The problems of populism: celebrity politics and citizenship

Abstract

In contrast to approaches that frame the ‘populism’ of celebrity politics as a ‘dumbing down’ of politics, this article draws on an approach that seeks to understand the social conditions, political rationalities, and organizational networks that shape populist mobilisations. In light of this approach, it considers two case studies of contemporary populist politics from the US and Britain, both of which implicated celebrities (albeit in notably different ways): Bruce Springsteen’s response to the ‘Bridgegate’ scandal surrounding New Jersey Governor and aspirational Republican Presidential candidate Chris Christie in 2013; and the interventions of comedian and actor Russell Brand in the lead-up to the 2015 British general election. In addressing ‘the problems of populism’, it highlights two issues: firstly, the fraught and risky nature of market-oriented celebrity politics that appeal to the affective investments of consumer-citizens; and secondly, the necessarily reductive nature of populism itself.

Keywords:

• populism
• celebrity
• politics
• citizenship
• media

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David Nolan

David Nolan is Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications and a Research Fellow in the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on the role of shifting media discourses, environments, and practices in contemporary social politics, with a particular focus on the nature and significance of changes in journalism. His work is published in numerous international journals including Journal of Intercultural Studies, Global Media and Communication, Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, Journalism Studies, and Social Semiotics.

Stephanie Brookes

Stephanie Brookes is Lecturer in Journalism Studies, Monash University. She researches at the intersection of media and politics, focusing on questions of identity and belonging in news media and political discourse. She is co-author of a chapter on uses of YouTube in the 2012 Presidential election in Presidential Campaigning and Social Media (ed. Hendricks and Schill, OUP, 2014), and on government advertising in Government Communication in Australia (ed. Young, CUP, 2007). She currently researches Western news media constructions of the ‘rise of China’, news media coverage of politics, and celebrity politics and citizenship.