Extending the Extended Self in a Digital World

Abstract

Russell Belk's 1988 seminal paper on the extended self in the Journal of Consumer Research highlighted the central role of material artifacts in defining self-identity. How might Belk's paper differ if he had published it in 2013? We extend Belk's original construct to encompass the digital extended self as we identify three crucial domains where traditional boundaries between self/not self increasingly blur: (1) producer versus consumer; (2) being offline versus being online; and (3) body versus technology. We also present eight commentaries from experts in a range of pertinent domains that include advertising, law, technology, communications, and public policy.