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This paper explores the rise of financial influencers ('finfluencers') on social media and their impact on shaping financial subjectivities. Employing the dual theoretical frameworks of economy-as-communication and financialization of everyday life, we uncover how finfluencers transform individuals' understanding of and engagement with personal finance through digital storytelling, strategic use of syntax and symbols, participatory engagement and diverse representation. Finfluencers make financial topics more accessible, but in doing so they also accelerate the financialization of everyday life by normalizing finance and investing as mainstream preoccupations. As more individuals turn to social media for financial guidance, understanding the complex dynamics of finfluencer impact is crucial for navigating the evolving landscape of personal finance and financial education in the digital era. The paper emphasizes the need for ongoing research, critical reflection and efforts to promote digital and financial literacy to ensure the benefits of this new form of financial influence are distributed equitably while mitigating potential harms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing wealth is the single largest portion of household wealth in most Western societies today, yet little research has examined how individuals make decisions regarding the use of the housing wealth that they possess. In this article, we leverage insights from relational economic sociology to understand how individuals' subjective valuations and other economic judgments are influenced when space in a home is relationally earmarked. Using a series of original vignette experiments and survey tasks in conjunction with qualitative responses, we find that earmarking a room for a close social tie does indeed matter for valuation. Furthermore, we reveal that individual economic judgments are strongly influenced by different relational content associated with relational earmarks compared to a control. Put differently, we systematically show how modifying the constitution of an earmark strengthens or lessens the appropriateness of its match and prompts distinct patterns of economic decision-making. Our analyses extend relational economic sociology to studies of housing while also building intellectual bridges with research on judgment and decision-making (JDM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals routinely satisfy borrowing needs by transacting in the market or by relying on social relations. In the market domain, price logic leads borrowers to choose the cheaper option; in the interpersonal domain, role-matching logic leads borrowers to choose the relation best matched to the act. But how do individuals choose when faced with options from each domain? Drawing on theories in economic sociology that assert the economic and the social are mutually constitutive, we posit that when market and interpersonal options appear in the same choice set, the characteristics of one option inflect how people assess the other. Through two survey experiments, we show that price sensitivity toward the market option is less when the interpersonal option is role mismatched and that concerns about interpersonal borrowing changing or damaging the relationship attenuate when the market option is expensive. We discuss the implications for studies of stratification and financial decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]