Identity, Politics, and Threat: Jewish Influencers and Identity Complexity Expression on Social Media

• In Event: New Directions in Ethnography and Sociology

Abstract

Social media influencers have increasingly participated in political expression online. It is argued that political influencers with niche audiences and dense networks – for example, Jewish influencers and their Jewish online following – may even more so effectively reach and wield influence over their receptive audiences. This influence may prove especially fruitful as offline political conflict results in symbolic and material threats to a community that has the ability to reshape and remold social and political identities. Including social and political identities with high or low group membership overlap. I argue that social media influencers play an important role in this identity re-alignment or re-negotiation through their political expression on social media. Considering this, I ask the following research questions: How does integrated threat impact social (religious) and political (partisan) identity complexity negotiation? How is this impact expressed through social media?

This study aims to examine the impact of material and symbolic threat on social and political identity negotiation. Specifically, how this impact and negotiation is digitally expressed via influential social media figures. The findings of this study are primarily situated in political psychology and media and communications literature; namely integrated threat theory – where the multidimensionality of political conflict may be examined – social identity complexity – where the overlap or tension between different group memberships are negotiated and reconciled – and, lastly, influencer literature – where digital social and political cues wield influence over digital publics.

This qualitative study relies on both data collected from digital ethnography of and in-depth interviews with Jewish political influencers of TikTok and Instagram to better understand the realignments and nuances of political and social identity. Digital ethnography data sheds light on the digital expression produced by influencers while interviews reveal the political motivations and reasonings behind this output. Thematic analysis is applied to both digital ethnographic and interview memos in order to discern key thematic findings across all datasets. The results of this study are ongoing as data collection continues. Ultimately, this study contributes to our understanding of how integrated threats reshape political and social identities for Jewish influencers, who in turn publicize these identities to receptive Jewish audiences.

Author

• Gabrielle Beacken, The University of Texas at Austin