Open Collections

Anderson, Lea M.

University of British Columbia

Academics, NGOS, and governments alike have called upon social media influencers to support sociocultural change for sustainability by promoting and popularising more sustainable ways of living. Enabling influencers to answer this call requires a better understanding of how and why these salient members of social media communities understand and portray sustainable lifestyles. This thesis asked: what elements of sustainable lifestyles do influencers promote, and how do they portray the desirability of these lifestyles to their audiences? Through a qualitative study that draws on conceptions of transformative change for sustainability, pro-sustainability values, and subjective wellbeing, this thesis found that some influencers are already promoting private pro-sustainability actions in ways that signal both the hedonic and eudaimonic value of more sustainable ways of living. However, features of social network sites such as online hate and shadowbanning pose barriers to influencers promoting civic and political practices that are integral to sustainable lifestyles. Addressing these barriers will be key to enabling influencers’ support of the widespread action necessary to advance transformative change for sustainability.

Text

2023-06-29

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/85175

Resources, Environment and Sustainability

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/