Self-Improvement in Post-Liberalization India: Cultivating Agency and Optimism through Self-Help Content on Social Media

Abstract

This paper focuses on the vast and varied online audience and “followership” of some of India’s most popular online self-help gurus (SHGs). Through social media, these SHGs act as proponents of enterprise culture (Gooptu 2013) in the post-liberalization environment of uncertainty, where individuals must constantly strive to harness their entrepreneurial selves (Bröckling 2015).

Here, we analyze the comments sections of these SHGs’ social media content, and publicly posted video recordings of their audience-engagement. We aim to develop a deeper understanding of the audience consuming this self-improvement content and their varied motivations. We also investigate the (un)changing nature of aspirations in contemporary India and the relationship between online SHGs and their followers.

A recurring theme we find is the quest for agency and control amidst neoliberal anxieties. This is often achieved through a transfiguration of systemic insecurities into personal weaknesses that can be worked on and improved. Another prominent theme is the maintenance of optimism, which sustains aspirations and fosters resilience in the face of failure and frustration. These exist alongside disillusionment that finds expression as derision and criticism – revealing the friction and accountability that marks the relationship between the audiences and SHGs, who publicly tackle the resultant anxieties by drawing from, and showcasing, their own entrepreneurial values of resilience and innovation.