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SIGN-VALUE AND MERIT-BASED RECOGNITION IN STUDENT FLEXING: IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION
Abstract
Purpose – This study examines how sign-value operates through student flexing and how this process relates to social recognition, with particular attention to participants' evaluations of symbolic and achievement-based self-presentation in junior high school settings.
Methodology – A qualitative multi-site study was conducted in Yogyakarta. Purposive sampling involved 30 participants: 22 junior high school students from six schools who were active social media users and eight Social Studies teachers recruited through MGMP-IPS Yogyakarta. Data were generated primarily through student group interviews, with one individual student interview and one focus group discussion involving all eight teachers. The data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, and patterns were compared across data sources.
Findings – Five related themes were identified. Consumption objects acquired audience-dependent symbolic meanings; peer relations connected flexing with imitation, conformity, belonging, and exclusion; and main and second accounts were used for differentiated digital self-presentation. A hypothetical comparison between consumption- and achievement-related self-presentation indicated that anticipated audience reactions were among the considerations shaping how these forms of self-presentation were evaluated. Teachers also situated some instances of flexing within broader family and economic contexts without establishing causal explanations within the family. The findings do not show that symbolic recognition displaced achievement-based recognition or that follower metrics constituted a generalized status system.
Contribution – The findings provide an empirical and conceptual basis for considering reflective inquiry into value, status, belonging, recognition, and achievement as a possible pedagogical entry point. This study did not test the effectiveness of this pedagogical approach.Keywords
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.36987/jes.v13i5.9802
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