The Politics of Visibility: Studying Socially Mediated Inequalities

Title: The Politics of Visibility: Studying Socially Mediated Inequalities 

The creator economy is a large, multi-platform, global labor market that supports the work of content creators: digital producers who rely on social media, content creation, or e-commerce platforms. Creators use platforms to publish, promote, and monetize their labor, which can range from long-form writing, vlogging, music, art, and other forms of entertainment media. Estimated to hold a 250 billion USD value, the creator economy presents new implications for how we share information, work, and seek entertainment. Creators are not a silly fad or a trend; they are here to stay. 

However, the creator economy is highly unregulated, catalyzing inequalities in the ways creators obtain visibility, support, and build credibility with their followers—particularly across disability, gender, and race. As the platforms where creators share their work reflect the biases that shape our offline realities, marginalized creators must navigate precarious working conditions while mediating authenticity and building credibility with their followers. This offers two lessons about studying inequalities in the creator economy. First, it interrogates the way digital media technologies shape reality. Next, the talk examines how ideological biases inform the politics of visibility and the realities we witness within the creator economy. The presentation will address the following question: Whose labor is visible in the creator economy, and how does who we see reflect longstanding oppressions that mediate our daily life? 

Facilitator: Jess Rauchberg (‘17) 

Speaker: Jess Rauchberg, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Communication Technologies, Seton Hall University