Breaking Away From Charisma? The Celebrity Industry's Contradictory Connection to Charismatic Authority

Hendriks, Eric C.

doi:10.1111/comt.12120

Cited by 8 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Many self-help books promise unlikely miracles while their authors present preternatural personal qualities or experiences that mark them out as distinct charismatic authorities (Hendriks, 2017, p. 362; Simmonds, 1992, p. 120). Similarly, through Easyway , Carr offers plainly the substance of what his rare powers can deliver.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stop Smoking theEasyway: Addiction, Self-Help, and Tobacco Cessation

Marron

2019

Contemporary Drug Problems

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This article examines Easyway, a popular clinical and self-help method for the treatment of smoking addiction established by the late Allen Carr in 1984. It begins by addressing how smoking has come to be constituted as a neuropharmacological addiction and some of the issues and concerns raised against this in the social sciences. After situating its theoretical and empirical focus, the article then proceeds with an interpretative thematic analysis of a selection of Easyway self-help texts. The aims here are as follows: firstly, to show how Easyway, as a discourse, constitutes the problem of nicotine addiction in novel and distinctive ways; secondly, to elaborate how the Easyway texts seek to govern readersparadoxically, through their free capacity for reflection, introspection and actionto overcome their situated addiction to smoking; and thirdly, to identify and locate the significance of the author's implicit claims to charisma in underpinning his authority to know and treat nicotine addiction.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stop Smoking theEasyway: Addiction, Self-Help, and Tobacco Cessation

Marron

2019

Contemporary Drug Problems

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“…Stars actively use social media to publicize themselves ("celebrities" and "stars" are used interchangeably here). Hendriks (2017) highlighted that the emergence of new forms of media have enabled celebrities to exist as objects of desire and to connect with people. Allison and Goethals (2016) mentioned that while heroes are evaluated based on achievements, celebrities are distinguished by image and personality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“I can’t just post anything I want”: Self-management of South Korean sports stars on social media

Yoo

2021

International Review for the Sociology of Sport

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This study explores the influence and sociocultural meaning of self-management of South Korean sports stars in the context of their social media activity. The study utilizes netnography to analyze social media posts to determine the meaning of sports stars’ self-management. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with study participants. Ten South Korean sports stars, who are active users of Instagram, were selected as the study participants. Photographs, videos, and stories from their accounts—around 1800 posts in total—were analyzed. The results indicated that the sports stars attempted to share their daily lives on social media to build a close relationship with the public. Moreover, they used their accounts to publicize their commercialized selves and to promote their sponsors. They uploaded only strictly composed and curated posts on their accounts as a form of self-censorship. Finally, it was determined that digital labor was used for self-management on social media, where there is no distinction between public and private territory. A sports star has become a self-living commercial today, and self-management is now a prerequisite for survival. Thus, self-management on social media has become a requirement for sports stars.

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“…I thus critically appropriate Hendriks' (2017) model of the ideal-typical celebrity and charismatic to introduce my own comparative model. Hendriks' model has been chosen as a starting point as it systematically separates celebrity from charisma and remains consistent with how charismatic authority was originally conceptualized by Weber.…”

Section: Distinguishing Cults From Related Phenomenamentioning

confidence: 99%

Postmodern Personality Cults: A Comparative Analysis of Visual Leader Representations in Russia and the US

Sundahl

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This study examines the nature of personality cults in a postmodern context where the internet, smartphones and social media have changed communication methods and the broader socio-political environment. The existing literature on personality cults focus on elite interactions and propaganda which overlooks both the significant bottom-up cult contributions on social media, as well as how contemporary cult leaders’ self-portrayals differ in from those of their predecessors.While modern personality cults were relatively homogenous, centrally managed, and only occurred in totalitarian societies, postmodern personality cults are heterogenous and polysemantic. Using Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin as cases, the study shows that as the leader has less control of the cult narrative, the cult public can both support and subvert the cult online, thus giving it power to define the cult.As Trump relies heavily on Twitter and Putin disseminates his visual propaganda on his personal website, their official, top-down cults differ significantly in terms of platforms used to assert their charismatic claim. They do, however, both use nostalgia as pastiche, that is quilting different ideas and signifiers of the past into a contemporary cult, to legitimize themselves. Putin uses historical, Soviet signifiers to evoke a bygone era of Russian greatness, while Trump makes nostalgic appeals surrounding rural and industrial America in lieu of the civil religious appeals that he against tradition has neglected for personalized power.Both official cults are further motivated by attention-seeking behaviour. Due to the closed nature of the societies in which modern cults occur, the visual public space was easily managed. Given the rapid flow of information today, the postmodern cult leaders contrarily fight for attention. Putin seeks attention through sexualized displays of power by for instance riding bare-chested, while Trump attempts to remain in the news headlines – whether for good or bad. These different strategies to some extent reflect the platforms they use as Trump benefits from always being online and able to disseminate content instantly.What clearly distinguishes Trump and Putin from their modern predecessors is, however, the unofficial bottom-up cult contributions. This study examines these contributions through memes and paraphernalia, which highlight both the irony and the capitalist, consumer-focused aspect of postmodern cults. The unofficial cult contributions’ ambiguity means that they appeal to both genuine supporters and opponents of the leader. Even if people engage with the cult negatively, they confirm the leader’s charismatic authority. In addition to infuriating genuine supporters, and thus reinforcing their cult commitment, it confirms the charismatic’s special status and plays into his attention-seeking behaviour. Polarizing images further elicit stronger emotions which makes them valuable as cult images. The unofficial cult images additionally use pop cultural references which contribute to the widespreadness of the cult and create cult engagement from people who are otherwise disinterested in politics.The unofficial images disseminated on various online platforms are additionally becoming contested battlegrounds where people define themselves and the (cult) community. The community uses endorsements, like up- and downvotes, as well as “snitching” to regulate itself. Individuals showcase their membership of the cult community by using inside jokes, phrases, and signs. By defining itself, the cult community similarly identifies the “other”. In the Putin cult, the othering targets the West, whereas the Trump cult involves othering of Democrats and liberals.Being part of the cult is consequently not merely a personal matter. It is highly social. The othering and attempts at antagonizing the “others” show that the cult public validates the leader’s charismatic claim by adopting his polarizing worldviews. Lastly, namely the cult community’s reviews of Trump paraphernalia on Amazon showed that the postmodern cult leader becomes a commodity that can be consumed, reviewed, and discarded. Both Trump and Putin have become products consumed and used by people to express their own identity and agency.These findings entail that personality cults are no longer restricted to non-democratic settings as evident from the emergence of a personality cult in the US. Second, while personality cults remain evidence of charismatic authority and are signs of personalized power accumulation, their existence no longer entail lack of opposition or public deliberation – these subverting sentiments in fact form the core of postmodern personality cults.

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Breaking Away From Charisma? The Celebrity Industry's Contradictory Connection to Charismatic Authority

Cited by 8 publications

References 19 publications

Stop Smoking theEasyway: Addiction, Self-Help, and Tobacco Cessation

Stop Smoking theEasyway: Addiction, Self-Help, and Tobacco Cessation

“I can’t just post anything I want”: Self-management of South Korean sports stars on social media

Postmodern Personality Cults: A Comparative Analysis of Visual Leader Representations in Russia and the US

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