Identity Construction of the New Face of Social Justice Warrior on Indonesian Twitter Users

Abstract

Social Justice Warriors are now experiencing a shift in meaning, from positive to negative labels. This change occurs through a long process of identity construction. This study explores the construction of a new SJW identity on Indonesian Twitter users by implementing Hecht's communication identity theory. It aims to investigate the four identity frames of SJW based on this theory. The study applied a descriptive qualitative method by using virtual ethnography since the data are taken from social media. The study found that the evolution of SJW's new identity construction in Indonesian Twitter users provided clear evidence to form the characteristics of SJW pejorative labels. The construction undergoes four stages of frames, namely (1) the personal frame, which focuses on individuals-related, (2) the enactment frame, which focuses on social interaction-based, (3) the relational frame, which focuses on social relationship-based, and (4) the communal frame which focuses on group interaction-based. In conclusion, SJW identity will keep evolving and constructed within the dynamic development of times, which is related to people's ability to absorb or adapt to a condition or situation, so it is widely possible that the SJW's meaning is easily shifted over time.