Description
Book SynopsisOn television and in films, in magazines and books, on the Internet and in the realm of politics, celebrities of all sorts seem to dominate our attention. Celebrity Society: The Struggle for Attention brings new perspectives to our understanding of how the figure of the celebrity' is bound up with the structure and dynamics of society, economics, and politics. It outlines how the celebrification of society' is not just the twentieth-century product of Hollywood and television, but a long-term historical process, beginning with Christian saints, the printing press, theatre, and art.
Drawing on the ideas of Norbert Elias, the book explains how contemporary celebrity society is the heir (or heiress) of court society', taking on but also transforming many of the functions of the aristocracy. As well as examining celebrity in all the familiar arenas film, television, music, fashion, and sport Celebrity Society also includes the analysis of celebrity in busin
Table of Contents
Introduction: understanding celebrity society
1. The foundations: individualism, media and the public sphere, theatre, court society
2. Celebrity’s secret: the economy of attention
3. Celebrity as a social form: status, charisma and power
4. Imagined community, self-formation, and long-distance intimacy
5. Celebrity politics: performance, populism, and philanthropy
6. CEO, firm and worker celebrity
7. Celebrity in cyberspace: micro-celebrity and globalization
Conclusion: the elusive rationality of celebrity
