ABSTRACT
The new global celebrity system is a pervasive presence in elite networks and exerts considerable symbolic and economic influence. The foregoing developments confirm, pace Francesco Alberoni, that the political elite and ruling circles have embraced a media-driven culture of celebrity and that stars and celebrities in turn have reciprocated and now serve as exemplars of political style, ushering in an era of mediatization. Even setting aside contemporary approaches for the moment, the dissociation of the politics of the "popular" from the realm of formal politics looked rather implausible against the example of control of the Italian cinema under Fascism and, for that matter, Gramsci's theorization of hegemony. As a hybrid of star and celebrity, celebristardom is a consequence of cultural trends that exogenously impact on specific fields of performance in the pursuit of profit. Two or three decades ago inside dopester reportage was mostly confined to sub-rosa or marginal literary genres of celebrity muckraking.
