Paper short abstract:

Celebrity is a multidimensional phenomenon, and several factors contribute to its production. The objective of the presentation will be to investigate the process of celebritization in science and propose various forms of celebrity-experts.

Paper long abstract:

Recent decades have witnessed an increasing sensitivity of science to the agenda and production routines of the mass media (Entradas and Bauer, 2022); social media have provided a means for experts to engage more actively and directly in public debate (Schiele et al., 2012). Discussions and controversies among scientists previously confined to specialized communication contexts have become, at least potentially, accessible to the general public (Gregory and Miller, 1998; Horst, 2013; Bauer et al., 2019). Media exposure has entered every stage of the science communication process, penetrating laboratories and short-circuiting public discussion, specialized debate, and policy decisions (Bucchi, 2010).

For their part, mass media increasingly provide a stage for scientists. While Rae Goodell in 1977 introduced the concept of the "visible scientist," anticipating the debate on the impact of the mediatization of science (Fahy, 2017; Bucchi and Trench, 2021), in reality, the phenomenon of acquiring celebrity status affects anyone who can be considered an expert in a given field and can be traced back to an underlying trend concerning the world of communication: where the need to provide entertainment grows, conventionally famous personalities, such as stars from the world of entertainment or sports, are no longer enough. The media need to create more and more celebrity characters by expanding the field to other areas (Gabler, 1998). The spotlight is therefore shone on people with professional qualifications who are not originally related to entertainment or media stages, but who nevertheless become the subject of a process of "celebritization" (Driessens, 2012). Thus, "academic stars" (Shumway, 1997) and "celebrity scientists" (Fahy, 2015) emerge.

To illustrate the latter phenomenon, Fahy chose eight cases, including Stephen Hawking. Indeed, when talking about celebrity scientists, the thought goes to such egregious cases as Stephen Hawking, who in terms of media exposure, enthusiasm of his fans, and global notoriety was certainly no less than famous pop stars or big movie stars. However, there are various shades of celebrity. In politics, for example, there are, yes, real stars who have become global icons such as Barack Obama (Campus, 2020), but there has also been recent discussion about the existence of so-called "everyday celebrity politicians" (Wood et al., 2016). Celebrity is a multidimensional phenomenon, and several factors contribute to its production.

The research to be presented is situated in the debate on the relationship between science, politics, media and society, and is based on the literature of celebrity studies, analyzing the most typical dimensions of celebrity with both quantitative and qualitative empirical evidence. The objective of the presentation will be to investigate the process of celebritization in science and propose various forms of celebrity-experts.