CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2021
| Author | Setter, Savannah |
|---|---|
| Title | The Meaning of Makeup: Emotional Labor and Performance in the Beauty Influencer Industry |
| Summary | Beauty and cosmetic narratives have undergone significant rhetorical shifts in recent years that have attempted to reconceptualize makeup as a tool of art, expression, and agency. These narrative shifts have occurred simultaneously with the rise of influencers and online cultures for narratives to be created and circulated. This research explores the work of online beauty influencers in relation to contemporary makeup narratives as a deeply emotional and complex experience where the social rules which bound influencers’ content stand at odds with their personal opinions. Using a lens of emotional labor from Arlie Hochschild and commodification from Eva Illouz, I argue that the work of beauty influencers requires intentional management of emotionality and that this calculated emotionality is substantial for viewers engaging in influencer’s online content. This research employs online semi-structured ethnographic interviews with thirteen online beauty influencers which were later transcribed and coded for recurring or notable themes. In order to highlight individuals who have historically been excluded from the beauty community, this research intentionally included participants from a variety of national, ethnic, and racial backgrounds, influencers who identify as cisgender, non-binary, and trans*, as well as influencers with disabilities. This research found that there were many instances in which beauty influencers were required to perform emotional labor in their content as a result of conflicting standards within the beauty industry and their personal feelings and opinions. Beauty influencers’ emotions were commodified in their content as they included calculated emotional displays per the desires of viewers and followers which also were not congruent with their personal emotions. Additionally, the requirements of emotional labor and commodification were more harshly enforced on influencers who are traditionally excluded from the beauty community. The findings of this research contribute to current literature on social media and influencers as well as pop culture, beauty, and media more broadly. This research also expands the scope of traditional understandings of emotional labor and commodification by employing them in an entirely digital space where self, labor, and capital have been reconfigured. |
| Supervisor | Geva, Dorit; Barát, Erzsébet |
| Department | Sociology MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2021/setter_savannah.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University