Between academics and youtubers: a study on the diversification of the intellectual field in the era of digital influencers (2010-2020)

• Grant number: 21/01854-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: June 01, 2022
• End date: November 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Marcia Cristina Consolim
• Grantee: Bruno Marco Cuer dos Santos
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/04843-4 - Among academics and youtubers: a study on the diversification of the intellectual field in the age of digital influencers (2010-2020), BE.EP.DR

Abstract

This project aims at defining the social space comprehended between "digital influencers" and "academic intellectuals" who have been working on digital platforms for at least a decade. Though this period, the professionalized use of internet may indicate the preponderance of economic interests which are inherent in the media field. This social space, which operates under the logic of the market, based on the volume of "followers", is now disputed by traditional economic analysts, with journalistic or academic credentials. This space is characterized, in principle, by the opposition between an "academic pole" and a "media pole". Thus, the social trajectories of both groups are distinguished by divergent interests in relation to the dominant intellectual production pole. To analyze this space, is necessary to consider some morphological changes in the media field, based on production and diffusion strategies on the internet, which indicates a larger approximation - and relative subordination of part of academic intellectuals to the logic of media spaces. By the way, this "hybrid" space of circulation is intended to be investigated by studying the trajectories of these agents, which requires the application of some research methods and techniques, such as: prosopography, multiple correspondence analyses, as well as documental analysis - in written media, internet and television. We intended to show that the reduction of symbolic barriers between the "media field" and the "academic field", which may confuse the boundaries between human sciences and scientific vulgarization, is associated with specific intellectual and social trajectories: on the academic side, perhaps associated with private institutions and/or academic specialty through the potential for politicization, while, on the side of the media, associated to the interests of specifying the consumer market, following the professionalization of their work, aiming at financial return from the diffusion for a general audience. (AU)