Influencers, Cultural Consumption, and the Transformation of Youth Culture

This article is based on teaching materials from a university course delivered at the Department of Humanities of the University of Macerata. The course activities are part of the initiatives promoted within the framework of the The Virtual Center for the Study of Global Asymmetries.

One of the most significant transformations in contemporary youth culture is the emergence of the influencer as a central cultural and economic figure. Unlike traditional subcultures, where prestige was rooted in collective participation, shared practices, and internal recognition, today symbolic power is increasingly concentrated in individuals who produce content and shape consumption through their public visibility .

Influencers are not merely advertising intermediaries. Rather, they represent hybrid actors who combine self-narration, lifestyle performance, and commercial promotion. By cultivating trust and proximity with their audiences, they transform personal identity into economic capital, blurring the boundaries between authenticity and marketing .

This shift reflects a broader structural change: the transition to an attention economy in which visibility, rather than information, becomes the scarce resource. In this context, influencers operate as mediators between platforms, brands, and audiences, making products desirable not through impersonal messaging but through narratives of identity, belonging, and taste. Consumption is thus reframed as a form of self-expression rather than mere acquisition .

From a sociological perspective, this phenomenon can be understood through the concept of cultural consumerism. In contemporary capitalism, individuals do not simply consume goods; they consume meanings. Objects acquire value insofar as they signal lifestyles, values, and forms of belonging. Influencers act precisely at this symbolic level, presenting commodities as tools for constructing and communicating identity .

A key tension lies in the relationship between authenticity and commercialization. Influencers derive their persuasive power from their perceived sincerity and relatability. Yet this authenticity is often strategically constructed, giving rise to what can be described as the “marketing of authenticity.” The more genuine the relationship appears, the more effective it becomes economically, revealing a structural contradiction at the heart of influencer culture .

These dynamics also reshape the nature of youth experience. Identity becomes an ongoing project of self-presentation, continuously curated and potentially monetized. Practices that were once informal, such as dressing, exercising, or traveling, are increasingly transformed into performative and marketable content. At the same time, individuals are encouraged to perceive themselves as brands, managing their image in a competitive environment driven by visibility .

The rise of influencers can also be interpreted in continuity with earlier critiques of mass culture, particularly those developed by Christopher Lasch. His analysis of narcissism as a dominant cultural form finds new relevance in a context where visibility, recognition, and self-presentation are central to both identity and economic value. Similarly, the work of Zygmunt Bauman highlights how identity in contemporary society is increasingly fluid, unstable, and tied to consumption.

In this framework, the concept of “retrotopia,” introduced by Bauman, helps explain the growing appeal of nostalgic aesthetics in influencer culture. The past becomes a consumable resource, repackaged into stylized and marketable forms that offer symbolic stability in an uncertain present .

Ultimately, influencer culture illustrates a broader tendency of contemporary capitalism: the ability to transform cultural expression, identity, and even authenticity into economic value. Youth culture has not lost its creativity, but it has become more deeply embedded in systems of visibility, consumption, and market-driven meaning production. The boundary between genuine expression and commercial strategy has not disappeared; it has become increasingly difficult to discern.