The path to high status is paved with litter : a netnography of status competition among Litterati.
Abstract
Within marketing, postmodern perspectives relate conspicuous consumption and status to the
realisation of self-identity. The consumption of goods and their symbolic meaning allow an
individual to reinforce, create and maintain his or her identity. Notions of conformity and
consumption of visible goods could be attributed to social identity theory, where identity
shifts from context to context. The consumption or rejection of certain goods thus reinforces
an individual’s shifting identity among various contexts, such as home, school or work. It is
the view of evolutionary psychology that theories such as social identity theory and consumer
culture theory provide a proximal explanation of consumer behaviour, yet beyond these
explanations are thought to be universal and ultimate drivers of behaviour. Evolutionary
psychology presents cost signalling theory to help explain why individuals compete for
status. However, existing evolutionary theories are still incomplete, particularly in explaining
the paths in which individuals take to achieve status within a peer group.
This research explores how and why people engage in pro-environmental behaviour. A
review of the literature indicates that a desire for status is the main underlying driver
motivating this type of behaviour, however the literature further indicates that theory on
status is still incomplete in terms of understanding the path a person takes to achieve higher
status. Therefore the gap this thesis aims to fill is to clarify the path an individual takes to
achieve higher status within the context of pro-environmental behaviour.
In order to identify how and why people engage in pro-environmental behaviour and
strategies for status this research uses netnography to explore hierarchy negotiation within an
online community of pro-environmental behaviourists called the Litterati. The Litterati is an
Instagram community consisting of over 15,000 members worldwide, whom pick up and
photograph litter. The main Litterati site and associated social media pages provide the
visible conditions necessary for people to compete for higher status through cost signalling.
The research findings are presented as three levels. The first level addressed observed
empirical events, consisting of the observed tactics used within the Litterati for gaining
status. The observed tactics among the Litterati are the use of visual appeal, time, humour
and reciprocity. The next level addresses events, which are not wholly observable. This
consists of the themes or patterns arising from the retroductive analysis of the interviews and
participant observation and how they relate to status strategies. The main themes that help
explain the paths to status are self-efficacy; community; and reciprocity or validation. The
third level applies evolutionary theories of status and cost signalling to explain the underlying
causes of the observed behaviours. The two strategies for status, Dominance and Prestige are
presented as manifestations of the dynamic relationships between each level of the findings.
This research contributes to exiting theory by clarifying the path an individual takes to
achieve higher status, with the analysis demonstrating that Dominance and Prestige are not as
distinct as the extant literature would suggest. Additionally, this research indicates that
behaviour online influences behaviour offline provided there is a strong sense of community
and feelings of self-efficacy are promoted through social modelling and social persuasion.
The sense of validation participants reported through the community membership led to an
increase in their uptake of pro-environmental behaviours offline, including changes in their
consumption decisions. The wider implications of these findings indicate online communities
of ethical consumption, such as the Litterati, promote a feeling of passive activism, where
discussion of social change and interaction result in behaviour change.