Exploring Labor Rights and Institutional Critique in #AntiworkMemes Communities on Instagram

Xinyi Wu 15491757

• Links
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Research Questions
• 3. Methodology
• 4. Findings
• 5. Discussion
• 6. Conclusions
• 7. References

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1. Introduction

As a result of the shared precarity brought about by the epidemic, people have begun to question the Protestant work ethic and to seek out post-institutional work imaginaries outside the system (Alexander, 2024). In this context, a strong disillusionment with work has arisen and an anti-work attitude and belief has developed. Opposition to work is not the same as opposition to labour as such but rather a critique of forms of work that are subject to institutionalisation and market constraints（Daniel, 2020). This has prompted individuals to rethink resistance to exploitative work practices. Instagram serves as a platform for workers to reclaim their power. They can use the support of online communities to undermine employers' social capital in digital and community spaces through visualised cultural communication and political mobilisation (Ships, 2023). Memes not only reflect social perceptions, but also play an active role in shaping them by creating norms, encouraging subversion, and enabling cultural expression on a global scale（Nissenbaum & Shifman, 2018). By analysing anti-work memes, we can observe how the public uses social media to defend their rights. The research found that communities concerned with labour rights and communities critical of the economic and political system actively discuss anti-work discourse on Instagram. In this research project, 4CAT and LLM were used to provide an in-depth analysis of the content and hashtags of these two communities. In addition, I use a hashtag network constructed by Gephi to visualise the relationships and interactions between the hashtags and to visualise the main voices. Thus, the dynamics of the two communities and the changing interactions between them are explored.

2. Research Questions

This project explores the discussion of ‘anti-work’ issues in two complementary communities on Instagram, with a particular focus on the hashtag #antiworkmemes. I will analyse:

How does the community focusing on labour rights and the community around criticism of the economic and political system present an anti-work discourse on Instagram?

What are the internal dynamics like?

What are the connections between these two digital communities?

3. Methodology

I collected over 2000 posts on Instagram using the Zeeschuime tool. After crawling, I analysed them using 4CAT. After capturing the data, I analysed it using 4CAT and provided the data extracted from 4CAT to the LLM, requesting it to classify tags and content based on themes. The model automatically generates hashtags related to these two communities. The data provided by LLM was then cross-referenced with hashtags identified through the ‘Find Hot Hashtags’ function in 4CAT. By filtering and comparing the hashtags to the specific context, I eliminated overly generic and broad hashtags to come up with hashtags that were relevant to both communities. I used the processor Monthly histogram in 4CAT to derive trends in hashtags to identify community engagement from 2020 to 2025. And using the Filter by words or phrases processor, I counted the number of times that influential hashtags appeared to gain insight into hot topics and key concerns within the community. I requested LLM to infer the emotional tendencies of the two communities in terms of vocabulary used as well as the general trend of emotions based on all the posts. In addition, this research assessed user profiles and interactions. In addition, this research assessed user profiles and interactions. The average number of likes and comments was calculated for both communities thus identifying community engagement. Finally, I filtered the two communities and all the hashtags lists from those that appeared more than 100 times and calculated the correlation weights between them and visualised them in a Gephi. The network of hashtags provides a visual view of the key node and its position in the network. It helps to analyse and understand the correlations and interactions between different tags, which in turn reveals the relationships between different communities. Through the combination of these methods, there will be a better understanding of the dynamics of the two communities, how members are discussing around specific topics, and how the dialogue between the communities interacts.

4. Findings

I focus on two communities. One is an online community focused on labour rights and activism, and the other is around criticism of the economic and political system. Communities focused on labour rights and activism are widely presented in #antiworkmemes (24.2%), showing the role of modalities in advocating for workers' rights and collective action. This category can be further categorised into unionisation and strike protests, with 664 mentions of unionisation in #antiworkmemes, and the phrases unions for all, union strong, and union busting is disgusting appearing heavily in the dataset. The content of many of the posts demonstrated the benefits of union membership and the general awareness of and resistance to union busting. In addition, strikes and protests occur with high frequency, with related phrases and words appearing 688 times. A strong sense of resistance and empowerment is demonstrated in these texts, for example general strike emphasises large-scale, coordinated workers' strike action and proactive fight back. From October 2020 to the present, the community shows activity during the periods of December 2021 to June 2022 and May 2024, with a significant increase in the number of posts published. During these two time periods, the community was highly engaged and discussed a wide range of topics. However, hashtag usage dropped significantly at other times of the year, indicating that the community is less active when there is a lack of significant events or drivers of activity. The community's sentiment dynamics show a neutral and significantly positive trend. Between 2020 and 2021, the community's discussion of strikes and labour rights issues is relatively positive, for example presenting the optimistic phrases union strong, union pride. Showing expectations for better working conditions and protection of rights and interests. Afterwards, negative sentiment continued to grow, reflecting continued dissatisfaction with the current work environment. In addition, it was found based on the total number of likes and comments. The community has a low average level of engagement, with likes being the main form of interaction. Influence within the community is concentrated on a few key accounts, such as @perfectunion and @nwberniefans, two authors who have achieved high influence through very few posts. The former has a large fan base. The latter has a small follower base but intercepts a post with a high number of comments and likes and posts it as a meme, which has an element of virality.

Another community focused on criticism of the economic and political system (24.6%). This indicates that workers are no longer focused solely on specific workplace issues, but are seeking more fundamental pathways for social change to address exploitation and injustice. The emphasis is on anti-capitalism, with the phrase mentioned 1,942 times. Related terms such as ‘capitalism kills’, ‘capitalism is a scam’ and ‘eat the rich’ present a strong dissatisfaction with the current system and an urgent call for systemic change. Suggesting the growing appeal of alternative economic ideologies, people are actively exploring different economic frameworks. Socialism/communism and anarchism were mentioned 93 and 414 times respectively. This suggests that there is a curiosity about socialist and communist ideologies as potential solutions to the shortcomings of capitalism. ‘Karl Marx’ and the concepts of ‘socialism’, ‘communist mould’ and ‘Marxism’ are mainly cited in these texts. In addition, anarchism is also mentioned, preaching solidarity and emphasising the potential of decentralised autonomous communities and grassroots organisations. This reflects the fact that the online discourse around governance and power structures is evolving from a simple opposition to work and capitalism to a deeper level of political philosophy. The trend in the number of posts published is similar to communities focused on labour rights and activism. The number of posts increased sharply in 2022, followed by a decline in 2023 , and showed an increasing trend in 2024. Additionally, an analysis of the sentiment of posts published by the community reveals a tendency to use humour, sarcasm or matter-of-fact criticism rather than obvious expressions of emotion, with the average sentiment being in the middle of the range. There was little variation in average sentiment fluctuations across the community. Similar to the communities focusing on labour rights and activism, sentiment turned negative in May 2024 and worsened further in 2025, with a gradual increase in negative sentiment. Community engagement is low overall, with no or few comments on most posts.

The research found that the two communities are strongly linked and have a high degree of overlap. In particular, anti-capitalism and labour activism, they form a central cluster. The Gephi shows a close connection between the hashtags "#anti-capitalism," "#strike," "#unionize," "#union," "#fairwages," and "#labormovement."strike is the strongest associated discourse in anti-capitalism. The data show that union-related topics are mainly concentrated within the framework of labour action and anti-capitalism. In addition, similar to anti-capitalist discourse, fairwages is a core topic for communities concerned with labour rights. They link specific labour issues, and other discussions such as livablewage and toxicworkplace have relevance to this community. In addition, strikes are able to garner support across different ideologies. There are correlations with both socialism and anarchism. Anarchism has a more positive discussion of strikes than socialism. It is worth noting that they are less associated with trade unions compared to strikes. It reflects the fact that strikes are seen by them as an effective form of protest. However they advocate direct action as a means of change. (Franks, 2003). Unlike trade unions who negotiate through organisational structures or procedures, they prefer to engage in collective action against work through spontaneous and informal means. In addition, the high concentration of labels associated with trade unions demonstrates a high degree of interconnectedness. It demonstrates a high degree of cohesion in this community concerned with labour rights and activism, thus contributing to a strong internal consistency in the use of these terms and concepts. ‘#union’ and ‘#unionize’ act as a central hub in the network, playing a central role in shaping the overall narrative and guiding community engagement. Using it as a hub links to wider and peripheral hashtags such as ‘#unionmemes’, ‘#unionpower’, ‘#unionprid’. Presenting the use of memes to engage a wider audience and by emphasising the importance of union pride and shared identity to reinforce solidarity and collective identity.

5. Discussion

On Instagram, the #antiworkmemes community forms a central cluster that is formed by the intersection of two online communities with different concerns. System critique primarily addresses social phenomena at a theoretical level. The focus on labour rights, on the other hand, is primarily an emphasis on the importance of practical social movements and collective action in driving change. The relative consistency of these two communities in terms of overlapping keywords and timing suggests that anti-capitalist ideology and labour rights advocacy are intertwined and share common goals and narratives. This results in a coherent narrative that promotes both theoretical frameworks and practical action. It implies that participants in strikes and unions in the anti-work modal community largely subscribe to anti-capitalist ideas. Anti-capitalism constructs an imaginary of a different work culture that presents an alternative vision to the existing capitalist system through the lens of critical fiction. The utopian demand, as a radical and far-reaching potential force for change, not only generates critical distance, but also fuels the political imagination (Weeks, 2011). In this context, communities concerned with labour rights have enhanced critical discussions of anti-work ideas and systemic exploitation by situating their struggles within the framework of broader anti-capitalist narratives. For example, the phrase eat rich is not only strongly associated with anti-capitalism but has also been repeatedly applied to the pro-labour movement. It expresses anger at the concentration of wealth and social inequality, and fuels the quest for a more equitable economic system. Thus, while anti-capitalism was essentially an ideal conception, it promoted active participation in strikes, trade union activity and the wider labour movement. Furthermore, freedom depends on collective action rather than individual will (Weeks, 2011) and collective disruption is an important tool for marginalised groups to challenge entrenched systems of power (Piven & Cloward, 2012). Practical protests advocating for labour rights can lend relevance and strength to the concept of anti-capitalism.

Both communities featured prominently in #antiworkmemes, eliciting widespread support. Humour operates at the political frontier of ‘order and righteousness’, possessing a horizontal influence that can question social relations (Wedderburn, 2021). Through humour, they engage in political struggle in the anti-work field, promoting changes in social relations and power structures. However, humour has limitations, characterised by semantic ambiguity, multiple meanings and possibilities (Adler-Nissen & Tsinovoi, 2018). Humour practices may question the boundaries of order and discipline by disrupting social relations through teasing, mimicry, exaggeration and playing with the incongruous and unexpected (Wedderburn, 2021). As a result, there are limits to the authenticity, seriousness and credibility of the messages conveyed. This prompts community members to evaluate the effectiveness of humour as a tactic of struggle, which may explain the lower levels of engagement. It may contribute to the fact that communities critical of economic and political systems are less active than those concerned with labour rights and activism. Since labour rights are more directly relevant and accessible to individuals, while institutional reforms are relatively more abstract. Understanding and engaging in discussions on capitalist critique and social injustice topics requires a stronger theoretical foundation and deeper socio-political knowledge. Public participation in discussions on instagram is limited by their own knowledge base and cognitive frameworks, thus limiting their motivation to participate. In addition, labour rights discussions are often accompanied by stronger emotions, and this emotional resonance can promote higher levels of engagement and emotional linkages, thus motivating people to participate in discussions and actions. It can also enhance a sense of collective belonging, leading to stronger community cohesion.

6. Conclusions

By exploring the #antiworkmemes discourse on Instagram, this research reveals the complex and subtle dynamics between two interconnected communities. One community focuses on advocating for labour rights and active participation in social action, while the other focuses primarily on critiquing the existing economic and political system. The two communities show relative consistency in terms of temporal trends, public sentiment and engagement, and use a number of overlapping keywords, suggesting a commonality of goals and narratives. However, the community concerned with labour rights is more emotional in its expression and shows greater cohesion. A deeper understanding of how these two communities engage helps us to grasp a fuller picture of the anti-work movement on Instagram. The diverse responses of these communities to a shared topic enrich the broader social movement’s connotations. By analysing the dynamics of these groups, we are able to reveal the intersections and differences between labour rights and economic critique, and how they resonate and clash on the digital platform.

7. References

Adler-Nissen, R., & Tsinovoi, A. (2018). International misrecognition: The politics of humour and national identity in Israel’s public diplomacy. European Journal of International Relations, 25(1), 3–29. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066117745365

Alexander, K. T. (2024). The “anti-work” movement: Articulating a challenge to the Protestant work ethic. Peitho, 26(2). https://cfshrc.org/article/the-anti-work-movement-articulating-a-challenge-to-the-protestant-work-ethic/

Daniel, J. (2020). Burning out: Writing and the self in the era of terminal productivity. Enculturation. https://www.enculturation.net/Burning_Out

Franks, B. (2003). Direct action ethic. Anarchist Studies, 1, 13–41. http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/3036/

Nissenbaum, A., & Shifman, L. (2018). Meme templates as expressive repertoires in a globalizing world: A cross-linguistic study. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 23(5), 294–310. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmy016

Piven, F. F., & Cloward, R. (2012). Poor people’s movements: Why they succeed, how they fail. Vintage.

Ships, D. (2023). Work sucks, I know: Instagram as a platform for young people’s labour grievances. Digital Geography and Society, 6, 100076. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diggeo.2023.100076

Wedderburn, A. (2021). Humour, subjectivity and world politics. https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526150707

Weeks, K. (2011). The problem with work. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822394723