My guest today is Dr Stephanie Alice Baker, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, City, University of London. Her first book, Social Tragedy (Palgrave MacMillan 2014), analyzed how collective narratives emerge in different cultural contexts and the role of the media in communicating tragic events of social significance.
Her second book examined how lifestyle and wellness influencers construct authority and influence online. She situated this research in discussions around trust, expertise, microcelebrity and medical misinformation. She has published several key articles on these topics as well as a book, Lifestyle Gurus: Constructing authority and influence online (Polity 2019), co-authored with Chris Rojek.
Her most recent book, Wellness Culture: How the Wellness Movement has been used to Empower, Profit and Misinform, traces the emergence of wellness culture from a fringe countercultural pursuit to a trillion-dollar industry.
Dr. Baker says that we are now living in a post-secular society, where even though a lot of people think of themselves as religious or spiritual, many of the institutions and moral frameworks that dictated how people ought to live, have changed. In this society many people fear that the world as they knew it is rapidly disappearing. They feel lost, suffering what Anthony Giddens calls ontological insecurity..
The frequently degrading nature of modern industrial work, the growth of totalitarianism, the threat of environmental destruction, climate change, the alarming development of military power and weaponry, the polarization of the political discourse, the ever-increasing reliance on robotics with its consequent loss of job opportunities for unskilled workers has become a source of great anxiety for vast numbers of people.
Polarization, skepticism, doubt and division have led to an erosion of trust in institutions, the media, science and government. This low institutional trust will increasingly become an issue, especially as disinformation floods the world as a result of AI.
Of course, as the old saying goes, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Gradually, over the last decade, we have seen the emergence of a whole new class of individuals: the lifestyle and wellness influencers. How can individuals with no expertise, no medical training achieve this high degree of trust and loyalty from their followers?
One way is by their stress on being authentic. “I'm so authentic”. And this adjective is really important. Because in describing themselves in this way, what they're actually doing is distinguishing themselves from say, a manufactured Hollywood celebrity, indicating that they're more real, more genuine. And as a byproduct, you can trust them more. Right?
Now by achieving fame on social media as well, they also seem much more accessible than, say, a mainstream celebrity who is surrounded by managers and agents and various producers or assistants. And one way in which this impression of accessibility is maintained is this idea that we're all sharing the same platform, that I could send somebody who's an influencer a direct message on social media and they will read it and respond. Fat chance.
And the third aspect, which is really important to an influencer, is to present themselves as being outside of the system. Not beholden to any-one. An independent person just like you. Not one of the “elites.” Along with that goes this idea of being self-made, of being ordinary and ju
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My guest today is Dr Stephanie Alice Baker, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, City, University of London. Her first book, Social Tragedy (Palgrave MacMillan 2014), analyzed how collective narratives emerge in different cultural contexts and the role of the media in communicating tragic events of social significance.
Her second book examined how lifestyle and wellness influencers construct authority and influence online. She situated this research in discussions around trust, expertise, microcelebrity and medical misinformation. She has published several key articles on these topics as well as a book, Lifestyle Gurus: Constructing authority and influence online (Polity 2019), co-authored with Chris Rojek.
Her most recent book, Wellness Culture: How the Wellness Movement has been used to Empower, Profit and Misinform, traces the emergence of wellness culture from a fringe countercultural pursuit to a trillion-dollar industry.
Dr. Baker says that we are now living in a post-secular society, where even though a lot of people think of themselves as religious or spiritual, many of the institutions and moral frameworks that dictated how people ought to live, have changed. In this society many people fear that the world as they knew it is rapidly disappearing. They feel lost, suffering what Anthony Giddens calls ontological insecurity..
The frequently degrading nature of modern industrial work, the growth of totalitarianism, the threat of environmental destruction, climate change, the alarming development of military power and weaponry, the polarization of the political discourse, the ever-increasing reliance on robotics with its consequent loss of job opportunities for unskilled workers has become a source of great anxiety for vast numbers of people.
Polarization, skepticism, doubt and division have led to an erosion of trust in institutions, the media, science and government. This low institutional trust will increasingly become an issue, especially as disinformation floods the world as a result of AI.
Of course, as the old saying goes, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Gradually, over the last decade, we have seen the emergence of a whole new class of individuals: the lifestyle and wellness influencers. How can individuals with no expertise, no medical training achieve this high degree of trust and loyalty from their followers?
One way is by their stress on being authentic. “I'm so authentic”. And this adjective is really important. Because in describing themselves in this way, what they're actually doing is distinguishing themselves from say, a manufactured Hollywood celebrity, indicating that they're more real, more genuine. And as a byproduct, you can trust them more. Right?
Now by achieving fame on social media as well, they also seem much more accessible than, say, a mainstream celebrity who is surrounded by managers and agents and various producers or assistants. And one way in which this impression of accessibility is maintained is this idea that we're all sharing the same platform, that I could send somebody who's an influencer a direct message on social media and they will read it and respond. Fat chance.
And the third aspect, which is really important to an influencer, is to present themselves as being outside of the system. Not beholden to any-one. An independent person just like you. Not one of the “elites.” Along with that goes this idea of being self-made, of being ordinary and just like you, and again, this is important because it establishes a degree of intimacy. We know that we're much more likely to trust people who we perceive to be just like us.
Keep in mind that many of the influencers that we see online and possibly follow online are actually selling us something. And so, being an influencer is actually very
profitable, if they can appear not just authentic and accessible, but also autonomous.
There are influencers, who are secretly anti vaccine advocates, often posing with their child. The picture looks like a generic mother or daughter going out for a playdate or celebrating a birthday. Unless, of course, you poked around in the hashtags where you would quickly discover acronyms for anti-vaccine causes.
Trust is the glue that not only binds individuals together, but binds a society together or as seems to be happening, can tear society apart.
Thank you, Stephanie. That was most enjoyable and instructive. In two weeks, my guest will be Wayne Altman, Wayne suffers from tinnitus and was looking for a relief when he noticed that the only way he could stop experiencing extreme ringing in both ears was when he listened to binaural beats or specific tones of music, and that’s when he realized he could create something for people not limited to this one condition, but to share the healing and beneficial effects of this technology to everyone who wants it. I hope you will join me.