Based on the wildly popular blog “Rich Kids of Instagram,” a dishy and hilarious novel about the intersecting lives of the world’s most extravagant, unapologetically uber-rich teenagers. The “Rich Kids of Instagram” are not your typical well-to-do brats. These “kids” drive Ferraris, fly to their weekend getaways in private jets, and post self-indulgent photos of themselves online as frequently—and as wantonly—as they blow wads of cash. Not to mention that they’re more involved in sex, drugs, and power plays than most people twice their age. Drawing from the ten most frequent contributors to the popular blog of the same name—which receives an average of 850,000 unique visitors a month and has been featured on 20/20, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, The Atlantic, Buzzfeed, Gawker, and others—Rich Kids of Instagram revolves around a core group of spoiled young people, from a Southern Belle poultry-empire heiress to a media mogul’s driven daughter and an old-money rifle heir with a Mayflower legacy; to a nouveau riche outsider who is thrust into the members-only universe of the .1%, with scandalous results. In a world that is smaller, more connected, and more competitive than ever, where nothing is off limits, some kids are just trying to make a buck—or ten thousand. Prepare to be wowed by this saucy, compulsively readable book about the hilarious display of extravagant wealth and the teenagers who have fallen into it.

This volume proposes the ‘poetics of politics’ as an analytic angle to interrogate contemporary cultural production in the United States. As recent scholarship has observed, American literature and culture around the turn of the millennium, while still deeply informed by the textual self-consciousness of postmodernism, are marked by a rekindled interest in matters of social concern. This revived interest in politics is frequently read as a ‘grand epochal transition.’ Sidestepping such a logic of periodization, this book points to the interplay between the textual and the political as a dynamic – always locally specific – that affords unique insights into the characteristics of the contemporary moment. The sixteen case studies in this book explore this interplay across a wide range of media, genres, and modes. Together, they make visible a broad cultural concern with negotiating social relevance and textual self-awareness that permeates and structures contemporary US (popular) culture.

This book presents a framework for thinking about different forms of internet celebrity that have emerged in the last decade. Through cross-cultural case studies, the book offers a brief history of internet celebrity; analysis on recent developments in the industry; and commentary on emergent trends.

This professional book introduces marketing and luxury brand professionals to a new definition of luxury and the art of designing the ultimate luxury experience in both the physical space (e.g., in-store, hotel, restaurant) and the digital space (e.g., social media, website, e-commerce). Specifically, it offers an overview of customer experience issues and explores big five experiential strategies that can be applied by luxury houses in order to provide the best luxury experience to their customers. Themes such as quality of customer luxury experience, immersion and co-production/co-creation in luxury, creation and management, digital and immersive marketing, and innovative market research are also examined. How do consumers define luxury? Is there one luxury or several “luxuries”? What kind of luxury experiences consumers want to live? How can luxury houses design the ultimate luxury experience? More than in any other sector, luxury consumption is a response to a search for emotions, pleasure, uniqueness, consideration and greatest services. The luxury consumer wants to live luxury experiences – not just buy luxury products or services. In this way, this book presents the luxury consumption experience as a combination of symbolic meaning, subconscious processes and nonverbal cues and characterized by fantasies, feelings and fun. Featuring case studies and interviews from international luxury sectors and brand managers such as Burberry, Dior, Porsche, Breitling, St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, and Louis Vuitton, among others, this book offers both a research and management perspective on luxury experience to professionals in the luxury sector (e.g., CEOs, brand managers, marketing and communication professionals), as well as marketing professors, students, and people eager to learn more about how to design the ultimate luxury experience. Praise for The New Luxury Experience “This book provides a holistic perspective on marketing of luxury brands, offering both useful practical advice as well as illustrating important cases.” -- Ravi Dhar, Director, Yale Center for Customer Insights, Yale University “Wided Batat’s book offers a fresh, insightful and comprehensive analysis of the concept of the consumer’s experience with luxury whatever that may be. The Five experiential luxury strategies proposed by Wided highlight that luxury management should go above and beyond the design and branding of luxury goods and services. I also commend the consideration given to the younger generations’ approach to luxury and to corporate social responsibility aspects. Luxury marketers should find this book very useful indeed.” -- Francesca Dall’Olmo Riley, Professor of Brand Management, Kingston Business School, UK

Since her late-1990s debut as a member of the R&B trio Destiny's Child, Beyonce Knowles has garnered both praise and criticism. While some consider her an icon of female empowerment, others see her as detrimental to feminism and representing a negative image of women of color. Her music has a decidedly pop aesthetic, yet her power-house vocals and lyrics focused on issues like feminine independence, healthy sexuality and post-partum depression give her songs dimension and substance beyond typical pop fare. This collection of new essays presents a detailed study of the music and persona of Beyonce--arguably the world's biggest pop star. Topics include the body politics of respectability; feminism, empowerment and gender in Beyonce's lyrics; black female pleasure; and the changing face of celebrity motherhood. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Being Sociological considers the lived experience of sociology, stressing the active nature of social life and highlighting the role that students can play in enacting social change. Fully reworked in this third edition, with five brand new chapter topics and a diverse roster of new contributors, this textbook presents a fresh take on society today. The book encourages readers to examine both enduring challenges and their potential solutions. Dynamic learning features help students unpack key ideas from sociological theory and apply them to today's problems to cultivate their own sociological imagination. An inspiring read, this textbook will empower students to engage with sociology outside the classroom and embed it in their everyday lives. With new contributors, fresh organisation and a vibrant student-centric focus, this third edition brings Being Sociological fully up to date and reaffirms its place as an invaluable introduction to sociology for students new to the field. New to this Edition: - All chapters completely rewritten to provide a fresh overview of sociology today - Coverage of five new chapter subjects : including social movements, urbanization, migration and sport and leisure, reflecting their centrality in modern life and in introductory sociology courses - A focus on the SHiP framework, moving away from social categories to consider instead society's structural composition, its historical patterns and power inequalities and their interplay in individual lives - A forward-looking, optimistic orientation, bolstered by new pedagogical features inviting students to consider pathways for change

Media Culture in Transnational Asia: Convergences and Divergences offers a comprehensive and extensive overview of the production, consumption, and exchange of media in Asia, presenting the region as a rich site for media examination and exploration.