Dialogue Between Theorists. Social Sciences Essay.

Dialogue Between Theorists
Lasch: Do we agree that social interaction has changed significantly with the inclusion of social media?
Baudrillard: No, we do not. What is your basis for saying that friendship is transformed by the modern day? We have always had friendships. We have always dissimulated and simulated (Baudrillard, 1994) according to who we are with, and what we are doing.
Lasch: Yes, but not the extent we do today. Our ‘sense of self is shaped by institutions or cultural forms in the larger society’ (Elliot, 2020, p.6), but we can shape how we present our self. And modernism allows us more scope to do so. I believe that identity is linked to social transformation. What does modernism do except offer more opportunities for that?
Baudrillard: We have always hidden behind our own simulations. Information does not imply meaning. You seem to be suggesting that we now have more of an ability to move beyond social norms (Elliot, 2020). Hasn’t this always been the case? We have always put different faces on for different social groups. Why should it be any different now?
Lasch: Because the spaces themselves have changed. The digital world has given us new ways and means to conduct ourselves (Lasch, 1994). When they didn’t exist, we didn’t have these means of expression.
Baudrillard: Are you arguing this from the viewpoint of Sedgwick’s ideas about a binary of private and public (Elliot, 2020)? Are you perhaps arguing that the balance between public and private has shifted, allowing people to remain public while still being private?
Lasch: Exactly right. Remember that narcissism is a function of self-hate, rather than self-love. Social media is the perfect breeding ground for such narcissism, as it encourages envy.
Baudrillard: I disagree. Why would you put up a front if you hated yourself? People with huge social media followings must love themselves, even if the front they show to other people is a fake one. Why would self-hate drive you to showcase yourself to anybody who cared to watch? Especially because influencing does always involve some degree of fakery anyway.
Lasch: I think is precisely the self-hatred that leads to the unreality of the situation. Social media has given us a world where being seen is the ultimate currency (Lasch, 1994). The gap between what is real and what is not will only widen because of that. Despite social media users going for an authentic look because that is in vogue (Elliot, 2020), we know using fakery to lead people on (Baudrillard, 1994) is becoming ever more prevalent. Why would we need to know the difference between a real influencer and a fake influencer otherwise?
Baudrillard: I still don’t see why narcissism is therefore a form of self-hatred.
Lasch: Don’t you see the connection between increasing unreality in our friend networks, and how that might impact the way we present ourselves? We now have the ability to hide who we truly are. Not only that, but we can now hide who we truly while at the same time amassing huge followings (Baudrillard, 1994). Our current culture rewards unreality in social media.
Baudrillard: So you are saying that narcissism does not necessarily drive unreality, but can come from it?
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