Stargazing: Celebrity, Fame, and Social Interaction

The sociology of fame and celebrity is at the cutting edge of current scholarship in a number of different areas of study. This book focuses on different aspects of celebrity in contemporary society, including the thoughts and feelings of celebrities on the red carpet, the thrills and risks of celebrity sightings and other moments of fan-celebrity contact, and the excitement generated even by obvious fakes (in the case of celebrity impersonators). This book argues that celebrity, and our fascination with it, is characterized by multiple contradictions and juxtapositions of meaning that only a sociological perspective can successfully analyze and reconcile.