Private Self in Celebrification Processes: Discursive Patterns of Self-Subjugation, Self-Segmentation and Self-Demotion

Katariina Kakko; P. David Marshall; Pekka Isotalus

doi:10.21153/psj2026vol12no1art2288

Authors

Katariina Kakko Tampere University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2534-710X
P. David Marshall Deakin University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0418-4447
Pekka Isotalus Tampere University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3782-1286

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21153/psj2026vol12no1art2288

Keywords:

Public Persona, Private Self, Interpersonal Communication, Dialogic Self, Relational Dialectics, Celebrification

Abstract

In celebrification—the production of a celebrity identity—the public persona occupies a central position, but little is known about how the private self is sustained. This study examines how music artists negotiate their private selves interpersonally during celebrification through meaning-making processes, drawing on relational dialectics theory. Interviews were conducted with 17 Finnish music artists, and contrapuntal discourse analysis was employed to identify and interpret the discursive patterns and meanings that emerged in these negotiations. The findings reveal three patterns: self-subjugation, which suppresses the private self in favour of the public persona and external expectations; self-demotion, which downplays the public persona and fosters egalitarian interaction and personal disclosure; and self-segmentation, which compartmentalises private and public selves across relational contexts. Self-subjugation represents a shift towards a monologic self and associated interpersonal challenges, whereas self-demotion and self-segmentation reflect a dialogic self that creates space for the private self. Together, these patterns underscore the centrality of interpersonal communication in self-negotiation, where the private self is sustained through individual agency, contextual boundaries, relational symmetry and regulated self-disclosure. This study advances understanding of the communicative patterns that underpin the relational and personal wellbeing of artists and other celebrity practitioners in domains reliant on public persona construction. The findings contribute to persona studies by illuminating the conceptual interdependence of private and public selves. Practical implications include strategies for sustaining the private self in increasingly public social environments.

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Author Biographies

Katariina Kakko, Tampere University

Katariina Kakko is PhD researcher in the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences at the Tampere University in Finland. Her research focuses on the interpersonal constitutions of celebrity, celebrity discourses, celebrification practices, and the public persona.
P. David Marshall, Deakin University

P. David Marshall is Emeritus Professor at Deakin University and Honorary Professor at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Professor Marshall is the world-leading scholar in the study of public personality systems which includes political, economic and cultural leadership and celebrity culture.
Pekka Isotalus, Tampere University

Pekka Isotalus is Professor of Communication Studies in the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences at the Tampere University in Finland. His main research areas are political communication, social media interaction, mediated interpersonal communication, leadership communication, and Finnish speech communication.

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