Examines how celebrity shapes aspirations of young people growing up in England against the backdrop of austerity.

Celebrity, Aspiration and Contemporary Youth uses the lens of celebrity to explore how young people think about their futures under austerity. Based on an interdisciplinary study, the book offers fresh insights into contemporary youth aspirations and inequalities. It helps us to understand young people’s transitions into adulthood at a time of socio-economic 'crisis'. Drawing on original data, the authors examine what it means for young people to be forming their aspirations within the context of ‘austere meritocracy’. The book addresses three central questions: What kinds of futures do young people desire and imagine for themselves? What is required of young people in the process of achieving these futures? And how are inequalities embedded and reproduced within these? Using young people’s ‘celebrity talk’ to explore their aspirations, the authors challenge stereotypes of young people as a fame-hungry, get-rich-quick generation. Instead, they show how young people engage critically with celebrity and its discourses. Key chapters focus on how young people talk about youth, work, authenticity, success, happiness, money and fame in relation to their own lives and those of celebrities. Each of these chapters contains a case study of an international celebrity, including, Beyoncé, Will Smith, Bill Gates, Prince Harry and Kim Kardashian. The authors conclude with possibilities for social change. They show that celebrity offers an important way of working with young people to critically explore what futures are possible and for whom.

"By asking contemporary youths to reflect on celebrity lives and lifestyles, these youths’ ways of being, emotional regimes, and socioeconomic orderings come into sharp—and unforgettable—focus." - Suzanne Leonard, Associate Professor of English, Simmons College, USA

"One of the most important sociological studies of a generation. A must-read for academics across the arts, humanities and social sciences, it should also be required reading for policy-makers, teachers and anyone who cares about young people today. An astonishing accomplishment." - Rosalind Gill, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, City, University of London, UK

"This book is a pleasure to read. Comprehensive, accessible and timely, it provides an incisive analysis on the contemporary conditions of austerity currently shaping young people’s lives. Drawing on original research, the book provides a stark picture of the burden of individualised responsibility young people carry as inequalities sharpen in the current socio-political climate of austerity." - Julia Coffey, Lecturer, The University of Newcastle, Australia