A Socio-cultural Model Examining the Co-construction of Online Social Support

This paper proposes a novel model, based on a socio-cultural perspective, to examine the social support process online. A common underlying principle behind the current conceptualisations of social support is that it is a particular thing given by one person to another. Conceptualising social support as a thing undermines the complex process of social support. Viewing social support as a co-constructing activity, this paper brings together three relevant theories - Community of Practice, Discourse Community and Affinity Space - into a unified theoretical framework. This paper argues that for a comprehensive examination of the online social support process, three elements - the discursive construction of desired identities to fit into the community or to gain access to community space, the discursive practices in the co-construction of social support, and the impact of social support on self-development - need to be scrutinised across Community of Practice, Discourse Community and Affinity Space.