What [Scale of Case] Is Taylor Swift? Ontology, Levels of Society, Degrees of Generality

• In Event: Theory Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 7

Abstract

Building on our own work of late and rooted in institutional theory, we engage with the notion of Taylor Swift as an object of study, to be explained in social context and also to explain social context. We begin with the basic question of “what [scale of case] is Taylor Swift” and learn from the rich literature on celebrity icons as a starting foundation. We then apply an actorhood lens, whereby we conceptualize this celebrity icon as a form of dynamic abstractions in terms of ontology, levels of society, and degrees of generality. We refer to this as the actorhood trifecta and emphasize the dynamic, yet often conflated movement among these dimensions. Rather than make claims of who this celebrity-icon really is, what she means to society, posit her intentionality, or even evaluate her efficacy, we demonstrate ways in which our lens permits us to treat these as empirical questions in their many dialectics, such as plurality and multiplexity; contradiction and contingency; fluidity and stasis; multivocality and consistency. Our engagement with this exercise expands our understanding of multi-level dynamic analysis of emergence, impact, persistence, or change and takes up the challenge of scale and pitch in these kinds of analyses in the patterned ways in which they are conflated.

Authors

• Hokyu Hwang, UNSW Sydney

• Jeannette Anastasia Colyvas, Northwestern University