TRADWIVES: A midiatização e a plataformização da vida doméstica

Resumo (EN)

This dissertation seeks to understand the tradwife phenomenon on digital social media platforms. Beyond describing this group, the study aims to identify patterns that make it possible to observe how tradwives employ media strategies commonly found in other spheres of production and consumption in the creation of their content. The objective is to contribute to the understanding of how influence is constituted within the fields of culture and contemporary society through media practices, while also examining the communicative structures of digital environments.
To this end, three Brazilian influencers who perform domestic life on Instagram were selected, and an in-depth analysis of their content and discursive practices was conducted. The second half of 2024 was chosen as the research period, as it represented one of the highest peaks of public interest in the topic according to Google Trends. The data collected from each post were analyzed in dialogue with a theoretical framework grounded in social and communication studies. This framework includes Byung-Chul Han’s discussions on infocracy and contemporary life, studies on the emergence of influencers as a new profession by Issaaf Karhawi and Sophie Bishop, and Edgar Morin’s Theory of Complexity as a guiding perspective. Furthermore, the research draws upon feminist scholarship by Judith Butler, Angela Davis, Silvia Federici, and bell hooks, as well as Betty Friedan’s analysis of the social context of American housewives. Technological issues are also addressed, particularly the role of Big Tech companies and algorithmic systems, drawing on the work of Cathy O’Neil.
By examining a community whose values often oppose established feminist perspectives, this dissertation discusses the role of advertising in the construction of narratives and explores the erosion of boundaries between the public and private spheres. The findings point to a process of platformization of everyday life, in which ordinary experiences become a form of exchange value within the logic of the advertising market. In this context, content production dynamics reshape communication structures and narrative creation processes, transforming influencers’ daily routines into marketable products.