The Ordinary Extraordinary in Productivity Influencers' Mobility Portrayals

• In Event: Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 8. Influencers & families

Abstract

Despite decades of declining intergenerational mobility, Americans overestimate mobility rates and generally believe social outcomes are just. What sustains Americans’ continued belief in a meritocratic economy, especially for young adults who bear the brunt of declining mobility? We investigate how a developing media landscape on YouTube, the most widely used online media service, communicates messages about economic inequality and mobility. A burgeoning ecosystem of YouTube content creators (YouTubers) produces lifestyle and informational content about self-improvement that targets Millennial and Gen Z audiences. Through qualitative content analysis of 60 popular YouTube videos discussing time management and productivity, we find that YouTubers paradoxically portray upward mobility as universally achievable, yet rarely achieved. Creators utilize parasociality, a key feature of online media, to showcase their own past failures and personify the message that success is ordinary – obtainable by anyone regardless of circumstances. Simultaneously, creators must communicate the value of their advice by depicting their accomplishments as extraordinary – achieved only by a select few. Invoking narratives of individualism and self-reliance, this “ordinary extraordinary” framing portrays upward mobility as attainable through exceptional but feasible efforts, while also appearing to realistically acknowledge barriers that impede advancement for most people. Productivity YouTubers strike a delicate balance between asserting the universal plausibility of mobility alongside the exceptional habits, knowledge, and strategies needed to overcome its obstacles. Illustrating how emerging media environments frame mobility as both accessible and extraordinary, we further scholarly understandings of how the U.S. public perceives unequal outcomes as just.

Authors

• Katherine Furl, University of North Dakota

• Ken Cai Kowalski, Marquette University