Waubonsee Community College

Celebrity culture and the American dream, stardom and social mobility, Karen Sternheimer

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-274) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Celebrity culture and the American dream

bibliography

700728803

Karen Sternheimer

stardom and social mobility

Using examples from the first celebrity fan magazines of 1911 to the present, Celebrity Culture and the American Dream considers how major economic and historical factors shaped the nature of celebrity culture as we know it today. Equally important, the book explains how and why the story of Hollywood celebrities matters, sociologically speaking, to an understanding of American society, to the changing nature of the American Dream, and to the relation between class and culture. This book: Explores the relationship between celebrity culture, consumption, class, and social mobility. Discusses social changes pertaining to class, gender, marriage and divorce, and race. Includes numerous pictures from fan magazine articles and ads. Examines the connections between celebrity culture and economic, political, and social changes. Considers the importance of the structure of the entertainment industry to understand how celebrity culture is manufactured. -- Product Description from Website

The American dream : celebrity, class, and social mobility -- Beyond subsistence : the rise of the middle class in the twentieth century -- Prosperity and wealth arrive : boom times and women's suffrage in the 1920s -- Pull yourself up by your bootstraps : personal failure and the Great Depression -- We're all in this together : collectivism and World War II -- Suburban utopia : the postwar middle class fantasy -- Is that all there is? : challenging the suburban fantasy in the sixties and seventies -- Massive wealth as moral reward : the reagan revolution and individualism -- Success just for being you : opportunity in the internet age