Online, Anyone Can Be Beautiful: The Meritocratic Re-Imagination of Looksism in Influencer Culture

Abstract

The thesis seeks to explore how influencer culture constructs beauty as meritocratic while being dependent on and concealing class-based privileges within short-form media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram Reels. By analyzing four popular video genres, “Get Ready With Me” (GWRM), “Outfit of the Day” (OOTD), “Self-Care,” and “Glow-Up,” the research examines how influencers utilize these platforms to present beauty as a form of symbolic capital. Founded on theories by Lynn Chancer, Pierre Bourdieu, and Herbert Marcuse, the thesis argues that influencer culture reimagines structural looksism as individualized efforts and merit across the digital landscape. Using a multimodal content analysis, the study aims to uncover how contemporary digital beauty discourse is actively built through the repetitive nature of online images of individual effort. By situating digital beauty culture within broader systems of neoliberalism and platform capitalism, this research aims to further scholarly discussions on media, gender, and overconsumption.