‘We're all born naked and the rest Is Drag’: Spectacularization of core stigma in RuPaul’s Drag Race

Campana, M., Duffy, K. and Micheli, M. R. (2022) ‘We're all born naked and the rest Is Drag’: Spectacularization of core stigma in RuPaul’s Drag Race. Journal of Management Studies, 59(8), pp. 1950-1986. (doi: 10.1111/joms.12848)

Abstract

How can organizations capitalize on core stigma through spectacles? In this paper, we adopt a performativity perspective to address this question. Specifically, we analyze how an assemblage of different actors within and around an organization contributes to the spectacularization of stigma and thus brings a new reality into being. In this new reality, rather than stigma being concealed, it is normalized, and the organization capitalizes on it to enhance success. We focus on RuPaul’s Drag Race as a stigmatized organization that has built its success through the active spectacularization of its core stigma. In our analyses, we identify three mechanisms (i.e., reiteration of transgressions, awakening of social consciousness, and language modeling) the organization strategically uses to spectacularize the transgressions associated with the social deviance of drag queens. Through these mechanisms, a new reality around the stigma of drag queens is constructed and stigma is normalized. Overall, we contribute to a better understanding of how organizations can capitalize on their core stigma through spectacularization; we also explore the role of audiences in co-creating organizational realities around stigma.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Duffy, Dr Katherine
• Authors: Campana, M., Duffy, K., and Micheli, M. R.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Management
• Journal Name: Journal of Management Studies
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 0022-2380
• ISSN (Online): 1467-6486
• Published Online: 17 June 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 Society for the Advancement of Management Studies and John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.
• First Published: First published in Journal of Management Studies 59(8): 1950-1986
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy