Celebrities as Political Representatives:
Explaining the Exchangeability of Celebrity
Capital in the Political Field
Ellen Watts
Royal Holloway, University of London
Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Politics
2018
Declaration
I, Ellen Watts, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated.
Ellen Watts September 17, 2018.
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Abstract
The ability of celebrities to become influential political actors is evident (Marsh et al., 2010; Street 2004; 2012, West and Orman, 2003; Wheeler, 2013); the process enabling
this is not. While Driessens’ (2013) concept of celebrity capital provides a starting point,
it remains unclear how celebrity capital is exchanged for political capital. Returning to Street’s (2004) argument that celebrities claim to speak for others provides an opportunity to address this. In this thesis I argue successful exchange is contingent on acceptance of such claims, and contribute an original model for understanding this process. I explore
the implicit interconnections between Saward’s (2010) theory of representative claims,
and Bourdieu’s (1991) work on political capital and the political field. On this basis, I argue celebrity capital has greater explanatory power in political contexts when fused
with Saward’s theory of representative claims.
Three qualitative case studies provide demonstrations of this process at work.
Contributing to work on how celebrities are evaluated within political and cultural hierarchies (Inthorn and Street, 2011; Marshall, 2014; Mendick et al., 2018; Ribke, 2015; Skeggs and Wood, 2011), I ask which key factors influence this process. I conclude celebrity capital and social media, class, institutional connections, and consistency aid acceptance of celebrity representative claims. I consider the role of multiple media, situating claims within the political information cycles they provoke (Chadwick, 2017). I find social media are valuable tools for performing claims and provide a rhetorical shortcut for constructing constituencies, but do not enable celebrities to bypass ‘reading back’ (Saward 2010). This thesis also contributes to debate over the democratic implications of celebrity politics, by asking what political benefits result from this process. I argue celebrity representative claims offer additional opportunities for citizen engagement and valued sources of representation, but often capitalise on distrust in elected representatives to provide the same.
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Acknowledgements
I would firstly like to thank my supervisors, Andy Chadwick and Ben O’Loughlin, for showing such interest in my ideas and being so generous with theirs. They have encouraged me to think independently and creatively, to take risks, and to challenge myself at every turn. Thank you both. I would also like to thank my examiners John Street and Nick Couldry, for their encouragement and guidance.
There are many others who have provided invaluable help along the way. I would like to thank Julia Gallagher and James Sloam for their encouragement and feedback. I am also grateful to Nick Allen, Oliver Heath and Kaat Smets for their part in my development and interest in my future.
Steve Ward steered me toward Royal Holloway in the first place. Having gone a round with University by the time I got to Salford, I will always be grateful for the encouragement (and occasional use of mild threat) to help me back up.
I was incredibly lucky to join a department where wonderful women were already at work, and get to celebrate in their successes. Thank you Mersiye Bora, Daniela Lai, Amy Smith, and Nikki ‘the boo’ Soo for being amazing and hilarious. I would also like to thank Declan McDowell-Naylor for comradeship, Rahel Podobsky-Stucki for acts of bravery, and James Dennis for frankly ridiculous levels of enthusiasm. Finally, I thank Cláudia Ferreira for putting up with me these last few months as we shared a single garage and a stolen cat.
My family are the best (citation needed). Thank you for being unendingly supportive and encouraging. My mum Lucy is undoubtedly responsible in part for my interest in celebrity culture, my brother Marcus for keeping me up to date, and my Dad a classic example of distancing (we all know you were reading Heat too, Colin).
James Heath has become my daily reminder that not everyone is more interested in Queen Bey than the Queen. He has been unfailingly interested in this, and in me. I cannot thank you enough.
Finally, I could not have completed this thesis without everyone who shared their thoughts about politics and celebrity with me. Thank you for answering my questions and raising many more.
This ended up being a thesis about the power which comes from speaking for
other people. I’d like to dedicate it to my brother Gregory.
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Contents
List of Tables ...................................................................................................................8 List of Figures................................................................................................................10 1. Introduction...............................................................................................................11
1.1 Argument and Contribution ..............................................................................13 1.2 Questions and Cases............................................................................................17 1.3 Plan of the Thesis ................................................................................................20
2. Celebrity, Capital, Representation: A Literature Review.....................................26
2.1 Defining (and Defending) ‘Celebrity Politics’ ..................................................27
2.1.1 Debating the Democratic Impact of Celebrity Politicians .............................29
2.2 Conceptualising Celebrity as a Form of Capital..............................................32
2.2.1 Explaining the Varied Exchangeability of Celebrity Capital.........................33
2.3 Evaluating the Political Value of Celebrities....................................................37 2.4 Celebrity Influence: Citizen Opinion and Candidate Evaluations.................39 2.5 Promoting Engagement, Promoting Themselves: Celebrity Issue
Campaigning ........................................................................................................44
2.5.1 Influence on Issue Agendas and Citizen Engagement ...................................45 2.5.2 Celebrity Single-Issue Campaigning..............................................................48
2.6 Conclusion............................................................................................................53
3. Theoretical Framework: Explaining the Exchangeability of Celebrity Capital through Representative Claims...............................................................................55 3.1 Bourdieu and the Social World: Fields, Capital, and Migration....................56 3.2 Celebrity Capital and its Value..........................................................................59 3.3 Celebrity Capital and the Political Field: Class, Trajectory, and Hierarchy63 3.4 Celebrity Capital and the Political Field: Representation ..............................67 3.5 Constructing Representative Claims.................................................................70
3.5.1 Claim Types and Supporting Resources for Unelected Actors......................73
3.6 Evaluating Claims: Authenticity, Authority and Legitimacy.........................76
3.6.1 Situating Claims in Political Information Cycles...........................................81
3.7 Explaining the Exchangeability of Celebrity Capital through Representative Claims......................................................................................................................83
3.7.1 Capital and Resources: Supporting Claims....................................................84 3.7.2 Representative Claims: Constructing Claims and Constituencies .................85 3.7.3 Evaluation of Claim .......................................................................................86 3.7.4 Political Information Cycle............................................................................86 3.7.5 Exchange of Capital.......................................................................................87 3.7.6 Political Capital..............................................................................................87 3.7.7 Other Political Benefits..................................................................................88
4. ‘At least he’s doing something’: was Russell Brand able to ‘Amplify’ the Voices
of Housing Campaigners?........................................................................................90 4.1 Context and Theoretical Expectations ..............................................................92
4.1.1 Brand: The Joker............................................................................................92 4.1.2 Brand: Agitator and Housing Activist ...........................................................94
4.2 Methods and Data ...............................................................................................97 4.3 Analysis ................................................................................................................99
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4.3.1 ‘Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner’: The Benyon Protest ..........................99
4.3.2 18 Days in December: The Westbrook Protest............................................103 4.3.3 ‘Snidegate’: A Question of Hypocrisy.........................................................105
4.3.4 ‘I shouldn’t be allowed on Television’: Re-making and Re-claiming.........109
4.3.5 Claims and Counter-Claims: The Sun Intervenes........................................110 4.3.6 Who Speaks for the #People and the Percentage Points? ............................116 4.3.7 December 6th-11th: Lose Temper, Gain Capital.........................................119
4.3.8 A Question of Cold Paella: Brand’s Attention Divided...............................122
4.3.9 A New Deal for New Era.............................................................................123
4.4.1 ‘A Representative of the People, Rejected by the People’?.........................127
4.4.2 To What Extent was Brand able to ‘Amplify’ New Era? ............................130 4.4.3 A New Era for All? Who Benefitted from the Campaign?..........................131
5. ‘If he can help us reach voters, so be it’: How were Celebrity Endorsements of
the Labour Party in 2015 Evaluated?...................................................................136 5.1 Context and Theoretical Expectations ............................................................138
5.1.2 Assessing ‘Non-Electoral’ Claims in Election Campaigns..........................139
5.2.1 Using Media Coverage to Reconstruct Political Information Cycles ..........142 5.2.2 Using Tweets to Analyse Individual Evaluations of Endorsements ............143 5.2.3 Limitations ...................................................................................................145
5.3.1 Freeman’s PEB: Choosing Childhood Values .............................................146
5.3.2 The Political Information Cycle around Freeman’s Endorsement...............148
5.4.1 Jo Brand’s PEB: Speaking from Experience ...............................................155
5.4.2 The Political Information Cycle around Jo Brand’s Endorsement ..............157
5.5 Case 3: Steve Coogan........................................................................................161
5.5.1 Coogan’s PEB: Ordinary Childhood, ‘Ordinary Bloke’..............................161 5.5.2 The Political Information Cycle around Coogan’s Endorsement ................163
5.6 Case 4: Russell Brand.......................................................................................168
5.6.1 ‘Milibrand’: Holding Miliband Accountable to ‘Normal People’ ...............169 5.6.2 The Political Information Cycle around ‘Milibrand’...................................173
5.7.1 Celebrity Endorsements as Performances of Authenticity...........................182 5.7.2 Evaluating Endorsements in Political Information Cycles ..........................183 5.7.3 The Limited Political Value of Celebrity Capital ........................................185
5.8 Conclusion..........................................................................................................186
6. Everyday Feminism: How does Emma Watson Claim to Represent Feminists and why are these Claims Accepted? ...................................................................188 6.1 Context and Theoretical Expectations ............................................................190
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6.1.2 From the UN to Your Book Shelf................................................................193
6.2.1 Studying Emma Watson...............................................................................196 6.2.2 Studying Our Shared Shelf Members ..........................................................197
6.3 How does Watson Make Claims to Represent Our Shared Shelf?...............200
6.3.1 Claim One: Watson as ‘Connected Representative’ ....................................201
6.3.2 Claim Two: Watson as ‘Ordinary Member’ ................................................205
6.3.3 Claim Three: Watson as ‘Authentic Ambassador’.......................................208
6.4 How is Watson Evaluated by Our Shared Shelf Members? .........................213
6.4.1 To What Extent is Members’ Engagement Motivated by Watson?.............213
6.4.2 (Why) Do Members Accept Watson as a Representative? ..........................217
6.5 Conclusion..........................................................................................................224
7: Everyday Feminism: What are the Political Benefits of Engagement with Emma
Watson’s Online Book Group? .............................................................................227 7.1 Context and Theoretical Expectations ............................................................229
7.1.1 Talking Feminism Online: Situating Our Shared Shelf ...............................229 7.1.2 A ‘Next Step’: Affordances of HeForShe and Our Shared Shelf ................231
7.2 Methods and Questions ....................................................................................235 7.3 Analysis and Discussion....................................................................................236
7.3.1 Motivations, Methods, and Perceptions: How Participants Engage ............236 7.3.2 (What) do Members Learn from their Engagement? ...................................242 7.3.3 Does Engagement lead to Increased Discussion and Participation?............245
7.4 Conclusion..........................................................................................................252
8. Conclusion................................................................................................................254
8.1 Why Do Celebrity Claims to Represent Citizens Matter? ............................255 8.2 How can Celebrity Capital be Exchanged for Political Capital? .................258
8.2.1 Chapter 4: Russell Brand Claims to Represent Housing Activists ..............259 8.2.2 Chapter 5: Celebrities Claim to Represent the British Electorate................261 8.2.3 Chapters 6 and 7: Emma Watson Claims to Represent Feminists...............262
8.3.1 Celebrity Capital and Social Media .............................................................263 8.3.2 Class.............................................................................................................265 8.3.3 Connection ...................................................................................................268 8.3.4 Consistency ..................................................................................................270
8.4 What other Political Benefits Result from this Process?...............................271 8.5 Case Study Contributions ................................................................................274
