{"id":2306,"date":"2025-10-02T16:50:34","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T23:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/?p=2306"},"modified":"2025-10-02T16:51:50","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T23:51:50","slug":"the-modern-influencer-dream-meritocracys-noble-lie-of-mobility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/2025\/10\/02\/the-modern-influencer-dream-meritocracys-noble-lie-of-mobility\/","title":{"rendered":"The modern influencer dream \u2013 meritocracy&#8217;s &#8216;noble lie&#8217; of mobility?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wheel_of_fortune.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wheel_of_fortune.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2303\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wheel_of_fortune.png 768w, https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wheel_of_fortune-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/wheel_of_fortune-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Billy, Sally, &#8220;What do you want to be when you get older?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We live in a hyper-connected world, a social media landscape of scaleable, accessible influence. Monetizing yourself \u2013 you are the product \u2013 is no longer just for traditional celebrities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As I&#8217;ve discussed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wordpress.digivideoplus.com\/mediator_blog\/2024\/11\/02\/puritan-praise-pride-a-legacy-of-conflated-piety\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">elsewhere<\/a>, a cardinal characteristic of the American psyche is a singular shared ideology (mythic common ground) that hard work (sweat equity) warrants &#8220;getting ahead,&#8221; and earns merit and place in a society (ideally) governed by <strong>meritocracy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This article notes that amid prevailing economic conditions of reduced mobility (both upward and geographic):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The American dream persists as a cultural ideal despite declining mobility. \u2026 The modern influencer dream offers something the traditional American dream historically didn&#8217;t: accessibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be maintained as the dominant narrative, the American dream need not always come true for everyone. All that&#8217;s needed are a few rarified examples to point to and say, &#8220;<strong>If they can make it, I can make it<\/strong>&#8220;. It&#8217;s human nature, perhaps, to believe we can be that exception.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Psychology Today > &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/mind-brain-and-value\/202509\/the-psychology-of-the-influencer-dream\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Psychology of the Influencer Dream<\/a>&#8221; by Matt Johnson Ph.D. (9-18-2025) \u2013 Traditional paths have shifted, and &#8220;influencer&#8221; has become a new American dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">KEY POINTS (quoted)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Paul Brothers rose from Vine to YouTube stardom, earning $80M despite controversies and criticism.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The traditional American dream of upward mobility has stalled; only 50% of 1980s kids out-earned parents.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Influencer culture now embodies the American dream, with 54% of young Americans wanting to be influencers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The stories of the Pauls and other successful internet stars can be inspirational. They also follow an eerily familiar storyline: seemingly ordinary people rising to higher economic strata based on their hard work and perseverance. They follow the kind of ascendant storyline reserved for the fables of Americana \u2026 &#8220;<strong>If they can make it, so can I.<\/strong>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The influencer story has come to mirror the American story to such an extent that it may actually be displacing it. <strong>Are influencers becoming the new American dream?<\/strong> To evaluate this, we need to understand the underlying psychology and the prevailing economics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2022, polling revealed changing ambitions: 54% of young Americans wanted to be &#8220;influencers&#8221; \u2014 topping doctors, athletes, and movie stars as most desirable professions. When the report came out, it sent shockwaves to parents everywhere. Is this what we&#8217;ve become as a society?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Looking a bit deeper, though, the appeal isn&#8217;t hard to find. The modern influencer dream offers something the traditional American dream historically didn&#8217;t: accessibility. Unlike past eras when the dream was limited to &#8220;Americans&#8221; narrowly defined, influencer success isn&#8217;t mediated by government or regulatory gatekeepers. Success is determined by market value. <strong>If content resonates, you win.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/influencer_channels.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"802\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/influencer_channels-1024x802.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2304\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/influencer_channels-1024x802.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/influencer_channels-300x235.png 300w, https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/influencer_channels-768x602.png 768w, https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/influencer_channels-1536x1203.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/influencer_channels-1568x1228.png 1568w, https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/influencer_channels.png 1584w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, this storyline is present in modern fiction as well. For example, in the book &#8220;<strong>What a Time to Be Alive<\/strong>,&#8221; set in the viral wellness culture (&#8220;wellness for likes \u2026 commodifying belief&#8221;).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Which poses the question of &#8220;having it all&#8221; or being &#8220;hollowed out.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 LA Times Entertainment Book Review > What a Time to Be Alive > &#8220;Jade Chang satirizes online influencers who sell quick fixes in a sharp second novel&#8221; by Valorie Castellanos Clark (9-30-2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a moment of drunken grief, Lola says something sort of messianic, which someone else cuts together into a video perfect for a grieving world, and suddenly she\u2019s a viral sensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The novel then winds through Lola\u2019s year after that: her initial rejection of internet fame before chasing internet clout despite knowing that\u2019s what killed her best friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The novel is propulsive because Lola, like the moon she teaches about, cycles through desperate impostor syndrome, \u2026 [yet, she] falls for her own shtick in the end.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Notes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[1] The Aristocracy of Talent<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(quote) \u2026 there is one idea that still commands widespread enthusiasm: that an individual&#8217;s position in society should depend on his or her combination of ability and effort. <strong>Meritocracy<\/strong>, a word invented as recently as 1958 by the British sociologist Michael Young, <strong>is the closest thing we have today to a universal ideology.<\/strong> \u2013 Wooldridge, Adrian. The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World (2021) (p. 1). Skyhorse. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Billy, Sally, &#8220;What do you want to be when you get older?&#8221; We live in a hyper-connected world, a social media landscape of scaleable, accessible influence. Monetizing yourself \u2013 you are the product \u2013 is no longer just for traditional celebrities. As I&#8217;ve discussed elsewhere, a cardinal characteristic of the American psyche is a singular [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6],"tags":[227,279,276,277,278,180,280],"class_list":["post-2306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-research","tag-culture","tag-dream","tag-influencer","tag-meritocracy","tag-shtick","tag-social-media","tag-storyline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2306"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2308,"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2306\/revisions\/2308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digivideoplus.com\/dv_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}