TY  - JOUR
T1  - Digital Culture Jamming and Cultural Populism: A Semiotic Analysis within the Framework of McGuigan’s “Cool Capitalism”
TT  - Dijital Kültür Bozumu ve Kültürel Popülizm: McGuigan’ın “Havalı Kaptalizm”i Çerçevesinde Göstergebilimsel Bir Çözümleme
AU  - Erben, Şeyma Esin
PY  - 2025
DA  - November
Y2  - 2025
DO  - 10.5824/ajite.2025.04.001.x
JF  - AJIT-e: Academic Journal of Information Technology
JO  - AJIT-e
PB  - Akademik Bilişim Araştırmaları Derneği
WT  - DergiPark
SN  - 1309-1581
SP  - 272
EP  - 296
VL  - 16
IS  - 4
LA  - en
AB  - Dijital kültür bozumu, dijital materyallerin zenginliğinden ve çevrimiçi ağların yayılma gücünden yararlanarak siyasi ve ekonomik güç aktörleri tarafından üretilen baskın ve popüler söylemlerin yanı sıra medya mesajlarını mizahi ve estetik yollarla altüst etmektedir. Bu çalışma, dijital kültür bozumunun, yüksek kültür sembolleri de dahil olmak üzere kapitalizmin kullandığı kültürel imgeleri, McGuigan'ın kültürel ve eleştirel popülizm kavramları perspektifinden nasıl dönüştürdüğünü incelemektedir. Çalışmanın temel amacı, dijital kültür bozumunun popüler kültüre karşı benimsediği eleştirel duruşu analiz etmek ve bu tür içeriklerin toplumsal eşitsizliklerin yeniden üretilmesine veya maskelenmesine nasıl müdahale ettiğini değerlendirmektir. Çalışma, Roland Barthes'ın gösterge, çağrışım ve mit düzeylerini dikkate alarak nitel bir semiyotik analiz uygulamakta ve @canavarkara adlı kamuya açık Instagram hesabında paylaşılan çoklu-görselli bir gönderiden seçilen dört görseli incelemektedir. Bu gönderi, tüketimcilik ve popülizmle eleştirel bir ilişki kurması ve semiyotik analize uygunluğu nedeniyle özellikle seçilmiştir. Bulgular, bu görsel müdahalelerin yalnızca emek görünmezliği, gözetim ve sosyal izolasyon gibi konuları vurgulamakla kalmayıp, aynı zamanda McGuigan'ın "cool kapitalizm" kavramı altında baskın ideolojilere nasıl meydan okuyabileceğini de ortaya koymaktadır. Bu çalışma, güç ilişkilerinin görünürlüğü ve ideolojik manipülasyon üzerine eleştirel bir bakış açısı sunarak dijital aktivizm literatürüne katkıda bulunmaktadır. Çalışmanın tek bir hesaba odaklanması göz önüne alındığında sınırlılıkları kabul edilmektedir ve gelecekteki araştırmalar, kültür bozumunun anonimliğinin aşınmasını, içerik üretim uygulamalarını ve dijital kültür bozumunun popülist potansiyelini daha fazla incelemelidir.
KW  - Culture jamming
KW  - critical populism
KW  - digital activism
KW  - semiotics
KW  - popular culture
N2  - Digital culture jamming draws on the richness of digital materials and the dissemination power of online networks to subvert media messages, as well as the dominant and popular discourses produced by political and economic power actors, through humorous and aesthetic means. This study examines how digital culture jamming transforms cultural images employed by capitalism, including symbols of high culture, through the lens of McGuigan's concepts of cultural and critical populism. The primary aim of the study is to analyze the critical stance that digital culture jamming adopts towards popular culture and to evaluate how such content intervenes in the reproduction or concealment of social inequalities. The study applies a qualitative semiotic analysis, adopting Roland Barthes’ three levels of meaning, denotation, connotation, and myth, to examine four images selected from a carousel post shared on the public Instagram account @canavarkara. The selected post was considered particularly relevant due to its critical engagement with consumerism and populism, as well as its suitability for semiotic analysis. The findings indicate that these visual interventions not only highlight issues such as labour invisibility, surveillance, and social isolation but also demonstrate how they can simultaneously challenge dominant ideologies under McGuigan's concept of cool capitalism. This study contributes to the literature on digital activism by offering a critical perspective on the visibility of power relations and ideological manipulation. Given the study's focus on a single account, its limitations are acknowledged, and future research should further explore the erosion of culture jammers' anonymity, content production practices, and the populist potential of digital culture jamming.
CR  - ABC News. (2020). Joey Skaggs: Messin' with the media. ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123875&page=1
CR  - Adbusters. (2019). 8th anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. https://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/8th-anniversary-of-occupywallstreet
CR  - Ayele, S. (2020). One does not simply define memes: A prototypical theory to understanding internet memes [Unpublished senior thesis]. University of California, Santa Cruz.
CR  - Barthes, R. (1979). Göstergebilim ilkeleri (B. Vardar & M. Rifat, Trans.). Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı.
CR  - Berlin, I., Hofstadter, R., & MacRae, D. (1968). To define populism. Government and Opposition, 3(2), 137–179. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-7053.1968.tb01332.x
CR  - Bernard-Brind’Amour, M., & Jiwani, Y. (2025). Visualizing #Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: From “Didn't Earn It” to “Definitely Earned It.” Diversity and Inclusion Research, 4(2), Article e70027. https://doi.org/10.1002/dvr2.70027
CR  - Binay, A. (2005). Investigating the anti-consumerism movement in North America: The case of Adbusters [Doctoral dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin].
CR  - Cambridge University Press. (n.d.-a). Agitprop. In Cambridge dictionary. Retrieved January 12, 2025, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/agitprop
CR  - Cambridge University Press. (n.d.-b). Jam. In Cambridge dictionary. Retrieved February 26, 2025, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/jam
CR  - Cammaerts, B. (2007). Jamming the political: Beyond counter-hegemonic practices. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 21(1), 71–90. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304310601103992
CR  - Center for Communication & Civic Engagement. (2002). Culture jamming. University of Washington. http://depts.washington.edu/ccce/polcommcampaigns/CultureJamming.htm
CR  - Chandler, D. (2007). Semiotics: The basics (2nd ed.). Taylor & Francis.
CR  - Cirio, P. (2017). Networked reality flow hacks. In M. DeLaure & M. Fink (Eds.), Culture jamming: Activism and the art of cultural resistance (pp. 423–427). NYU Press.
CR  - Collins Dictionary. (2012). Culture jamming. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/culture-jamming
CR  - Davis, H. (2011). Street theatre (Canada). In J. D. H. Downing (Ed.), Encyclopedia of social movement media (pp. 509–512). SAGE.
CR  - Dawkins, R. (2004). Gen bencildir (A. Ü. Müftüoğlu, Trans.). TÜBİTAK Yayınları.
CR  - Day, A. (2016). Culture jamming and media activism. In G. Burns (Ed.), A companion to popular culture (pp. 503–517). Wiley-Blackwell.
CR  - DeLaure, M., & Fink, M. (2017). Introduction. In M. DeLaure & M. Fink (Eds.), Culture jamming: Activism and the art of cultural resistance (pp. 1–36). NYU Press.
CR  - Dery, M. (2017). Culture jamming. In M. DeLaure & M. Fink (Eds.), Culture jamming: Activism and the art of cultural resistance (pp. 39–61). NYU Press.
CR  - Dery, M. (2020). Culture jamming: Hacking, slashing, and sniping in the empire of signs. https://www.markdery.com/books/culture-jamming-hacking-slashing-and-sniping-in-the-empire-of-signs-2/
CR  - Erben, Ş. E. (2023). Bir tweet dünyayı değiştirir mi? Ekoloji mücadelesi ve dijital aktivizm. Yeni İnsan Yayınevi.
CR  - Erdoğan, İ. (2011). İletişimi anlamak (4th ed.). Pozitif Matbaacılık.
CR  - Gaugele, E., & Grippo, A. (2025). From rebel, to hipster and normcore: On mainstreaming and the far-right politics of fashion and styles. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10767-025-09526-4
CR  - Hall, S. (1988). The toad in the garden: Thatcherism among the theorists. In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Eds.), Marxism and the interpretation of culture (pp. 35–57). Macmillan.
CR  - Hall, S. (1996). The problem of ideology: Marxism without guarantees. In D. Morley & K. H. Chen (Eds.), Stuart Hall: Critical dialogues in cultural studies (pp. 25–46). Routledge. (Reprinted from B. Matthews (Ed.), Marx: 100 years on (pp. 57–84), 1983, Lawrence and Wishart)
CR  - Harold, C. (2017). Pranking rhetoric: “Culture jamming” as media activism. In M. DeLaure & M. Fink (Eds.), Culture jamming: Activism and the art of cultural resistance (pp. 62–90). NYU Press.
CR  - Harmon-Jones, E., & Mills, J. (2019). An introduction to cognitive dissonance theory and an overview of current perspectives on the theory. In E. Harmon-Jones (Ed.), Cognitive dissonance: Reexamining a pivotal theory in psychology (2nd ed., pp. 3–24). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000135-001
CR  - Hearn, K., Mahncke, R. J., & Williams, P. A. (2009). Culture jamming: From activism to hactivism. Australian Information Warfare and Security Conference. https://doi.org/10.4225/75/57A7F10A9F480
CR  - Herkman, J. (2010). Re-evaluating the relationship between politics and popular media. Media, Culture & Society, 32(4), 701–710. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443710367716
CR  - Herkman, J. (2022). A cultural approach to populism. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003267539
CR  - Jenkins, H. (2017). From culture jamming to cultural acupuncture. In M. DeLaure & M. Fink (Eds.), Culture jamming: Activism and the art of cultural resistance (pp. 133–161). NYU Press.
CR  - Jenkins, H., Ford, S., & Green, J. (2013). Spreadable media: Creating value and meaning in a networked culture. NYU Press. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10648574
CR  - Kemp, S. (2025, March 3). Digital 2025: Turkey [Global digital reports series]. DataReportal. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2025-turkey
CR  - Kuehn, K. (2015). Culture jamming. In D. T. Cook & J. M. Ryan (Eds.), The Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of consumption and consumer studies (pp. 226–228). Wiley-Blackwell.
CR  - Lasn, K. (2000). Culture jam: How to reverse America’s suicidal consumer binge—and why we must. Quill.
CR  - MacRae, D., Schapiro, L., Deakin, F. W., Seton-Watson, H., Worsley, P., Gellner, E., & Berlin, I. (1967). Conference on populism: Verbatim report. London School of Economics and Political Science. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/102463/1/Conference_on_Populism_1967_Report_0001.pdf
CR  - Mazar, R. (2010). Appendix B: Major research centers and institutes. In J. Hunsinger, L. Klastrup, & M. Allen (Eds.), International handbook of internet research (pp. 549–605). Springer.
CR  - McGuigan, J. (1992). Cultural populism. Routledge.
CR  - McGuigan, J. (2009). Cool capitalism. Pluto Press.
CR  - McGuigan, J. (2011). From cultural populism to cool capitalism. Art & the Public Sphere, 1(1), 7–18. https://doi.org/10.1386/aps.1.1.7_1
CR  - McGuigan, J. (2012). The coolness of capitalism today. tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique, 10(2), 425–438. https://doi.org/10.31269/triplec.v10i2.422
CR  - Milner, R. M. (2013). Pop polyvocality: Internet memes, public participation, and the Occupy Wall Street movement. International Journal of Communication, 7, 2357–2390. http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1949
CR  - Mudde, C. (2004). The populist Zeitgeist. Government and Opposition, 39(4), 542–563. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-7053.2004.00135.x
CR  - Nomai, A. (2011). Culture jamming. In J. D. H. Downing (Ed.), Encyclopedia of social movement media (pp. 150–151). SAGE.
CR  - Oklay, T. (2018). Hoax news websites at the crossroad between popular and political. In ISEA2018: 24th International Symposium on Electronic Art – In Between the Cracks (Long Papers). Durban University of Technology.
CR  - Oswald, M., Schäfer, M., & Broda, E. (2022). The new age of populism: Reapproaching a diffuse concept. In M. Oswald (Ed.), The Palgrave handbook of populism (pp. 1–20). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80803-7_1
CR  - Salih, J. (2019). Getting “Banksied”: Culture jamming in practice [Master’s thesis, Malmö University].
CR  - Wettergren, Å. (2005). Mobilization and the moral shock: Adbusters Media Foundation. https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn:urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-21515
CR  - Whyte, T., & Joyce, M. (2010). Glossary. In M. Joyce (Ed.), Digital activism decoded: The new mechanics of change (pp. 217–223).
CR  - Wiggins, B. E. (2019). The discursive power of memes in digital culture: Ideology, semiotics, and intertextuality. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429492303
CR  - Winters, J. (2020, March 23). Culture jamming: Subversion as protest. Harvard Political Review. https://harvardpolitics.com/culture-jamming-subversion-as-protest/
UR  - https://doi.org/10.5824/ajite.2025.04.001.x
L1  - https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/4952982
ER  -