Conflict Theory and Lady Gaga

In today’s world sometimes it is hard to tell why celebrities are doing what they are doing. Does anyone even care? Unfortunately, yes. With social mediums like Facebook and Twitter blowing up everyday people like us can easily follow and obsess over celebrities we don’t even know and probably will never meet. These celebrities have so much influence they have the power to make something popular or unpopular with one “tweet”. From a conflict theorist’s point of view, this is the bourgeoisie exerting its power and control over the proletariat; the bourgeoisie being the small group of people with wealth and power and the proletariat being the rest of society being exploited by the bourgeoisie. I am going to use Lady Gaga as an example of one person in the celebrity industry that makes a lot of money off of society and her fans.

Karl Marx is the founder of conflict theory. He saw the horrors of the Industrial Revolution in Europe and watched as peasants were taken advantage of by their employers. Marx focused his theory on the idea that society is based on class conflict. These days sociologists have broadened that definition. Many sociologists see conflict theory as a small group with lots of power or wealth exploiting or influencing another group with less resources. Opposing interests can be seen throughout society on small and large scales. Lady Gaga is large scale. She has a huge amount of influence over her fan base and young people everywhere. I don’t want to offend anyone by saying that Lady Gaga is an absolute sell-out, but I am analyzing her for the purposes of explaining conflict theory and therefore see her through the lens of doing unnecessary things for profit.

“Gaga is well-recognized for her outre’ sense of style as a recording artist, in fashion, in performance, and in her music videos” states her website. She uses all of these outlets to influence people. With her crazy outfits and I-don’t-want-to-see-this-but-I-can’t-look-away music videos she is making a statement to her audience. All of her over the top antics create talk about her, which has made her famous, which in turn influences her audience to like what she likes and believe what she believes. She makes money off of all of her work because she has created an enterprise and continues to expand. I would say all of her crazy stunts are marketing techniques to get attention. One website about the mass media and popular culture says that “marketing strategies make popular culture a business”. I agree with that statement and think that Gaga is the perfect example. She does crazy things and puts out intriguing videos and wears meat dresses to get anyone’s attention, good or bad. Then once she has all of this talk built up around her she has power. According to Gaga’s website she is on the Forbes’ list of “The World’s Most Powerful Celebrities” and she is also ranked at number seven on their “100 most Powerful Women” list. Also, she is included in Time’s “The 2010 Time 100” list of the most influential people in the world.

Gaga has the power and influence to control her audience. In this case Gaga is the bourgeoisie and her audience is the proletariat. She influences the proletariat’s spending habits, feelings, fashion decisions, and even their ideals and political thoughts. She might not have bad intentions but she is certainly manipulating the world around her.

In case you haven’t seen any of her videos or outfits here are a few examples of the things she does to perpetuate her celebrity status:

Citations:

"Exploration Two: Mass Media and Popular Culture." Media Studies. N.p., n.d. 
     Web. 18 Sept. 2011. <http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/ 
     media20revision/unit1/lesson2/lesson2.html>.\

Henslin, James. Essentials of Sociology. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2007. Print.

"Info, Bio." Lady Gaga Official Site. Streamline Records, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 
     2011. <http://www.ladygaga.com/default.aspx>.

http://youtu.be/wV1FrqwZyKw

http://freddyo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Lady_Gaga_Meat_Dress.jpg