Mathieu Deflem
Google Scholar | ResearchGate | ORCID
Megan Routh
Doctoral candidate, University of South Carolina
Logan Hickey
B.A., University of South Carolina
B.A., University of South Carolina
Brandii Brunson
Undergraduate, University of South Carolina
This is the manuscript of an article in International Review of Modern Sociology 49(1), pp. 25-48, 2023.
The final version will be posted via the publisher. Also available in PDF format.
Please cite as: Deflem, Mathieu, Routh, Megan, Hickey, Logan, and Brandii Brunson. 2023. “Celebrity Culture and Activism during and since COVID-19: A Sociological Model of Analysis for (Post-)Pandemic Times.” International Review of Modern Sociology 49(1):25-48.
Abstract
A model of analysis is presented for the sociological study of celebrity culture and activism during and since the global COVID-19 pandemic. Theoretically informed in the sociology of celebrity and empirically substantiated by developments that have taken place from the spring of 2020 onwards, the model specifically differentiates the actors, media, actions, functions, and consequences of relevant celebrity engagements, including activism and other activities by celebrities. Findings from ongoing research illustrating the value of the proposed perspective are based on data collected through social media websites and online news stories. These virtual methods, which have also been exploited by celebrities during the pandemic, are methodologically beneficial in being readily available for sociological analysis. The value of the proposed model is grounded in the notion that, for better or for worse, celebrity culture is an important factor that shapes people’s perceptions of the pandemic on a global scale and deserves careful scrutiny as an important dimension of popular culture.
INTRODUCTION
The COVID-19 pandemic, which at the time of this writing in the spring of 2023 still has not yet passed completely, presents a critical time for reflection. It is perhaps a truism to make such an observation because of the deeply unsettling nature of the pandemic and its manifold components as well as the relevant public responses and societal impact. Given its intensity, scope, and duration, the pandemic may well count among the most pressing contemporary social challenges affecting the global social order, begging for academic reflection and analysis. Though centrally revolving around the spread of a deadly virus, the COVID-19 pandemic is not merely a medical issue reserved for study by health professionals. It is also a social event that social scientists can and should examine on the basis of their various disciplinary insights (Deflem, 2022a). Minimally, sociological work on the pandemic should chart and analyze the political, economic, normative, and cultural issues that are involved.
Early on during the pandemic in the spring of 2000, sociologists already began to take on these challenges in multiple ways, with regard to the objectives and direction of sociology (Pfaller, 2020; Matthewman and Huppatz, 2020) and, more specifically, with respect to such important themes as public health (Klomegah and Scales, 2021), Monaghan, 2020), politics (Kavanagh and Singh, 2020), religion (Baker at al., 2020), family (Quah, 2020), race (Elbaum, 2020), sport (Rowe, 2020), crime (Gover, Harper, and Langton, 2020; Stickle and Felson, 2020), law and policing (Jennings and Perez, 2020; Jones 2020), economy (Ilsøe and Larsen, 2020), protest and social movements (Gerbaudo, 2020; Pinckney and Rivers, 2020), and education (Grether, Macdonald, and Higgins, 2020). Yet, it should also be noted that more research is needed, especially in the social sciences. Whatever contributions sociologists can make, they will need to be astutely guided in theoretical and methodological respects and not just rely on the gravity and unprecedented nature of the pandemic to justify their undertaking, let alone validate their research results and conclusions.
In this paper, a sociological model is introduced to examine the conduct and interventions by celebrities as an important aspect of the culture of the COVID-19 pandemic that developed from the spring of 2020 onwards. Further addressed is how this celebrity behavior has since evolved into activism on a number of social ills, including ways to halt or mitigate the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but also in relation to social and political concerns over policing and racial justice issues that erupted in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, and the U.S. presidential elections later that year. In today’s digital era, celebrity culture has become a matter that is ever-present to the extent that it might be overlooked, lest a more careful analytical perspective is adopted. As an aspect of popular culture that relates primarily to entertainment, the conduct of celebrities might not be taken as seriously as the interventions by government representatives and public health officials. Yet, it is precisely because of their popularity that celebrities should receive all due scholarly attention to mirror the attention bestowed upon them by the public at large. Not only from the viewpoint of providing accurate information about the pandemic or, conversely, interfering therewith (Brennen, Simon, Howard, and Nielsen, 2020; Gerwin, 2020), what celebrities say and do concerning the pandemic and its many dimensions and problems will play a role in how the public perceives ongoing concerns (Mututwa and Matsilele, 2020).
The model that in this paper is developed to study celebrity involvement since the pandemic is based on insights from the sociology of celebrity. Celebrity is theoretically elucidated as a cultural issue, after which the relevant analytical components that are needed to study celebrity in the context of COVID-19 are explained. Based on ongoing research since the beginning of the pandemic in the spring of 2020 as well as in terms of its continued impact, preliminary findings are subsequently presented as foundations for the model and as empirical illustrations that make sense of the formulation of questions which future inquiries should test more comprehensively. The power of the sociological imagination to account for variation in social reality remains the central goal of this effort.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: THE SOCIOLOGY OF FAME AND CELEBRITY
Sociologists and other social scientists have in recent years begun to take more seriously, and have duly examined various aspects of, the conditions and dynamics of fame and celebrity culture. Fame and celebrity are conceived as cultural issues related to the ideas and values expressed and practiced in any given socio-historical context. As a sociological concept, celebrity culture is important to be studied in relation to other social phenomena and institutions, such as politics, economy, and law, in order to bring out that which is distinctly cultural and, as such, unique about celebrity.
The study of fame and celebrity as a specialty in sociology as well as a multi-disciplinary field of so-called ‘celebrity studies’ is a relatively recent development, right along with, and most often as part of, the scholarly interest in popular culture that also developed slowly over the years (Deflem, 2017: 17-23, 2022c; Ferris, 2007; van Krieken, 2019). While the study of culture is a long-standing interest in sociological thought, the emphasis was typically on dominant beliefs and the practices associated therewith that touched on fundamentally held aspects of integration and conflict. The role of religion and secularization is prototypical in this respect. Taken less seriously for a long time were the aesthetic and entertainment-oriented components of popular culture even though they, by definition, move large segments of society. The popularity of popular culture itself should appeal to sociologists accordingly. But when popular culture was initially studied sociologically, it was as an effort to reduce its significance in terms of the economic and political order. Most famous and influential is the work by Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno that sought to not so much study as critique, and undermine the role of, what they called the ‘culture industry’ (Horkheimer and Adorno, 1944). The authors’ orientation to focus on culture as an industry reveals the reductionist orientation of their neo-Marxist premises, whereby anything that was popular is reduced to something from which monetary profit can be derived.
The sociological study of fame and celebrity was directly affected and, initially, hindered by the reductionist perspective of popular culture. Most clearly, in sociologist C. Wright Mills’s chapter on “The Celebrities” in his book on the power elite (Mills, 1956: 71-92), the appearance of the professional celebrity in modern society is critiqued in terms of economy and politics. Although Mills realized, in neo-Weberian terms, that celebrity is a cultural phenomenon, he also held that the prestige of fame is but a “shadow of money and power” to provide distraction in a class-dominated society (Mills, 1956: 83). From the 1960s onwards, this critique of celebrity and other forms of popular culture for a while continued in the form of negatively critical studies. Yet, this trend also opened the way toward the development of distinctly cultural perspectives, whereby culture is taken seriously by treating it, indeed, as something cultural. The growing social relevance of celebrity and other forms of popular culture, such as music, cinema, television, videos, and sports, clearly benefited this development.
Conceptually based on Max Weber’s (1922) typology of class (economy), party (politics), and status (culture), fame and celebrity can in the non-essentialist terms of a constructionist perspective of culture (Berger and Luckmann, 1967; Martin, 1996) be defined as constituting a relationship between a person or entity (the celebrity) and the audience with which their fame is established. Fame is hereby defined as being well-known, while celebrity refers to being well-known or celebrated for one’s fame (and, somewhat confusingly, celebrity is also typically the term used for a person who is famous). As such, all who belong to the world of celebrity are famous, while not all who are famous, to some degree and in some or more areas, are part of celebrity culture.
Fame and celebrity bring about a special kind of privilege higher than others can enjoy. Such privilege exists in at least four forms (Kurzman et al., 2007). First, celebrities enjoy interpersonal privilege to interact among one another as well as with the public. Celebrities know one another even when their professional activities may be very different. Celebrities can also control their interactions with the public more than the public with them, although members of the public will typically assume the relationship the enjoy with a celebrity to be more horizontal in nature. Second, celebrities rely on a normative privilege as role models and can take on worthy causes of advocacy beyond the expertise they are primarily known for. The steady rise of celebrity activism in recent years, in no small part accelerated by the internet, has amply shown the tremendous reach and attractiveness of celebrity activism. Third, celebrity status is associated with the economic privilege of monetary wealth, showing that it (usually) pays to be a celebrity. And fourth, celebrities can take advantage of legal privileges to protect the benefits that derive from their elevated position of prestige. Celebrities have special access to law and can rely on entitlements related to copyright and trademark to safeguard the benefits and rights of their work and the name associated therewith.
Importantly, fame does not refer to the quality of a person or entity in the sense in which one can possess certain symbolic attributes or materials goods (most notably money and power), but instead is established in a social relationship with others. A person is famous on the part of others whose actions as onlookers, admirers, and/or critics are constitutive of fame. As such, fame is as much dependent on the celebrity as on the audience and, most critically, on how their inter-relationship is mediated. Fame and celebrity are therefore inextricably related to the role the media play in the spread of fame across publics and the constitution of a celebrity culture, especially with regard to the technological advances that our age has witnessed to bring about important changes in communication.
Questions important to scholars of fame and celebrity involve a variety of issues concerning the patterns and dynamics of celebrity culture. These include such theoretically and empirically relevant themes as: the components and conditions of fame; the celebrification of ordinary folks to become celebrities; the mechanisms and processes through which fame and celebrity are mediated; and the functions and consequences of these developments. These concerns are today far from trivial as there has occurred, at least to some (considerable) extent, a celebritization of society to make celebrity culture central to our age (Driessens, 2012). Such celebritization is especially significant to the extent that it is effectively perceived by a large fraction of the public at large and brings about broader consequences beyond the world of celebrity culture.
QUESTIONS FOR ANALYSIS: A SOCIOLOGICAL MODEL
Within the context of the sociology of fame and celebrity, a model can be developed to examine the activities undertaken by celebrities in various domains of popular culture to engage with and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and the more and less related societal disturbances that have marked this unsettling time in history. The objectives of sociological research on celebrity culture in view of the recent nature of the pandemic are timely, yet, as a result, also relatively exploratory. To an important extent, any sociological investigation of a pandemic-related topic will be more than useful by accurately describing and cataloging relevant events and developments. The rather elementary and somewhat speculative nature of this research will be excused by the gravity and unusual nature of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, even to the extent empirical work on the pandemic may largely have descriptive value because of the immediacy of the situation, relevant research should nonetheless also be conducted with all due attention to theory and methodology, lest these efforts will be hampered by the immediacy of the research topic. Under ideal circumstances, sociological research is conducted better with some distance to the events under investigation. Situated within a soundly developed sociological approach and illustrated with preliminary findings from ongoing relevant research, a sociological model of celebrity culture during the COVID-19 pandemic should at least be able to accurately chart empirical developments in the celebrity culture that have emerged during and because of the pandemic and, additionally, develop the analytical building blocks upon which future analyses may be applied.
Various components can be discerned in the evolving nature of pandemic-related celebrity culture and the multitude of actions of celebrities drawn from various areas of popular culture. Based on the conception of fame and celebrity outlined above, an analytical model is introduced in which the following aspects of celebrity culture during and since COVID-19 can be differentiated: 1) the actors of celebrity culture; 2) the media they rely on; 3) the actions involved; and 4) the functions and consequences thereof. A closer look will reveal how these analytically distinguishable dimensions of fame and celebrity inform the questions research should be able to answer.
Actors
The identification of the celebrities involved with the pandemic will reveal the extent to which celebrity culture plays a role in the pandemic and how it is perceived by the public at large. Especially as manifested in various popular media, COVID-19 has not just been a subject addressed by politicians and healthcare professionals, so that the relative share of celebrity involvement alone will point to the relevance of the research topic. Moreover, additional distinctions can be made among the kinds of celebrities that are being discussed during the pandemic, especially in terms of their sociologically relevant characteristics in terms of the pandemic itself or other related social concerns. The prototypical examples would be celebrities who die from the COVID-19 virus and celebrities from various racial groups speaking out about racial justice concerns. Additionally relevant will be to examine the relationship between the relative popularity of various pop culture segments (e.g., music, sports, movies, internet, and television) and its representation in the totality of pandemic-related celebrity involvement. Thus, these matters also concern whether the most famous celebrities are also the ones most active during and since the pandemic.
Correspondingly, questions concerning the actors of celebrity culture during COVID-19 include: Who are the celebrities that have in various ways been active in relation to the pandemic and/or affected by its implications?; From which socio-demographic categories are they drawn?; Which forms of popular culture do they represent?
Media
The centrality of media in the constitution of celebrity culture cannot be downplayed, because fame is essentially relational nature. Without media there can be no fame in any society of an organic nature beyond the small communities that might still be mechanically integrated by the immediacy of face-to-face interactions. In our advanced technological age, these media have seen a steady expansion from the days of radio and TV to the advent of the internet. Important thereby is not to assume that relatively new media have supplanted the more traditional avenues but, instead, that a more complex landscape of multiple media now exists in which various forms combine to amplify the presence of celebrities. As a condition of the pandemic itself, moreover, the nature of the COVID-19 virus brought about a lessening of interpersonal relationships in the physical world in favor of increased interactions through virtual and other technologically mediated means of communication. As such, in order to analyze celebrity culture, media will not only matter during the pandemic, but also matter more because of the pandemic.
Accordingly, questions concerning the media of celebrity culture during COVID-19 include: Which media have celebrities relied upon to inform the public about their sentiments and conduct their activities concerning the spread of the COVID-19 virus and its response?; What are the mechanisms through which they communicate in order to respond to the pandemic and related social issues?; In what way has the ubiquity of the internet played a role in this mediation process as physical distancing has moved online communications center stage, besides the continued relevance and use of the more traditional media such as radio and television?
Actions
It stands to reason that research on celebrity culture during the COVID-19 pandemic will focus on celebrity conduct inasmuch as it is relevant in terms of the pandemic itself. The nature of the pandemic, however, is such that almost all aspects of social life have been affected in more or less important ways and that, as such, all celebrity conduct might be judged relevant from the research focus. However, a useful distinction can be made between celebrity conduct that is similarly or, conversely, differently affected by the pandemic. As such, relevant aspects of celebrity culture during COVID-19 involve both more passive and active components. Among the passive aspects are, most evidently, celebrities who were infected by the virus and those (very many) who have seen their livelihood greatly diminished, for instance by the ban of, or restrictions placed on, live concert performances and other in-person events. Active responses to the pandemic are perhaps most striking, because they have little to no equivalent among non-celebrities, specifically in the form of a proliferation of celebrity activism.
Social conditions surrounding and during the COVID-19 pandemic can be expected to have increased celebrity activity and, especially, celebrity activism, because of the justice-related topics that are exposed in terms of access to healthcare as well as other aspects of inequality more broadly. Given the trend among celebrities towards increasing advocacy that has been observed for a number of years (Deflem, 2019), it is even more likely since 2020 that celebrities will have something to say about the pandemic. Such activist interventions can pertain to the handling of the COVID-19 virus but also the social problems that emerged during (and were amplified because of) the pandemic, especially with respect to racial justice and political affairs. In these respects, it is to be noted that celebrity activities have to be understood in a threefold way to involve the objective dimension of what type of action is involved, the subjective motives of the celebrity, and the inter-subjective understanding thereof of the part of the public.
Based on the suggested model, relevant questions concerning the actions of celebrity culture include: What is it that celebrities have (objectively) done to respond to the pandemic, including social concerns that emerged over the course of its development?; Why have celebrities undertaken these activities in terms of their own self-expressed (subjective) motivations?; How have these motives in turn (inter-subjectively) been understood by various segments of the public?
Functions and Consequences
Arguably the most central and most distinctly sociological question of research on celebrity culture during COVID-19 concerns the socially relevant functional contributions celebrities make in dealing with and responding to the pandemic. As clarified in the seminal contributions of Robert K. Merton (1968), the functionality of social institutions is defined in terms of the objectively measurable contributions celebrity actions make towards the maintenance of the social order. In other words, celebrity actions are studied sociologically as affecting society and culture, not medically as contributing to find a cure for the COVID-19 virus. Such functions are manifest to the extent that they are more or less clearly (subjectively) intended and more or less widely (inter-subjectively) recognized, but they can also be latent when these conditions are absent yet functionality is still in actuality (objectively) realized.
Questions of analysis with respect to the functionality and impact of celebrity actions during the pandemic include: What are the functional contributions of celebrity actions that have taken place during and since the COVID-19 pandemic?; To what extent have these functions been recognized and intended (or not)?; How do observed functions relate to celebrities’ stated intentions and the public’s perceptions thereof? What have been the consequences of pandemic-related celebrity actions regardless of their functions?
A detailed model of the manifest and latent functions of celebrity conduct during and since COVID-19 can only be specified at the conclusion of a systematic empirical study, but provisionally the following categories of functions of celebrity actions during the pandemic can be identified:
a) Entertainment: To what extent and how did celebrities still carry on their usual entertainment-oriented activities, such as making movies and releasing music, when the pandemic was ongoing? While the pandemic may have hindered celebrities from doing their usual work to provide various forms of play, the pandemic also heightened the need on the part of the public for such entertainment to be provided. Alternative virtual means of entertainment have accordingly been developed (e.g., livestream concerts), although they reach much smaller audiences and may not be permanently applied in post-pandemic times.
b) Diversion: Which if any events have celebrities organized with the specific and deliberate goal to provide distraction during the pandemic? Celebrities may choose not only to continue at least some of their activities, but possibly will try, as a counteraction to the general decline in entertainment, to devise novel ways to organize events that provide an outlet for the public to escape from the negative conditions brought about by the pandemic. For instance, while some celebrities decided to postpone, by necessity or by choice, to delay their entertainment work, such as musicians no longer performing live shows or not releasing recorded music, others have deliberately chosen to step up their professional work, such as by releasing more music, posting extra videos on YouTube, and releasing newly produced movies earlier (on streaming services) rather than later (in movie theaters).
c) Activism: How have celebrities taken part in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in ways explicitly seeking to provide relief in terms of well-being and mental and physical health? In the sense that celebrities organize events as a functional response to the virus in the hopes of finding a cure and/or assisting in the provision of healthcare, they act as partners of medical professionals and relevant government authorities. Whether their aspired role is also effectively achieved is another matter, also influenced by the fact that authorities may rely on celebrities to promote their efforts and that, as one indication of the celebritization of society, healthcare professionals involved with the pandemic become celebrities themselves.
d) Identification: To what extent have celebrities presented themselves during the pandemic as equal to non-celebrities in (also) being negatively affected and, possibly, infected by the virus? Among the earliest relevant aspects of the pandemic were individual celebrities who communicated to the public that they were (also) affected by the crisis, including messages by celebrities that they had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus or were likewise living in lockdown. Celebrity experiences with the pandemic in this sense are relevant socially to the extent that they are communicated and known. The key issue is not, for instance, that a celebrity is infected by the COVID-19 virus, but that celebrities communicate their infection publicly, possibly in the hopes of garnering sympathy and/or offering and receiving, or failing to receive, support as (fellow) victims of the crisis. Thus, it is again important to analyze an identification of these activities as well as their self-stated motivations and the reception thereof by the public.
Beyond functionality, finally, sociological research on celebrity culture during the pandemic should examine the factual consequences of relevant actions and events. Possibly most difficult to examine, but nonetheless necessary to explore, are the measurable effects of celebrity actions during the pandemic, both in confrontation with the aspired motives of the celebrities and the sociological functions their actions imply as with respect of any other (non-functional) consideration. From a sociological viewpoint, it is not primarily relevant in this respect whether or not celebrity activities contribute to alleviate the health-related aspects of the virus as a disease, but that the public and relevant authorities view their actions in these and/or other terms in more or less harm-reducing or, conversely, harmful ways. A key sociological question is not if celebrities are helpful during the crisis, but if they are perceived to be helpful (or not) by which segments of the public.
Research questions concerning the consequences of celebrity conduct examine if celebrity actions are perceived as intended or whether and when the public might also display hostility against what (some) celebrities do. Have celebrities during the pandemic been perceived as heroes, fellow citizens, or villains, who were, respectively, perceived as better, similar to, or worse than their non-celebrity counterparts of the general public? Further, it is relevant to examine the extent to which all who are professionally or otherwise involved with the pandemic, even when they are not celebrities, might have been perceived in the terms of celebrity culture and, consequently, condemned (e.g., the infamy and incompetence that many a politician has been accused of) or celebrated (e.g., the popular support and celebrification of healthcare professionals and other experts). Research should ultimately contribute to examining the role that the pandemic played, and continues to play, in the transformation of celebrity culture in the post-pandemic years. This question, in other words, concerns the form and direction of the ‘new normal’ of celebrity culture itself after the immediate impact of the pandemic will have subsided.
METHODS OF INVESTIGATION: ONLINE DATA
It is fortuitous for the execution of a project based on the suggested model that the very subject matter of the research presents itself in the online world of social media, internet news sources, and various forms of remotely conducted communications. The relevant celebrity culture most essentially indeed exists on the internet and is, to the extent that other more traditional media such as print and TV are relied upon, still discussed there, and can therefore also be studied remotely. At least two components can be differentiated in this data collection process. First, social media are consulted to track which celebrities are doing what kind of activities surrounding the pandemic and its many dimensions. Unlike many other themes of sociological analysis, the challenge of research on celebrity culture is not the lack, but an overabundance of data, especially because pertinent information is widely disseminated on the internet and easily accessible, both to read and react to by the public and the sociologist alike. To wade through this sea of data, the identification of relevant celebrity actions during the pandemic can begin with an analysis on Twitter, arguably the most used platform. Additionally consulted from thereon are other social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook.
The identification of pandemic-related celebrity activities on social media is aided by trending topics that regularly feature celebrity names. The ease with which celebrity actions can be found on social media is itself an indication of the relevance of celebrity culture. From the very start of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, indeed, celebrity names were seen to be trending right along with virus-related political and medical information. As such, the cultural world can indeed be seen to trump, or at least compete with, the political world. Importantly, an analysis of social media also allows for a study of the public’s response as Twitter users will retweet, like, and/or respond to celebrity(-related) tweets in more or less positive and negative ways. Reaction buttons, likes, and/or posted feedback comments on Facebook and Instagram can likewise be consulted.
Second, from an initial identification of celebrities on social media, an additional source of information consists of news stories of the identified celebrity cases. Such news stories will typically provide further details of celebrity activities and their context, occasionally with an assessment of their relevance and reception by the public at large and various segments thereof. News stories can also be used to retrieve additional celebrity activities related to the pandemic, as stories will comment on other cases and/or have related news stories posted on their respective websites. The website Google News is especially useful in this respect. Additional searches can be conducted on the basis of the names of celebrities and their actions via the Google search engine. These multiple searches will snowball the number of cases identified, which can in turn be relied upon, if necessary, to go back to social media and retrieve other cases that might have been overlooked. In view of our society’s obsession with fame and the popularity of celebrity culture itself (the fame of fame), it is likely that limits will have to be applied to restrict the universe of cases to manageable size. In view of the global nature of the pandemic, also, an additional restriction would have to be applied in geographical terms.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has gradually diminished in intensity since the widespread availability of vaccines, it is anticipated that pandemic-related celebrity activities will be impactful for a longer period of time. In any case, the state of celebrity culture and the public reaction following the anticipated end of the pandemic should also be researched. Sketching the contours of future research is beyond the scope of the present model, as it would need to take into account findings from ongoing research to further investigate relevant aspects. Celebrity culture will surely remain deserving of analysis for some time to come.
CELEBRITIES AND COVID-19: A PRELIMINARY SKETCH OF FINDINGS
The sociological model developed in this paper to examine celebrity culture during and since the COVID-19 pandemic should derive its strength from its theoretical grounding and methodological value to be examined in empirical research. That said, it goes without saying that support for such a project also derives from the fact that celebrities have indeed been heavily involved in pandemic-related activities. Sociological relevance cannot be achieved without social relevance of the theme at hand. As such, several trends can be observed that, even in the relatively explorative way sketched below, show the value of the proposed model. Given the location of the authors, the emphasis in this research is on celebrity culture in, or originating from, the United States although both the COVID-219 pandemic as well as celebrity culture have a distinctly transnational and global dimension as well.
Cases of celebrity activities in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic popped up soon after the virus had spread beyond the boundaries of China into Europe and the Northern-American continent. Some noteworthy illustrations from the beginning of the pandemic clarify as much. Following the first reported case of a COVID-19 virus infection in the United States in January 2020, actors Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson tweeted on March 11, 2020 that they had tested positive for the virus (NPR, 2020). In April that year, entertainment site Vulture posted a (regularly updated) list of celebrities who had tested positive from covid (Vulture, 2021), while the New York Post at that time already published an article about celebrities who had died from the virus (New York Post, 2020). On March 29, 2020, Elton John hosted a special televised event, the iHeart Living Room Concert for America, to raise money in support of efforts to combat the COVID-19 virus (Forbes, 2020). Dozens of celebrities at that time publicly committed to donate millions of dollars to aid COVID-19 relief efforts (The Hill, 2020) and were called upon to support public relief efforts, such as when the World Health Organization held a star-studded ‘One World: Together at Home’ concert event (E Online, 2020).
At the beginning of the pandemic, some entertainers chose to continue to entertain, while others decided to halt their originally scheduled plans. Pop sensation Dua Lipa, for example, released her new album Future Nostalgia as planned in the spring of 2020 (on March 27, a week before the original release date of April 3 because the album’s music had leaked online). But Lady Gaga postponed the release of her album Chromatica that was originally scheduled for April 10, 2020 (and eventually released on May 29, 2020) (USA Today, 2020b). The Poker Face singer was also among many to post a self-quarantine message, ostensibly to encourage members of the ordinary public to follow her lead (Billboard, 2020). Madonna posted a video message from her lavish bathtub, calling the virus the great equalizer (CNN, 2020a), even though most ordinary folks did not post such a message, let alone have such a bathtub. Actress Gal Gadot posted an online video of herself and other celebrities from film and television singing the John Lennon song “Imagine,” its intentions seemingly not fulfilled quite as imagined when the action soon became the subject of ridicule (The Daily Targum, 2020).
On popular social-networking platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, celebrities posted videos of themselves dancing, presumably to give hope to the public that life still would go on despite the pandemic (Insider, 2020). Singer Billie Eilish posted an Instagram message saying, “I realize it’s not about me,” the act itself possibly demonstrating that she did not realize it was about her (USA Today, 2020a). The popular beer brand Corona saw a notable surge in its U.S. sales when people began purposely buying the drink until the beer’s production was temporarily halted on April 3, 2020 following a Mexican government order on non-essential products (CNN, 2020b). The next day, it was reported that a couple in India had named their newborn twins Corona and Covid (The Independent, 2020).
After the summer of 2020, when the pandemic began to take on increasingly alarming proportions but was also still believed to be a relatively temporary problem, more and more pandemic-related celebrity involvements took place, the phenomenon itself becoming a topic of some discussion in news sources (Deseret News, 2020). Among the trends, between the summer of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, there has generally occurred a broadening of celebrity involvements beyond the COVID-19 pandemic towards other social and political issues. Important in this transformation was initially the police killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, which led to a wave of protests and riots. Throughout June 2020, celebrities accordingly shifted their attention from virus-related concerns to critical reactions on matters of racial justice and police reform (Deflem, 2022c). Racial justice mixed with issues of gender equality when celebrities joined the ‘Say Her Name’ campaign surrounding the police shooting of Breonna Taylor on March 13, 2020, which stirred emotions following the September 23, 2020 grand jury decision not to pursue charges against any of the officers for her death.
Additionally impactful for the development of celebrity activism during the first year of the pandemic were the run-up towards and reactions following the U.S. Presidential elections of November 2020. Continuing anti-Trump sentiments from before the elections and the criticisms that had been raised since May 2020 against the President’s response to the COVID-19 virus, celebrities now more broadly attacked Trump’s policies and fitness for office. Betraying the dominant leftist orientations of (American) celebrities, these efforts flared up again after the end of the elections had brought about a temporary return among celebrities towards discussing the COVID-19 pandemic, when on January 6, 2021 lethal unrests took place at the Capitol in Washington, DC.
The events during the pandemic concerning racial justice and politics not only accelerated celebrity reactions quantitatively, but also brought about a qualitative turn towards activism as the dominant celebrity response. As such, the pandemic and the societal problems that came to the foreground during that period, especially from the summer of 2020 until the spring of 2021, can be seen to have accelerated and intensified two relevant processes that had been noted before about celebrities and advocacy (Deflem, 2019). First, celebrity activism has become ubiquitous among celebrities from all kinds of areas of pop culture, whether it be music, TV, sports, or any other domain of entertainment. As such, a wide diversity of celebrities are observed to be involved with the pandemic, arguably more and more diverse than ever before. Second, celebrity activism has since 2020 taken on, even more than in preceding years, an ever-increasing number of causes and themes, ranging from concerns relatively closely related to the celebrity’s professional activities to issues that may be far removed from the celebrity lifeworld.
Of peculiar significance in terms of the scope of celebrity activism, it can be observed that celebrities have since the growing availability of vaccines generally not only returned to their usual sources of entertainment (and revenue), but also turned towards other advocacy not readily or not at all connected to COVID-19. Among the striking examples is the case of tennis star Naomi Osaka, who emerged as a leading voice among a young generation of Black women athletes openly critiquing racial injustice and police violence following the killing of George Floyd (Deflem, 2022b, 2022c). Osaka joining the Black women brave enough to speak out about racial concerns in the United States demonstrates a new wave in sports activism that came after initially the men of professional sports received wide coverage for their protests, social media posts, and interviews pertaining to racial justice in the period preceding 2020. Before the murder of George Floyd, in fact, there were not many women athletes in recent times, besides the likes of Serena Williams, who were partaking in racial justice activism. Among the exceptions, WNBA players have a noteworthy involvement in activism (CooperSquared, 2021). More recently, however, it is telling that Naomi Osaka has turned away from such broader concerns related to justice and equity to focus on mental health (BBC, 2021). In this move, Osaka has positioned herself as an activist, but also as a victim due to alleged pressures resulting from her involvement in top-level professional sports (GiveMeSport, 2022). This trend towards mental health as the primary theme of activism has most recently also been observed among successful athletes and other celebrities more generally (People, 2022).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Today’s celebrities are everywhere, and everybody relates to celebrities, whether by applauding, criticizing, or desperately seeking to avoid their presence. During the increasingly long and unsettling period of the COVID-19 pandemic, the protests on racial and other forms of injustice that ensued, and the expressed concerns surrounding the U.S. Presidential elections, we nonetheless also remain as a society obsessed with celebrity culture. Celebrities form an important category, next to government officials and healthcare professionals, from which the public derives information about the COVID-19 virus. On social media, celebrities voice their opinions about the virus and its response, although they cannot claim any expertise or special standing other than their fame, and speak out against all kinds of injustice, even when they are highly privileged themselves. The same observation applies to celebrity activism on racial justice, police violence, and other social issues and problems that came to the foreground of public debate during the pandemic. Yet, the effects of celebrity actions and activism are not always as intended, as celebrities have at times also been accused of insensitivities and poor judgments, leading 2020 to also become known as the year of celebrity cancelations (The Things, 2020).
Pandemic-related celebrity activities and the reactions and discussion they invoke among the public and in the media are no frivolous matter. Sociologists have for some time now argued that the conditions of the social order are also and always, though not exclusively, cultural in nature. From a practical viewpoint, moreover, there is no doubt that many people will know quite a bit of what they know about the COVID-19 virus, not only and perhaps not even primarily from healthcare professionals and government officials, but from the many celebrities they are continuously exposed to (Mututwa and Matsilele, 2020). The complexities of COVID-19 from a medical viewpoint are generally beyond the purview of the majority of the population, and the intricacies of formulating an appropriate government response are likewise not among most people’s expertise. But what is done by celebrities whose actions are praised or reacted to in various ways will concern and affect many. Celebrities form an important culture that variably aligns itself or competes with the expert cultures of healthcare professionals and government officials. The saying that the public and relevant authorities should ‘listen to the experts’ or ‘follow the science’ most always comes from non-experts outside of science. Such pronouncements are often also voiced by celebrities who, thereby, posit themselves on a higher plane of expertise about expertise. But whether their actions are effective as intended is another question research must address.
Sociological research on celebrity culture and activism is needed to achieve a more comprehensive view of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact. The medical aspects of the pandemic and the legal and political issues of protest movements and government power are obvious and important. But the cultural dimensions of these issues in relation to celebrity activism cannot be ignored either. Celebrity activities are widely reacted to by the public at large and, whether we agree or not, celebrities play an important role in how the pandemic and various social and political movements and their multiple concerns are understood. The model of analysis introduced in this paper therefore differentiates actors, media, actions and objectives, and functions and consequences of relevant celebrity activity. Methodologically, such work can be conducted online because that is where the social transactions among celebrities and their publics have largely taken place and, in many ways, that is the world in which we live today.
Relying on the findings from ongoing research, the COVID-19 pandemic has witnessed a move from a relatively broad variety of celebrity involvements, such as reports of infections, quarantine experiences, and relief efforts and support, towards a more resolute if rather undefined embrace of activism as the dominant response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the justice-related concerns that emerged and erupted during the crisis. Since and because of COVID-19, celebrity activism has never flourished better than today, and celebrities remain visible and marketable despite this period of change and uncertainty. The turn towards activism in celebrity culture and the multi-dimensional nature of that activism over the course of the development of the pandemic could not be foreseen. What was initially a healthcare concern soon grew to much more than that and also brought out a number of aspects related to the health of the social body, especially in matters of racial justice and political stability and change. Research on celebrity culture is thus not only relevant to our understanding of popular culture but also concerns questions of racial justice, police reform, and political power.
Given the special privileges and popularity celebrities enjoy, it might seem obvious to social movements interested in developing ways to improve conditions of justice and equity that having celebrities on their side would be beneficial. But as social life is messy and complex, the situation is not that clear nor that easy. Celebrities aligning themselves with a social movement seeking to end some form of injustice, it could be argued, ironically represent a category of highly privileged people who not only live beyond the experiences of injustice, but may also have done much to contribute to injustice, whether intentionally or not. The public will at times indeed turn against celebrities when they are perceived to be unaware of their position. Regardless of their impact, however, it is clear that celebrities are here to stay and that concerns regarding the pandemic and matters of justice will also not soon disappear. Sociologists should therefore study and interrogate the multiple roles celebrities play in this context. It would be a grave mistake to neglect the cultural aspects of the pandemic. The long-term consequences of celebrity activism and other actions are as yet uncertain, but celebrities have surely played a distinct and highly public role in the manner in which the pandemic is understood and how pathways to justice and political peace can and should be achieved. Considering the unusual nature of the pandemic, it would be more than unfortunate were research on celebrity actions not be conducted and the opportunity lost to examine the evolving dynamics of celebrity culture in the post-pandemic world.
Acknowledgements
Research for this paper was supported by a COVID-19 Research Initiative Grant (#135300-20-54087) and a Racial Justice and Equity Research Fund Award (#135300-22-59455) from the Office of the Vice President for Research, University of South Carolina. Additional financial support was provided through the kind assistance of Dean Lacy Ford of the University’s College of Arts and Sciences. The authors are grateful to the University of South Carolina for providing study and research opportunities to conduct their sociological work. The first author is grateful to his co-authors for their excellent research assistance, critical feedback, and assistance in the development and writing of this project. Any remaining conceptual deficiencies in the analytical model introduced in this paper remain with the first author, while the development and application thereof as well as the reported research findings are a shared responsibility among all co-authors.
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Driessens, O. (2012). The celebritization of society and culture: Understanding the structural dynamics of celebrity culture. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 16(6), 641–657.
Elbaum, A. (2020). Black lives in a pandemic: Implications of systemic injustice for end‐of‐life care. Hastings Center Report, 50(3), 58-60.
E Online. (2020). See every performer at the One World: Together At Home concert. E Online, April 20, 2020. https://www.eonline.com/news/1141576/see-every-performer-at-the-one-world-together-at-home-concert.
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Gover, A.R., Harper, S.B., and L. Langton. (2020). Anti-Asian hate crime during the COVID-19 pandemic: Exploring the reproduction of inequality. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 45(4), 647-667.
Grether, S.T., Macdonald, H., and K. Higgins. (2020). Students’ perceptions and experiences of learning during the coronavirus pandemic. Virginia Social Science Journal, 54, 84-93.
The Hill. (2020). Celebrities from Kanye West to Angelina Jolie donate to coronavirus charities. The Hill, March 27, 2020. https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/489834-celebrities-from-kanye-west-to-angelina-jolie-donate-to.
Horkheimer, M. and T.W. Adorno. ([1944] 1972). Dialectic of enlightenment. New York: Herder and Herder.
Ilsøe, A. and T.P. Larsen. (2020). The coronavirus crisis reveals blind spots in Nordic labour market data: A sociological perspective. Acta Sociologica, 63(4), 447-449.
The Independent. (2020). Coronavirus: Twins born during lockdown named Corona and Covid. The Independent, April 4, 2020. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/twins-named-corona-covid-lockdown-india-chhattisgarh-a9447176.html.
Insider. (2020). 16 celebrities who have turned to TikTok while self-isolating from the coronavirus. Insider, March 24, 2020. https://www.insider.com/best-celebrity-tiktok-videos-during-coronavirus-self-isolation-2020-3.
Jennings, W.G. and N.M. Perez. (2020). The immediate impact of COVID-19 on law enforcement in the United States. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 45(4), 690-701.
Jones, D.J. (2020). The potential impacts of pandemic policing on police legitimacy: Planning past the COVID-19 crisis. Policing: A Journal of Policy & Practice, 14(3), 579-586.
Kavanagh, M.M. and R. Singh. (2020). Democracy, capacity, and coercion in pandemic response: COVID-19 in comparative political perspective. Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law, 45(6), 997-1012.
Klomegah, R. and J. Scales. (2021). Social factors associated with psychological distress during the onset of COVID-19 pandemic: Some evidence from Pew Research Data. International Review of Modern Sociology, 47(1-2), 41-54.
Kurzman, C., Anderson, C., Key, C., Lee, Y.O., Moloney, M., Silver, A. and M.W. Van Ryn. (2007). Celebrity status. Sociological Theory, 25(4), 347-367.
Martin, P.J. (1996) Sounds and society: Themes in the sociology of music. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.
Matthewman, S. and K. Huppatz. (2020). A sociology of COVID-19. Journal of Sociology, 56(4), 675-683.
Merton, R.K. (1968). Social theory and social structure. Enlarged edition. New York: The Free Press.
Mills, C.W. (1956). The power elite. New York: Oxford University Press.
Monaghan, L.F. (2020). Coronavirus (COVID‐19), pandemic psychology and the fractured society: A sociological case for critique, foresight and action. Sociology of Health & Illness, 42(8), 1982-1995.
Mututwa, W. T. and T. Matsilele. (2020). COVID-19 infections on international celebrities: Self presentation and tweeting down pandemic awareness. JCOM: Journal of Science Communication, 19(05), A09. https://doi.org/10.22323/2.19050209
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People. (2022). Stars who’ve spoken out about their mental health struggles. People, October 10, 2022. https://people.com/health/stars-who-have-mental-illnesses-mental-health-issues/
Pfaller, L. (2020). Theorizing the virus: Abjection and the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Sociology & Social Policy, 40(9/10), 821-829.
Pinckney, J. and M. Rivers. (2020). Sickness or silence: Social movement adaptation to COVID-19. Journal of International Affairs, 73(2), 23-41.
Quah, S.R. (2020). Wrestling with role strain in a pandemic: Family, ‘stay-at-home’ directive, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 51, 236-253.
Rowe, D. (2020). Subjecting pandemic sport to a sociological procedure. Journal of Sociology, 56(4), 704-713.
Stickle, B. and M. Felson. (2020). Crime rates in a pandemic: The largest criminological experiment in history. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 45(4), 525-536.
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USA Today. (2020b). Women in music, from Dua Lipa to Megan Thee Stallion, brought joy in a tough year. USA Today, December 23, 2020. https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/12/23/women-music-2020-lady-gaga-ariana-grande-megan-thee-stallion/3868253001/.
van Krieken, R. (2019). Celebrity society: The struggle for attention. Second Edition. London: Routledge.
Vulture. (2021). All the celebrities who have tested positive for the coronavirus. Vulture, January 9, 2021 (updated). https://www.vulture.com/article/famous-people-celebrities-with-coronavirus.html.
Weber, M. ([1922] 1958). Class, status, party. In H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills (Eds.), From Max Weber (pp. 180-195). New York: Oxford University Press.
See related publications on celebrity culture.
Baker, J.O., Martí, G., Braunstein, R., Whitehead, A.L., and G. Yukich. (2020). Religion in the age of social distancing: How COVID-19 presents new directions for research. Sociology of Religion, 81(4), 357-370.
BBC. (2021). Naomi Osaka withdraws from French Open & reveals ‘bouts of depression’. BBC, May 31, 2021. https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/57310701
Berger, P.L. and T. Luckmann. (1967). The social construction of reality. New York: Anchor.
Billboard. (2020). Lady Gaga on social distancing & coronavirus: ‘The healthiest thing we can do is self-quarantine’. Billboard, March 14, 2020. https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/9335223/lady-gaga-encourages-self-quarantine-coronavirus.
Brennen, J.S., Simon, F., Howard, P.N., and R.K. Nielsen. (2020). Types, sources, and claims of COVID-19 misinformation. Reuters Institute, University of Oxford, Factsheet, April 7, 2020. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/types-sources-and-claims-covid-19-misinformation
CNN. (2020a). Coronavirus is ‘the great equalizer,’ Madonna tells fans from her bathtub. CNN, March 23, 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/23/entertainment/madonna-coronavirus-video-intl-scli/index.html.
CNN. (2020b). Corona beer stops production. CNN, April 3, 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/03/business/corona-beer-production/index.html.
CooperSquared. (2021). The WNBA’s history of activism has been overlooked. CooperSquared, May 12, 2021. https://coopersquared.com/2021/05/12/the-wnbas-history-of-activism-has-been-overlooked/.
The Daily Targum2. (2020). Internet responds to Gal Gadot and other stars’ cover of John Lennon song ‘Imagine’. The Daily Targum, March 30, 2020. https://dailytargum.com/article/2020/03/imagine-cover-gal-gadot.
Deflem, Mathieu. (2022a). The continuity of the social sciences during COVID-19: Sociology and interdisciplinarity in pandemic times. Society, online August 25, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-022-00763-3
Deflem, Mathieu. (2022b). The criminal justice activism of Naomi Osaka: A case study in the criminology of celebrity culture. American Journal of Criminal Justice, published online April 21, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-022-09681-w
Deflem, Mathieu. (2022c). Celebrity activism on racial justice during COVID-19: The death of George Floyd, the rise of Naomi Osaka, and the celebritization of race in pandemic times. International Review of Sociology, 32(1), 63-87.
Deflem, M. (2019). The new ethics of pop: Celebrity activism since Lady Gaga. In M. Stramaglia (Ed.), Pop Cultures (pp. 113-129). Lecce-Rovato, Italy: Pensa Multimedia.
Deflem, M. (2017). Lady Gaga and the sociology of fame: The rise of a pop star in an age of celebrity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Deseret News. (2020). Are celebrities really helpful during a crisis? Deseret News, June 26, 2020. https://www.deseret.com/entertainment/2020/6/26/21303753/celebrities-black-lives-matter-anti-racism-kristen-bell-jenny-slate-i-take-responsibility-psa.
Driessens, O. (2012). The celebritization of society and culture: Understanding the structural dynamics of celebrity culture. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 16(6), 641–657.
Elbaum, A. (2020). Black lives in a pandemic: Implications of systemic injustice for end‐of‐life care. Hastings Center Report, 50(3), 58-60.
E Online. (2020). See every performer at the One World: Together At Home concert. E Online, April 20, 2020. https://www.eonline.com/news/1141576/see-every-performer-at-the-one-world-together-at-home-concert.
Ferris, K.O. (2007). The sociology of celebrity. Sociology Compass, 1(1), 371–384.
Forbes. (2020). Star-studded ‘Living Room Concert for America’ raises over $1 million for coronavirus aid. Forbes, March 30, 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimryan1/2020/03/30/living-room-concert-for-america-brings-together-elton-john-lady-gaga-and-ellen-degeneres-raises-money-amid-coronavirus-pandemic/#5d428ca14045.
Gerbaudo, P. (2020). The Pandemic crowd: Protest in the time of COVID-19. Journal of International Affairs, 73(2), 61-75.
Gerwin, L.E. (2020). The challenge of providing the public with actionable information during a pandemic. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 40(3), 630-654.
GiveMeSport. (2022). Naomi Osaka: Tennis star hints at difficult year as she celebrates entering 2022. GiveMeSport, January 1, 2022. https://www.givemesport.com/1811381-naomi-osaka-tennis-star-hints-at-difficult-year-as-she-celebrates-entering-2022
Gover, A.R., Harper, S.B., and L. Langton. (2020). Anti-Asian hate crime during the COVID-19 pandemic: Exploring the reproduction of inequality. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 45(4), 647-667.
Grether, S.T., Macdonald, H., and K. Higgins. (2020). Students’ perceptions and experiences of learning during the coronavirus pandemic. Virginia Social Science Journal, 54, 84-93.
The Hill. (2020). Celebrities from Kanye West to Angelina Jolie donate to coronavirus charities. The Hill, March 27, 2020. https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/489834-celebrities-from-kanye-west-to-angelina-jolie-donate-to.
Horkheimer, M. and T.W. Adorno. ([1944] 1972). Dialectic of enlightenment. New York: Herder and Herder.
Ilsøe, A. and T.P. Larsen. (2020). The coronavirus crisis reveals blind spots in Nordic labour market data: A sociological perspective. Acta Sociologica, 63(4), 447-449.
The Independent. (2020). Coronavirus: Twins born during lockdown named Corona and Covid. The Independent, April 4, 2020. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/twins-named-corona-covid-lockdown-india-chhattisgarh-a9447176.html.
Insider. (2020). 16 celebrities who have turned to TikTok while self-isolating from the coronavirus. Insider, March 24, 2020. https://www.insider.com/best-celebrity-tiktok-videos-during-coronavirus-self-isolation-2020-3.
Jennings, W.G. and N.M. Perez. (2020). The immediate impact of COVID-19 on law enforcement in the United States. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 45(4), 690-701.
Jones, D.J. (2020). The potential impacts of pandemic policing on police legitimacy: Planning past the COVID-19 crisis. Policing: A Journal of Policy & Practice, 14(3), 579-586.
Kavanagh, M.M. and R. Singh. (2020). Democracy, capacity, and coercion in pandemic response: COVID-19 in comparative political perspective. Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law, 45(6), 997-1012.
Klomegah, R. and J. Scales. (2021). Social factors associated with psychological distress during the onset of COVID-19 pandemic: Some evidence from Pew Research Data. International Review of Modern Sociology, 47(1-2), 41-54.
Kurzman, C., Anderson, C., Key, C., Lee, Y.O., Moloney, M., Silver, A. and M.W. Van Ryn. (2007). Celebrity status. Sociological Theory, 25(4), 347-367.
Martin, P.J. (1996) Sounds and society: Themes in the sociology of music. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.
Matthewman, S. and K. Huppatz. (2020). A sociology of COVID-19. Journal of Sociology, 56(4), 675-683.
Merton, R.K. (1968). Social theory and social structure. Enlarged edition. New York: The Free Press.
Mills, C.W. (1956). The power elite. New York: Oxford University Press.
Monaghan, L.F. (2020). Coronavirus (COVID‐19), pandemic psychology and the fractured society: A sociological case for critique, foresight and action. Sociology of Health & Illness, 42(8), 1982-1995.
Mututwa, W. T. and T. Matsilele. (2020). COVID-19 infections on international celebrities: Self presentation and tweeting down pandemic awareness. JCOM: Journal of Science Communication, 19(05), A09. https://doi.org/10.22323/2.19050209
New York Post. (2020). Celebrities who have died from the coronavirus and COVID-19 complications. New York Post, September 22, 2020 (updated). https://nypost.com/list/celebrity-deaths-from-coronavirus-and-covid-19-complications/.
People. (2022). Stars who’ve spoken out about their mental health struggles. People, October 10, 2022. https://people.com/health/stars-who-have-mental-illnesses-mental-health-issues/
Pfaller, L. (2020). Theorizing the virus: Abjection and the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Sociology & Social Policy, 40(9/10), 821-829.
Pinckney, J. and M. Rivers. (2020). Sickness or silence: Social movement adaptation to COVID-19. Journal of International Affairs, 73(2), 23-41.
Quah, S.R. (2020). Wrestling with role strain in a pandemic: Family, ‘stay-at-home’ directive, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 51, 236-253.
Rowe, D. (2020). Subjecting pandemic sport to a sociological procedure. Journal of Sociology, 56(4), 704-713.
Stickle, B. and M. Felson. (2020). Crime rates in a pandemic: The largest criminological experiment in history. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 45(4), 525-536.
The Things. (2020). 10 biggest celebrity ‘cancellations’ of 2020 (so far). The Things, September 8, 2020. https://www.thethings.com/cancelled-celebrities-2020/.
USA Today. (2020a). Billie Eilish on coronavirus: ‘I realized it’s not about me.’ Other stars share thoughts. USA Today, March 13, 2020. https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2020/03/13/coronavirus-joy-behar-resse-witherspoon-more-stars-react/5034521002/.
USA Today. (2020b). Women in music, from Dua Lipa to Megan Thee Stallion, brought joy in a tough year. USA Today, December 23, 2020. https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/12/23/women-music-2020-lady-gaga-ariana-grande-megan-thee-stallion/3868253001/.
van Krieken, R. (2019). Celebrity society: The struggle for attention. Second Edition. London: Routledge.
Vulture. (2021). All the celebrities who have tested positive for the coronavirus. Vulture, January 9, 2021 (updated). https://www.vulture.com/article/famous-people-celebrities-with-coronavirus.html.
Weber, M. ([1922] 1958). Class, status, party. In H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills (Eds.), From Max Weber (pp. 180-195). New York: Oxford University Press.
