Music superstar Michael Jackson spent roughly 40 years in the public eye, and was the subject of enormous commentary as he shaped the pop culture landscape. Even in this media-saturated, celebrity-driven environment, Jackson occupied a special place i...
Music superstar Michael Jackson spent roughly 40 years in the public eye, and was the subject of enormous commentary as he shaped the pop culture landscape. Even in this media-saturated, celebrity-driven environment, Jackson occupied a special place in the public consciousness. Upon his June 25, 2009 death, at the age of 50, much was written about his musical legacy, personal eccentricities, legal difficulties, larger-than-life persona, and the wall-to-wall coverage of his death by the mainstream media. The authors used Q methodology to reveal the structure of these views. A Q-sample was drawn from the commentary, and was presented to students at Kent State University, Syracuse University, and Westminster College in the weeks and months after Jackson``s death. The data sets were analyzed separately, and a second-order factor analysis was run in order to compare factors. This study, with the use of Q methodology to study attitudes toward a public figure, is in the tradition of the Thomas & Baas studies of various politicians (Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, etc.) in the "public mind." This current study also adds to the growing interest in the academic examination of popular culture, as well as a number of recent applications of Q methodology to the study of popular culture. The aim of this research is to reveal the structure of the subjectivity associated with the complicated views surrounding this man who helped to define celebrity in the last generation.