Blasbery, Ashleigh
(2023)
Beyond Duality: The Paradox of the Eco-Influencer.
PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.
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Abstract
New, more resistant conceptions of 'influencer' have appeared in the field in recent years. Beyond influence that promotes excessive materialism, 'eco-influencers' encourage their followers to adopt eco-friendly waste practices, shop sustainably and resist consumption altogether. These influencers adopt many of the normative procedures of the field such as partaking in paid partnerships with brands and documenting ‘unboxing’ rituals, albeit with a green flair. This conception reveals a paradoxical, ideological tension as eco-influencers are both, at once, attempting to resist the marketplace whilst receiving a stake within it. This thesis is concerned with the paradoxical and ‘technocultural’ aspects of the eco- influencer’s practices. Eco-influence is situated within highly performative, algorithmic environments where surveillance is becoming increasingly ‘liquid’ and ubiquitous. In spite of constraints, eco-influencers harness technological tools to seek marketplace change and attempt to change the marketplace for environmental reasons. Recent research has brought attention to eco-influence, yet this thesis is the first to address this context qualitatively and anchored into a Consumer Culture Theory perspective. To address this knowledge gap, this research addresses the following questions: How do eco- influencers build and maintain legitimacy in paradoxical fields? And How does an eco- influencer’s use of digital technology affect marketplace logics? This thesis develops answers to these questions making use of institutional theory and its relevant concepts including: institutional legitimacy, institutional logics, and institutional entrepreneurship. To collect data, I conducted a netnographic study which included 17 semi-structured interviews with eco-influencers. The findings reveal that eco-influencers maintain and balance their legitimacy by leveraging plural, paradoxical logics in ways which are complimentary and counterbalancing. To demonstrate this dialectic relationship, the Taoist perspective of Yin- Yang and its relevant notions of duality are used to establish a novel way to understand paradox. Further, the finding of ‘The Surveillance Paradox’ and my subsequent theorising of ‘The Digital Discipline Model’ demonstrate how algorithmic and surveillance logics can pressurise eco-influencers into becoming their idealised self.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Management |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Feb 2024 16:49 |
| Last Modified: | 05 Feb 2024 16:49 |
| DOI: | 10.17638/03176888 |
| Supervisors: |
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| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3176888 |
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