Is my best friend toxic? A textual analysis of online advice on difficult relationships

IF 1.1 3区社会学 Q3 FAMILY STUDIES

Families Relationships and Societies Pub Date : 2022-09-30 DOI:10.1332/204674321x16613283926068

Kinneret Lahad, Jenny van Hooff

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

In this article, we analyse how mediated discourses of toxic friendships echo and reconstruct the category of the toxic friend. We ask: what kind of assumptions does the toxic friendship discourse draw on, and what forms of subjectivity and interpersonal relationships are encouraged? Employing a critical discourse analysis of digital texts, we argue that the discursive category of the toxic friend draws on a simplistic set of classificatory dichotomies distinguishing between the good and the toxic friend. We also suggest that the popular labelling of difficult friendships as ‘toxic’ reflects the contemporary diffusion of the notion of toxicity in contemporary public culture. We contend that this discourse reflects the discursive conflation between therapeutic culture and neoliberal wellness logic, with the figure of the toxic friend constructed in ways that support imperatives for self-care and self-governance. While much of the advice situates friendship as an important personal tie, there is very little encouragement to ‘work’ on these relationships. As such, these discourses offer a reductive, disposable approach to friendship ties that overlooks the complexities and lived experiences of friendship relations.

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我最好的朋友有毒吗?关于困难关系的网上建议的文本分析

在本文中，我们分析了有毒友谊的中介话语如何回应和重建有毒朋友的范畴。我们的问题是:有毒友谊的话语利用了什么样的假设，鼓励了什么样的主观性和人际关系?通过对数字文本的批判性话语分析，我们认为，有毒朋友的话语类别利用了一组简单的分类二分法来区分好朋友和有毒朋友。我们还认为，将难相处的友谊贴上“有毒”的流行标签，反映了“有毒”概念在当代公共文化中的传播。我们认为，这一话语反映了治疗文化和新自由主义健康逻辑之间的话语融合，有毒朋友的形象以支持自我照顾和自我管理的方式构建。虽然许多建议将友谊视为一种重要的个人关系，但却很少鼓励人们“努力”发展这种关系。因此，这些话语对友谊关系提供了一种简化的、一次性的方法，忽视了友谊关系的复杂性和生活经历。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Families Relationships and Societies FAMILY STUDIES-

CiteScore

2.10

自引率

14.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Families, Relationships and Societies (FRS) is a vibrant social science journal advancing scholarship and debates in the field of families and relationships. It explores family life, relationships and generational issues across the life course. Bringing together a range of social science perspectives, with a strong policy and practice focus, it is also strongly informed by sociological theory and the latest methodological approaches. The title ''Families, Relationships and Societies'' encompasses the fluidity, complexity and diversity of contemporary social and personal relationships and their need to be understood in the context of different societies and cultures. International and comprehensive in scope, FRS covers a range of theoretical, methodological and substantive issues, from large scale trends, processes of social change and social inequality to the intricacies of family practices. It welcomes scholarship based on theoretical, qualitative or quantitative analysis. High quality research and scholarship is accepted across a wide range of issues. Examples include family policy, changing relationships between personal life, work and employment, shifting meanings of parenting, issues of care and intimacy, the emergence of digital friendship, shifts in transnational sexual relationships, effects of globalising and individualising forces and the expansion of alternative ways of doing family. Encouraging methodological innovation, and seeking to present work on all stages of the life course, the journal welcomes explorations of relationships and families in all their different guises and across different societies.