Glamour labour in the Age of Kardashian

Abstract

Abstract Viewed through the lens of the Kardashians as glamour labourers, this article examines the Kardashian phenomenon as it unfurls in a changing labour market, where glamour is becoming a common aspiration, no longer the domain of a privileged few. My analysis reveals how Kim Kardashian exemplifies the process by which the fashionably cool’s ever-morphing ideal seduces publics into chasing it, pulling publics into a highstakes game in which few realize exactly what they are losing. I argue that practices of no-holds-barred sharing and giving up privacy online are normalized, and presented as the ticket to achieving glamour, visibility and social acceptance.