Celebrity Society

This volume 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.

Robert van Krieken is Professor of Sociology at the University of Sydney, and Visiting Professor at University College, Dublin. His research interests include the sociology of law, criminology, childhood, processes of civilization and decivilization, organizations, cultural genocide, populism, and ressentiment, as well as contributing to the theoretical debates around the work of Elias, Foucault, Luhmann, and Latour. Previous books include Norbert Elias (1998), Celebrity and the Law (2010, co-authored), and Sociology (6th edition, 2016, co-authored).

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