Consuming class: Identity and power through the commodification of bourgeois culture, celebrity, and glamour

Abstract

George Packer’s article "Celebrating Inequality" (The New York Times, May 20, 2013) traces the eras of modern celebrity in order to point to its tricky relationship with class. His proposal intends to debunk the long-established positive relational link between celebrity and an individual’s pursuit of the American dream, by exposing the recent branding and commodification of celebrity personae. He claims that obsession by the masses with celebrity culture stunts the aspirations of ordinary people when they adhere to and yield to the commoditized aspects of celebrity cultures. Inequality, he concludes, is what maintains the celebrity status quo. This piece acknowledges and agrees with the validity of Packer’s platform but entertains the need of considering the realities associated with the other side of the coin, that of defining identity through consumption and the possible identitarian consequences (including empowerment) associated with the consuming class through the admiration, adoption, and consumption of bourgeois culture, celebrity, and glamour.