despite the different variations in the way neoliberalism was performed. This thesis connects neoliberalism and TikTok as the platform promotes neoliberal ideology through the DITL trend, adding to literature surrounding platformization, memetics, conservatism and dynamism, and neoliberalism by examining how the platform shapes content creation norms, communicates neoliberal values, unites variations of the trend under the umbrella of neoliberalism, and how this trend reifies neoliberal ideology.