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Celebrity chav : fame, femininity and social class.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>08/2010
<mark>Journal</mark>European Journal of Cultural Studies
Issue number3
Volume13
Number of pages19
Pages (from-to)375-393
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

There is nothing new about celebrity culture. It is an intrinsic feature of a world structured by mechanical reproduction. However, what has been visible over the last few years in Britain is a modulation of representations of celebrity figures in entertainment and news media through reality TV series, newspapers and gossip magazines. In this article, we argue that celebrity is an increasingly significant means by which reactionary class attitudes, allegiances and judgements are communicated. In contradistinction to claims that the concept of social class has lost its analytic value in the context of contemporary consumer society with the growing ideological purchase of meritocracy and choice, we contend that class remains central to the constitution and meaning of celebrity. A central premise of this article is that celebrity culture is not only thoroughly embedded in everyday social practices but is more radically constitutive of contemporary social life. We examine this claim through a consideration of the ways in which celebrity produces and sustains class relations. We argue that a new category of notoriety or public visibility has emerged and is embodied in the figure of the working-class female celebrity, who operates as what Skeggs terms the ‘constitutive limit to propriety’ within celebrity culture and wider social life (2005: 968).

Bibliographic note

The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, European Journal of Cultural Studies, 13 (3), 2010, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2010 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the European Journal of Cultural Studies page: http://ecs.sagepub.com/ on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/