A01=Hanna Kuusela
affect
ambiguity
Author_Hanna Kuusela
binge-watching
bloodline
Category=ATMF
Category=JBCT2
Category=JBFQ
conservatism
critical theory
cross-generational inequalities
cultural studies
Downton Abbey
dynasties
elites
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
family
fantasy
forthcoming
heir
heritage
inheritance
kinship
melodrama
meritocracy
moral economy
norms
platformization
popular consent
popular culture
privilege
progress
quality television
rich
satire
serial television
series
streaming
streaming platforms
Succession
super-rich
television series
The Crown
tradition
Trump
wealth
Yellowstone
Product details
- ISBN 9781526190055
- Weight: 504g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 28 Jul 2026
- Publisher: Manchester University Press
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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Streaming Privilege examines how contemporary serial television helps legitimise today’s “new Gilded Age” of extreme inequality. Through sharp cultural analysis, the book reveals popular culture’s fixation on wealth and dynastic families, and how these narratives contribute to sustaining economic divides. Focusing on Downton Abbey, The Crown, Succession and Yellowstone, it explores what today’s most-watched dramas suggest about contemporary attitudes toward privilege and power. At its core is an interest in the intersection of family, wealth and morality, showing how stories of dynasties help audiences make sense of widening disparities. The book argues that television does not simply reflect inequality but actively shapes public understandings of it. Streaming Privilege is essential reading for scholars and students of media, culture and economic sociology, as well as general readers interested in how popular culture influences perceptions of inequality.
Hanna Kuusela is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Jyväskylä
