Reviews for The Right To Childhoods

The average rating for The Right To Childhoods based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-09-30 00:00:00 Hugo Marques (Cut and paste from a review I wrote) Celebrity and Glamour, as befitting its role of initiating widespread discussion, is an interdisciplinary collection of 11 articles. Most deservedly, the editors point out that their collection is "the first to explore the culture of glamour and fame in a post-totalitarian state" (p. 2); to that this reviewer would add that they are indeed path breaking in their effort to discuss the history of celebrity in Russia, which has not seen the extent of analysis found elsewhere. This effort does not rest on their own shoulders alone: Across eleven articles, scholars of Russian literature, film, art, ethnography, performance culture, and history, analyze present-day Russian culture. These articles are bound together through issues highlighted by Goscilo and Strukov. Glamour and celebrity, Goscilo argues, have come to symbolize not just post-Soviet Russia, but specifically the years of Vladimir Putin's power. Alongside its efforts at "re-branding itself" on the world stage, Russia has witnessed a dramatic increase in consumerism. Consumerism, and in particular the consumption of celebrity imagery, supported the political system: "The culture of glamour and celebrity is a visible index not only of increased affluence but also of stage allegiance to capital and its need to produce cultural symbols that, on the one hand, carry the ideologemes of capitalism and individualism, and, on the other hand, serve the political and economic agenda of Russia's new elite" (p. 2). For this reason, Goscilo and Strukov treat glamour and celebrity as intertwined ideas. In articulating their approach to celebrity, they are greatly indebted to the works of many of the expected scholars (Boorstin, Bourdieu, Bakhtin, even Veblen), but they rely most heavily, though, on the ideas of contemporary sociologist and cultural scholar Chris Rojek. From Rojek, the scholars here draw the concept that celebrities can be typed in three different ways: the ascribed celebrity (based on lineage), the achieved celebrity (based on works), and the attributed celebrity (based on the impact of mass media's sensationalism). (the rest of my review is for Celebrity Studies, a Routledge journal)

Review # 2 was written on 2021-01-31 00:00:00 Fernando Reyes A bit simplistic. A bit repetitive. A good quick introduction.