Honorary degrees for celebrities: Persona, Scandal, and the case of Bill Cosby

Lee, Katja; Marshall, P. David

doi:10.1080/19392397.2019.1612762

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…We would propose, then, that there is a tipping point at which the institutional masking practices that safeguard an individual's celebrity capital give way to institutional masking required to safeguard the institution's reputational capital. Exactly where this tipping point lies may vary significantly between powerful elites and cases of alleged corruption, incompetence or immorality, and will depend heavily on the extent to which the institutions are reliant on, or even defined by, the individuals against whom the allegations are being made (Lee and Marshall, 2019). Once performative agency migrates, those same institutions that co-produced the celebrity's untouchability may with equal vigour engage in the total annihilation of the former persona and the multi-institutional re-masking of the individual as a different and new persona.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Celebrity Icon Mask: The Multi-Institutional Masking of Sir Jimmy Savile

Greer

McLaughlin

2021

Cultural Sociology

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The aim of this article is to develop the concepts of masks and masking to interrogate the role of institutions in the co-production of ‘untouchable’ celebrity icon status. The empirical focus is the multi-institutional masking of Sir Jimmy Savile OBE KCSG. For decades, Savile was celebrated as one of the UK’s best-loved celebrity icons. One year after his death, he was exposed as a serial sexual predator. We argue that the largely compartmentalised official reports on Savile have presented a partial analysis. They have emphasised the importance of Savile’s celebrity status while taking it for granted, downplayed the significance of his moral standing in British society, and marginalised the proactive, enabling role of the BBC, the NHS and the British establishment. However manipulative the individual, we propose that it was Savile’s cumulative multi-institutional masking as celebrity personality (the BBC), celanthropist (the NHS) and, ultimately, celebrity icon (the British establishment) that co-produced his ‘untouchable’ status and enabled him for decades to deflect and discredit rumour, gossip and allegations about his sexually predatory behaviour. We conclude by reflecting on the ‘researchability’ of powerful elites, and by suggesting how our analysis might inform further research into the power dynamics that have co-produced the ‘untouchability’ of other celebrities subsequently exposed as serial sexual predators.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Celebrity Icon Mask: The Multi-Institutional Masking of Sir Jimmy Savile

Greer

McLaughlin

2021

Cultural Sociology

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“…Existing research on celebrity persona mainly focuses on two perspectives: One is how the celebrity persona is constructed. Celebrities perform in their primary art forms – actors, musicians, singers and textual dimensions such as interviews and advertising endorsements – to shape their public persona (Soberon, 2023), and also present through various media forms for reputation management (Lee and Marshall, 2021). Second, the commercial value of celebrity persona.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect mechanism of the celebrity persona on consumers' purchase intention: based on the analysis of the grounded theory

Bing

Shi

Liu

2023

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PurposeThe purpose of this study is to use the grounded theory to summarize the types of celebrity persona and to construct a theoretical model for celebrity persona on consumer purchase intention. Based on the study results, it provides better suggestions for merchants and live streamers and is an expansion of previous research on live-streaming e-commerce.Design/methodology/approachThe grounded theory is recognized as the most scientific qualitative research method and is the ideal explorative method for generating theory. First, the participants were interviewed, and interview data were collected. Then the interview data were organized and analyzed. Finally, this paper summarizes the types of celebrity persona and constructes a theoretical model framework of celebrity persona on consumers' purchase intention.FindingsThe results show that the celebrity live streamer persona can be divided into two types: personalized persona and professional persona. Through emotional attachment, the celebrity's persona affects the consumer's purchase intentions. As well as, product type plays a moderating role between celebrity persona and consumer purchase intentions.Originality/valueThe contribution of this research is to start from the celebrity persona, link the celebrity persona with the consumer purchase intentions and expand the research scope of the celebrity persona. It opens the “black box” of the heterogeneity of celebrity live streamers' characteristics on consumer purchase intentions.

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“…Studies on conferring honoris causa doctorates or honorary doctorates are still limited. Several scholars have studied honoris causa, such as Pollard (1941), Lady (1967), Haffernan and Jons (2007), Dhondt (2013Dhondt ( , 2014, Mudzakkir (2017), Badrun (2021) and Lee & Marshall (2021). These scholars mostly examine the giving of this academic practice using historical and sociological perspectives.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Policy of Honoris Causa Doctorate in Indonesian Higher Education (2000-2020)

Mudzakkir

Bustami

Ikomatussuniah

et al. 2021

JGPP

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This article examines the conferring of honorary doctorates in Indonesian universities, which has increased significantly in the last twenty years, 2000-2020. This research applies the document analysis method; data obtained from public documents from government, universities, magazines, and newspapers. Normatively, the university conferred the Doctor Honoris Causa to individuals with outstanding service or work and contributed to science, technology, culture, humanity, and society. The study reveals that the Indonesian authorities have issued three amended regulations regarding honorary doctorates between 2000-2020. This policy provides increased flexibility to universities in determining the awarding of honorary degrees compared to previous regulations. This research has uncovered an evolutionary trajectory of shifting away from awarding the honorary doctorates to the academic community towards non-academic and even political circles and public officials. Such a policy or practice invites criticisms that this signifies an exchange of interests between campus leaders and the power establishment in Indonesia. The analysis of this research reveals that with the decentralization of power during the post-reformation era, there is a transformation of institutional logic of higher education from recognizing knowledge advancement and scientific contributions of members of intelligentsia towards empowering the legitimacy of ruling establishments, especially among politicians and powerful public officials.

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Honorary degrees for celebrities: Persona, Scandal, and the case of Bill Cosby

Cited by 5 publications

References 6 publications

The Celebrity Icon Mask: The Multi-Institutional Masking of Sir Jimmy Savile

The Celebrity Icon Mask: The Multi-Institutional Masking of Sir Jimmy Savile

The effect mechanism of the celebrity persona on consumers' purchase intention: based on the analysis of the grounded theory

The Policy of Honoris Causa Doctorate in Indonesian Higher Education (2000-2020)

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