One-above-all: Stratifying communication within Marvel fandom

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2024.2571

Keywords:

Fan shaming, Fanship, Social identity, Symbolic resources

Abstract

An individual's membership in a fandom can constitute an important aspect of their identity. Accordingly, intrafandom conflicts can create division, prompting members to build hierarchies. Previous work examined intrafandom conflicts and what symbolic resources and fan capital (e.g., knowledge) are used to reinforce these hierarchies. However, little work has thoroughly assessed how communication facilitates stratification by linking symbolic currency to social strata. Expanding Weber's (1947) work on social stratification, we examine Marvel fandom to understand how symbolic resources gain power and how resources are invoked via stratifying communications. Through interviews with Marvel fans, we uncovered six intrafandom communication stratification strategies and found that external resources, including finances and gender, play an influential role in stratification.

Author Biographies

Caleb George Hubbard, Sam Houston State University

Department of Communication Studies at Sam Houston State University. His research centers around media, popular culture, and political communication. Hubbard has a focus around media effects and fan communication.

Kyle A. Hammonds, University of Oklahoma

Kyle A. Hammonds (Ph.D., University of Oklahoma) is an instructor of Film & Media Studies at the University of Oklahoma as well as an instructor of Communication, Media, and Ethics at Mid-America Christian University. His research is at the intersection of communication, media, and culture with a special interest in studying the role of pop culture texts in discourses of race, class, and nationalism.

Lindsey Meeks, University of Oklahoma

Lindsey Meeks (Ph.D., University of Washington) is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Oklahoma. Her research areas include political communication, gender, news media, and social media, and her work has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Communication, Communication Research, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, and Politics & Gender.

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Published

2024-09-14

Issue

Vol. 43 (2024): General

Section

Article

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Caleb George Hubbard, Kyle A. Hammonds, Lindsey Meeks

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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