
Streaming privilege
How television teaches us to accept inequality
Hanna Kuusela(Author)
Manchester University Press
Will be published approx. on 28. July 2026
Book
Hardback
232 pages
978-1-5261-9005-5 (ISBN)
Description
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. -- .
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Manchester
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
504 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5261-9005-5 (9781526190055)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Hanna Kuusela is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Jyvaeskylae -- .
Content
Introduction: Streaming privilege
1 Family matters
2 From pleasure to ideology: Reading popular narratives of privilege
3 Downton Abbey: A benevolent dynasty for the common good
4 The Crown and the burden of privilege
5 Succession: A fantasy for the middle class
6 Yellowstone and the nostalgia for the present
Conclusion: Fighting inheritocracy and familialism -- .
1 Family matters
2 From pleasure to ideology: Reading popular narratives of privilege
3 Downton Abbey: A benevolent dynasty for the common good
4 The Crown and the burden of privilege
5 Succession: A fantasy for the middle class
6 Yellowstone and the nostalgia for the present
Conclusion: Fighting inheritocracy and familialism -- .