The Bimbo Summit, BBLs, and Balenciaga are, at first glance, a wide variety of topics, but in MJ Corey’s debut book, Dekonstructing the Kardashians, they all play a crucial role in her media theorization of Kim Kardashian and her clan. Indeed, Corey showcases how these seemingly disparate subjects are quite intertwined and can help us comprehend how the notorious K-named family has come to be one of the most famous in the entire world.
The Kardashians are commonly described as “famous for being famous,” thus there is much to be explored about the rise of this phenomenon of a family. Whether you love them or hate them, their influence is undeniable. What Corey does is try to understand where their power comes from and how it is maintained. Unlike other reality TV show stars and celebrities, it seems the Kardashians have become ever-present, evergreen, and even “un-cancellable,” despite their own—and others’—attempts to prove otherwise. In fact, they seem to embody the cliche that “all press is good press” with each scandal and soirée bringing them more notoriety, attention, and ultimately, money.
In order to try and unpack—or “dekonstruct” rather—the pervasiveness of the Kardashian family, Corey turns to media theorists, touching on everything from the Lacanian mirror to Donna Haraway’s cyborg manifesto. Her union of pop culture and media studies makes for a vibrant read. I mean, who would expect to see Foucault and lip filler in the same text?
Corey, a writer and psychotherapist known for the social media account “@Kardashian_Kolloquium,” has taken her viral musings on the family and reformulated them into a highly-researched book. Interestingly, this book also includes intermittent commentary from Corey about her own experience as a content creator within this new era of technology. Her perspective is refreshing as it reminds the reader of the part we all play in this dizzying milieu of social media; it also highlights some of the complex emotions Corey herself has faced when making decisions about her online presence, providing helpful insight into what the Kardashians may be considering with their multi-million dollar media choices.
Importantly, Corey emphasizes that she is not psychoanalyzing the Kardashians; on the contrary, through her use of postmodern theory, she is making psychoanalytic conclusions about us. Indeed, we, the ever-consuming audience, are essential to the construction and maintenance of their media empire. By investigating the rise of the Calabasas-based family, Corey is searching for insights about where we are as a society and how media has seeped into every aspect of our lives. How does social currency turn into economic profit? How do we as an audience enable that, even when we dissent?
Corey tracks the rise of reality TV in the early aughts and how our conception of ourselves and the world at large was forever influenced. In the last two decades, our relationship to celebrities and each other through online platforms has paved the path toward global phenomena, like that of the Kardashians, as well as information saturation and sensationalism. Thus, Corey explores how this particular family, whom some claim to have “no talent” at all, remains ever-present in all spaces of our (digital) lives.
The book is divided into two parts: part one focuses on the “blueprints” that set the stage for the Kardashians and the cultural moments that both contextualize their rise to fame and serve as vital touch-points for their exponential growth in celebrity. The figures she focuses on are Marilyn Monroe, Princess Jasmine, the Kennedys, O.J., the Spice Girls, and Paris Hilton. Corey tracks how these people became motifs for the family, Kim in particular, and their reliance on American icons to reinforce their own relevancy.
The second part consists of chronological sections that denote a different era for the family, a new height to their fame: “Arrival (2007-2013),” “Everywoman (2013-2020),” and the “Donda Era (2020-2024).” Within each of these sections, Corey includes intermittent subheadings, usually single words, which hint as to where the chapter is headed. For example, in the “Everywoman” section the subheadings progress from “Cultural Appropriation” to “Braids” and then “Tequila.” When taking a quick glance at the contents of this book, the topics may feel random or haphazardly placed, but it is an organized chaos, one that reflects the progression of this multifaceted matriarchal family into the heart of the cultural zeitgeist. The Kardashian’s archive is extensive, so Corey’s careful structuring of the book is essential for a focused look into, for lack of a better word, the “content” of their lives.
Corey maintains that it is the family as a unit that has been integral to their success—at the heart of everything they do is family, sisterhood, being together. This is a timeless trait—and perhaps, Corey suggests, an especially American one—that is reinforced by their presence in all consumer spheres: wellness, beauty, alcohol, food, clothing, podcasts, etc. and the fact that they have dated and have children with rockstars, rapstars, professional athletes, and A-list actors. It doesn’t matter what you do or who you are, the Kardashians will cross your path in some way, shape, or form—and perhaps it is the form that is most memorable.
In fact, Dekonstructing the Kardashians embodies this very idea by featuring the distinctive Kardashian silhouette on the cover. An anonymous figure is instantly recognizable, reinforcing the thesis of Corey’s work and highlighting the dual existence of these women’s bodies as both iconic and object. It is a form which has come to define modern beauty standards, which, under the guise of American ideology, becomes achievable through capitalistic consumerism.
Importantly, Corey is intimately aware of the controversy and conspiracy surrounding the Kardashian family and does not shy away from mentioning some of the numerous faux-pas and fuck-ups that they have been involved in. She critically examines how the ethnic ambiguity of the family plays a role in their intrigue and critique, as well as the racial implications of their cosmetic surgery and personal relationships, the political context in which their rise to fame occurred, and the undeniable capitalistic and consumeristic edge to everything they do. However, she also attempts to provide a comprehensive view of the Kardashians and examine whether internalized misogyny may be informing some initial assumptions about the matriarchal family, whom some claim to have a “curse” on all the men they date. Never dismissing any of their flaws, Corey reminds us that if a man achieved what Kris Jenner has with her daughters, we might just feel differently.
Ultimately, Dekonstructing the Kardashians is an incredibly ambitious book, traversing two decades of the lives of the clan, contextualizing these moments in time as well as delving into complex theory and relating it back to the family. Part of a growing trend of media analysis and cyberfeminism, Corey’s book continues the momentum of an important reflection on the digital world we live in today and how we got here.
Corey’s book reminds us that nothing happens in a vacuum. As much as it influences us, we also help construct and maintain the media and the celebrities that go along with it. Whether we’ve wanted to or not, we’ve been keeping up.
NONFICTION
Dekonstructing the Kardashians
By MJ Corey
Pantheon
Published on May 5, 2026
