30280 - Consuming Authenticity: Blurring Distinctions across Work and Play

Description

In today’s neoliberal economy, the line between work and ‘free time’ has become increasingly blurred. Platforms like social media, gig work apps, and streaming services can transform what was once considered free time into commodified activities. Beyond this, the line has become blurred between “expertise” and “opinion,” both in mass media and on social media. This session invites papers that explore the commodification of free time and how it impacts consumer behavior, identity, and well-being. The session also looks to explore the sociological implications of these shifts, including how labor, leisure, and consumption intersect and how they reflect larger changes in work and market dynamics. Furthermore, the session invites papers examining how such new technology-driven cultural patterns influence consumption and individual autonomy, the commodification of attention, and the redefinition of work and labor in digital economies. As such, questions that the papers in this session may explore includes, but are not limited to: What happens when hobbies, personal time, and even social interactions are transformed into forms of labor and consumption? In what ways are these platforms and patterns of consumption “sustainable”? How do these patterns of consumption affect individual and collective health, not just in medical terms, but also politically, ecologically, and economically?

Sub Unit

• Section on Sociology of Consumers and Consumption / Consuming Authenticity: Blurring Distinctions across Work and Play

Presider

• Kangsan Lee, New York University

Individual Presentations

• Digital Devotion: The Tensions of Authenticity and Consumerism Among Religious and Spiritual Social Media Influencers - Esther Chan, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Di Di, Santa Clara University

• Parasocial Paternalism and Embodied Advice: How Beauty Interventions are Marketed on TikTok - Katherine Furl, University of North Dakota; Addison Lewis, Cardozo School of Law; Hinal Patel, Wake Forest University; Siya Patel, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Fun and Play among YouTube Content Creators - Bhoomi K. Thakore, University of Connecticut

• “A very weird hobby that I make money from”: Intimacy-Economy Nexus in Sugar Relationships - Srushti Upadhyay, Purdue University

• Romantic Dystopia: Dating Narrative and Chinese Relationship Bloggers in a Female Online Community - Chang Liu, New School For Social Research

Session Organizers

• Amanda Koontz, University of Central Florida

• Yuki Kato, Georgetown University