Theory of The Hashtag

#MeToo is the most current prominent example: nowadays discussions are conducted via hashtag. With its help, input is bundled and assigned: everything has to focus on a mutual tag. This principle ensures a stronger presence and orientation of collective arguments, but it has a risky and sometimes questionable consequence. As the hashtag formally reinforces exactly that content which is being criticised, differences blur and the unequal becomes equal. In his trenchant depiction, Andreas Bernard follows the steep rise of the hashtag and convincingly shows how our current debates are structured by a principle that has become as incidental as powerful. Those wanting to understand our public discussion culture will not get around this book.

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  • Publisher: FISCHER Taschenbuch
  • Release: 24.10.2018
  • ISBN: 978-3-596-70381-4
  • 96 Pages
  • Author: Andreas Bernard
Theory of The Hashtag
Andreas Bernard Theory of The Hashtag
Andreas Labes
© Andreas Labes
Andreas Bernard

Andreas Bernard, born in Munich in 1969, is Professor of Cultural Studies at the Center for Digital Cultures at Leuphana University in Lüneburg. From 1995 to 2014 he was the author and editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung . He currently writes the column "Laufende Ermittlungen – Notizen aus dem Alltag" (Ongoing Investigations – Notes from Everyday Life) for ZEIT Magazin as well as the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung’s feuilleton. The following have been published by Fischer Verlag: Die Geschichte des Fahrstuhls: Über einen beweglichen Ort der Moderne (2006), Kinder machen: Neue Reproduktionstechnologien und die Ordnung der Familie (2014), Komplizen des Erkennungsdienstes: Das Selbst in der digitalen Kultur (2017), and, most recently, Das Diktat des Hashtags. Über ein Prinzip der aktuellen Debattenbildung (2018).