المؤثرون الرقميون كفاعلين في إنتاج المعنى الاجتماعي: من الرأسمال الرمزي إلى إعادة إنتاج الهيمنة بالفضاء الرقمي

Abstract

This paper aims to provide a theoretical analysis of the contemporary transformations brought about by digital platforms and the rise of digital influencers, considered as new social actors contributing to the reproduction of social meaning. It is grounded in a central research problem that seeks to understand how digital influencers participate in the production of social meaning and the reconfiguration of recognition and symbolic domination within the digital space.

The study adopts a sociological theoretical approach to examine the position of influencers within the contemporary social structure. It demonstrates that symbolic capital in the digital sphere is not pre-given, but rather constructed through the accumulation of recognition and interaction, enabling influencers to exercise an invisible form of power that reshapes representations and meanings. It further reveals that the production of social meaning operates within an economy of attention, where digital narratives—especially short-form content—function as mechanisms for intensifying meaning and reinforcing norms through repetition and circulation.

However, these dynamics do not necessarily establish a genuine digital democracy; instead, they contribute to the reproduction of symbolic domination and inequality within the digital field. This occurs through subtle mechanisms such as social comparison, the unconscious internalization of norms, and the concentration of symbolic capital in the hands of specific actors. Therefore, the digital space does not represent a rupture with social structures, but rather a complex extension through which power and hierarchy are reproduced in more flexible forms within an underlying structure of soft domination