ABSTRACT

A socio-historical account of the term “meme” reveals a concept that has mutated since its introduction. By “mutated,” to emphasize the ways in which meme-as-a-concept has itself changed because of human interaction with the internet. Prior to exploring the similarities and important differences between Richard Dawkins’ meme and its digital counterpart, the internet meme, it is best to review the term meme in general and chart its development since its inception. When comparing internet memes to viral media, the tendency is to posit that due to the agency involved in the production and dissemination of internet memes, they are viewed as qualitatively different from viral media. To be explicit, memes are no different than any other cultural commodity. The acquisition, display, desire for, and even knowledge of commodities communicates something about us in terms of relationship to them and to each other.