Hijab Syar’i and Instagram Social Media in the Perspective of Spectacle

Abstract

This research is based on the argument that women who wear syar’i hijab on Instagram are a part of the spectacle society. By using Guy Debord’s spectacle perspective, this research aims at enriching and closing the gaps existing within studies on hijab women in Indonesia, which is captured with numerous faces. Hijab is a display of piety, lifestyle, and also a symbol of independence for middle and upper-class women who try to embrace modernity without losing their piety. By using netnographic strategy, this research finds that the images of the hijab women on Instagram reflect a form of the commodity representation that supports capitalist society. It can be traced from the symbols emphasized by the syar’i hijab women that they display on Instagram, in the form of middle and upper-class capitalist products, for instance, iPhone, Starbucks Coffee, bags, and the latest cars. It creates paradoxical signs between modesty in religion and capitalist luxury consumption.