IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v4y2018i1d10.1057_s41599-018-0177-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trump, celebrity and the merchant imaginary

Author

Listed:
  • Barry King

    (Auckland University of Technology)

Abstract

This article explores the social ontological basis of Trumpism as a form of populism, historically defined as government by personal rule. For many commentators, the key feature of Trump’s presidency is its fundamental irrationality. The President has variously described as ‘dumb’, ‘greedy’, ‘psychotic’, a ‘narcissist’ in the grandiose mode, and an ‘egotist’ unfit for public office. This article does not aim to dissent from these kinds of conclusions but suggests that they partake more of the statement of effects or consequences rather than causes. Indeed, if they are considered as causes they lead to confusion, a kind of ‘attention-deficit disorder’ (which, ironically, some accuse the tweeting President of being a sufferer). Rather this paper suggests that a more systematic examination of the President’s persona reveals it as emerging from a conflation of the discourse of the American family and a merchant imaginary.

Suggested Citation

  • Barry King, 2018. "Trump, celebrity and the merchant imaginary," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:4:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-018-0177-6
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-018-0177-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-018-0177-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-018-0177-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kevin W. Capehart, 2015. "Hyman Minsky’s interpretation of Donald Trump," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(3), pages 477-492, October.
    2. Cho, Charles H. & Roberts, Robin W. & Patten, Dennis M., 2010. "The language of US corporate environmental disclosure," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 431-443, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gary F. Peters & Andrea M. Romi & Juan Manuel Sanchez, 2019. "The Influence of Corporate Sustainability Officers on Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(4), pages 1065-1087, November.
    2. Yan Luo & Linying Zhou, 2020. "Textual tone in corporate financial disclosures: a survey of the literature," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(2), pages 101-110, September.
    3. Lu Zhang & Yuan George Shan & Millicent Chang, 2021. "Can CSR Disclosure Protect Firm Reputation During Financial Restatements?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 157-184, September.
    4. Grisard, Claudine, 2014. "La formation de l'accountability en situations conflictuelles," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/13959 edited by Berland, Nicolas.
    5. Leung, Sidney & Parker, Lee & Courtis, John, 2015. "Impression management through minimal narrative disclosure in annual reports," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 275-289.
    6. Xi Fu & Xiaoxi Wu & Zhifang Zhang, 2021. "The Information Role of Earnings Conference Call Tone: Evidence from Stock Price Crash Risk," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(3), pages 643-660, October.
    7. Sarel, Roee & Demirtas, Melanie, 2021. "Delegation in a multi-tier court system: Are remands in the U.S. federal courts driven by moral hazard?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    8. Obeid Ahmed Obeid Abdelnour, 2021. "Talent Retention at Commercial Banks in Vietnam," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 11(1), pages 60-67.
    9. Renato Camodeca & Alex Almici & Umberto Sagliaschi, 2018. "Sustainability Disclosure in Integrated Reporting: Does It Matter to Investors? A Cheap Talk Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-34, November.
    10. Jennifer Martínez‐Ferrero & Oscar Suárez‐Fernández & Isabel‐María García‐Sánchez, 2019. "Obfuscation versus enhancement as corporate social responsibility disclosure strategies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 468-480, March.
    11. Annalisa Ferrari & Antonino Buscemi, 2023. "Sustainability Metrics and Green Finance for Chemicals," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 13(6), pages 1-12.
    12. Wendy Heltzer, 2011. "The asymmetric relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and earnings management: Evidence from the United States," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 26(1), pages 65-88, January.
    13. Chabowski, Brian & Chiang, Wen-Chyuan & Deng, Kailing & Sun, Li, 2019. "Environmental inefficiency and bond credit rating," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 17-37.
    14. Walid Ben‐Amar & Merridee Bujaki & Bruce McConomy & Philip McIlkenny, 2022. "Disclosure transparency and impression management: A textual analysis of board gender diversity disclosures in Canada," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1247-1265, September.
    15. Zhongtian Li & Jing Jia & Larelle J. Chapple, 2022. "Textual characteristics of corporate sustainability disclosure and corporate sustainability performance: evidence from Australia," Meditari Accountancy Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 31(3), pages 786-816, February.
    16. Huang, Henry He & Liu, Chanjuan & Sun, Li, 2019. "Chemical releases and corporate cash holdings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 159-173.
    17. Daniel Reimsbach & Rüdiger Hahn, 2015. "The Effects of Negative Incidents in Sustainability Reporting on Investors’ Judgments–an Experimental Study of Third‐party Versus Self‐disclosure in the Realm of Sustainable Development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 217-235, May.
    18. Ismail N.B. & Sébastien Alcouffe & Galy N & Ceulemans K, 2020. "The impact of international sustainability initiatives on Life Cycle Assessment voluntary disclosures: The case of France’s CAC40 listed companies," Post-Print hal-03082800, HAL.
    19. Michelon, Giovanna & Pilonato, Silvia & Ricceri, Federica, 2015. "CSR reporting practices and the quality of disclosure: An empirical analysis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 59-78.
    20. Grisard, Claudine & Annisette, Marcia & Graham, Cameron, 2020. "Performative agency and incremental change in a CSR context," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:4:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-018-0177-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.