“Respectability politics” describes a self-presentation strategy historically adopted by African-American women to reject White stereotypes by promoting morality while de-emphasizing sexuality. While civil rights activists and feminists criticize respectability politics as reactionary, subordinated groups frequently use these tactics to gain upward mobility. This paper analyzes how upwardly mobile young people of low socio-economic status in New York City manage impressions online by adhering to normative notions of respectability. Our participants described how they present themselves on social media by self-censoring, curating a neutral image, segmenting content by platform, and avoiding content and contacts coded as lower class. Peers who post sexual images, primarily women, were considered unrespectable and subject to sexual shaming. These strategies reinforce racist and sexist notions of appropriate behavior, simultaneously enabling and limiting participants’ ability to succeed. We extend the impression management literature to examine how digital media mediates the intersection of class, gender, and race.

中文翻译：

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表现出自我：尊重政治，社会阶层和数字世界

“可敬度政治”描述了一种历史悠久的非裔美国人妇女采用的自我陈述策略，即通过在不强调性的同时提倡道德来拒绝白人定型观念。民权活动家和女权主义者批评尊重政治是反动的，而下属则经常利用这些策略来获得向上的流动性。本文分析了纽约市上流社会经济地位低下的流动青年如何通过遵循尊重标准的观念来在线管理印象。我们的参与者描述了他们如何通过自我审查，整理中立图像，按平台划分内容以及避免将内容和联系人编码为低级人物来在社交媒体上展示自己。张贴性影像的同龄人，主要是女性，被认为是卑鄙的，容易遭受性耻辱。这些策略加强了种族主义者和性别主义者对适当行为的观念，同时使参与者获得成功的能力受到限制。我们扩展了印象管理文献，以研究数字媒体如何介导阶级，性别和种族的交集。