Rights statement: The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Marketing Theory, 17 (4), 2017, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2017 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Marketing Theory page: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/MTQ on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/
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Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Charismatic authority and the YouTuber
T2 - unpacking the new cults of personality
AU - Cocker, Hayley Louise
AU - Cronin, James Martin
N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Marketing Theory, 17 (4), 2017, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2017 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Marketing Theory page: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/MTQ on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/
PY - 2017/12/1
Y1 - 2017/12/1
N2 - In this article, we draw upon Weber’s concept of charismatic authority to unpack the appeal that YouTube video bloggers have galvanized among their fan communities. We explore how followers interact to articulate the appeal of British YouTube personalities and consequently, how they contribute to the nature of these ‘new cults of personality’. By observing the content of seven of Britain’s most popular ‘YouTubers’ and engaging in a sustained non-participant netnography of responses to these videos, we argue new cults of personality differ from their traditional counterparts through collaborative, co-constructive and communal interdependence between culted figure and follower. While Weber maintained charismatic authority has its source in the innate and exceptional qualities of an individual’s personality, we submit that in consumer culture’s current era of consent, the ‘culting’ of social actors becomes a participatory venture. We shed light on the fading and routinization of charisma and the dissipation of the relationship between the culted figure and followers.
AB - In this article, we draw upon Weber’s concept of charismatic authority to unpack the appeal that YouTube video bloggers have galvanized among their fan communities. We explore how followers interact to articulate the appeal of British YouTube personalities and consequently, how they contribute to the nature of these ‘new cults of personality’. By observing the content of seven of Britain’s most popular ‘YouTubers’ and engaging in a sustained non-participant netnography of responses to these videos, we argue new cults of personality differ from their traditional counterparts through collaborative, co-constructive and communal interdependence between culted figure and follower. While Weber maintained charismatic authority has its source in the innate and exceptional qualities of an individual’s personality, we submit that in consumer culture’s current era of consent, the ‘culting’ of social actors becomes a participatory venture. We shed light on the fading and routinization of charisma and the dissipation of the relationship between the culted figure and followers.
KW - Celebrity
KW - charisma
KW - charismatic authority
KW - cult of personality
KW - netnography
KW - Weber
KW - YouTube
U2 - 10.1177/1470593117692022
DO - 10.1177/1470593117692022
M3 - Journal article
VL - 17
SP - 455
EP - 472
JO - Marketing Theory
JF - Marketing Theory
SN - 1470-5931
IS - 4
ER -