In this article I operationalize the term “virtue signaling”, a term generally pejoratively used towards people’s assertions of values on social media platforms, as “moral-political stancetaking”, an activity that is actually quite common on- and offline and that works to exert peer pressure toward onlookers and addressees so that they will adopt certain values. Using analytical frameworks of small stories and stance, I examine a narrative sequence from one political activist, demonstrating how she situates long-term aspects of her biography in relation to present moral-political crises in order to make assertions that culminate in the construction of a moral-political framework for the progressive grassroots organizations that she leads. Through this analysis I assert that the notion of virtue signaling, while new to the social media era, fits well within repertoires of communicative behavior that long pre-date the rise of social media.

中文翻译：

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“我在这里，我很重要”

在这篇文章中，我将术语“美德信号”（通常被贬义地用于贬低人们在社交媒体平台上的价值观主张）作为“道德政治立场”这一术语进行操作，这种活动实际上在线上和线下都很常见，并且有助于对旁观者和听众施加同辈压力，以便他们采纳某些价值观。使用小故事和立场的分析框架，我检查了一位政治活动家的叙述序列，展示了她如何将她传记的长期方面与当前的道德政治危机联系起来，以便做出最终构建她领导的进步基层组织的道德政治框架。通过这种分析，我断言美德信号的概念虽然是社交媒体时代的新事物，