Title: Celebrity Culture - Sociology of Culture- - iResearchNet
Headings: Celebrity Culture
Celebrity Culture
Outline
The Leadership Vacuum and the Globalized Media
The New Transparency
Consumption and Commodification
References:

Content: The ultimate modern celebrity is the member of the public who becomes famous solely through media involvement.’’ While the ‘‘ultimate’’ celebrity’s rise might be attributable ‘‘solely’’ to the media, celebrities typically performed some deed, however modest, to attract initial attention. That deed might involve an appearance on a reality television show, a criminal action, or an inept showing at a major sports event. In other words, conduct that would hardly be regarded as commendable and deserving of recognition in earlier eras, perhaps as recently as the 1980s. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, however, conceptions of merit were rendered indeterminate and figures who traditionally earned distinction and drew praise for their efforts vied with more prosaic characters whose achievements were often uncertain. This heralded what we might call the Age of the Celebrity, in which idolatrous followings accrued to what seemed literally worthless individuals. In fact, they were not worthless, worth being an equivalent value of merit conferred on someone or something by a population. Whether the neophyte celebs actually deserved reverence is a less interesting question to a sociologist than the reasons why so many believed they deserved it. A participant in a reality television show, a contestant in a quiz show, a hitherto unknown bank clerk featured in an advertising campaign: these were the types of characters who ascended from obscurity to public visibility and, in some cases, veneration.