CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 418Humor Studies and ApplicationsSocial and Cultural DynamicsCultural Studies and Postmodernism

Internet memes as contested cultural capital: The case of 4chan’s /b/ board

Nissenbaum, Asaf, Shifman, Limor·2017·New Media & Society
DOI 10.1177/1461444815609313
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

This article explores the workings of memes as cultural capital in web-based communities. A grounded analysis of 4chan’s /b/ board reveals three main formulations of memes as capital, delineating them as subcultural knowledge, unstable equilibriums, and discursive weapons. While the first formulation follows well-documented notions about subcultural knowledge as a basis for boundary work, the latter two focus on the dualities intrinsic to Internet memes. The contradiction between following conventions and supplying innovative content leads to memes’ configuration as unstable equilibriums, triggering constant conflict about their “correct” use. Paradoxically, this struggle highlights collective identity, as it keeps shared culture at the center of discussion. Similarly, when memes are used as jabs at the most intense points of arguments, they function simultaneously as signifiers of superior authoritative status and as reminders of common affinity. Thus, the dualities underpinning memes’ structure lead to their performance as contested cultural capital.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1177/1461444815609313

Cites

37 of 37 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Nissenbaum, A., & Shifman, L.
Affiliations
Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL)
Corresponding author
Nissenbaum, Asaf
ORCID
Venue
New Media & Society
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2015-10-09
Volume
19
Issue
4
Pages
483-501
ISSN
  • 1461-4448 (ISSN-L)
  • 1461-7315
DOI
10.1177/1461444815609313
OpenAlex
W2311768652
Cited by
418
References
37
Citations by year
2026: 35 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 64 · 2023: 76 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 48 · 2020: 82 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 10
FWCI
15.19
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
New Media & Society (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Humor Studies and Applications
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Cultural Dynamics
  • Social Sciences › Communication › Cultural Studies and Postmodernism
Keywords
internet memes, cultural capital, 4chan, online communities, boundary work, unstable equilibrium, collective identity, online anonymity

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review