Bücher der Reihe Communication Perspectives in Popular Culture

This book explores the communication issues and power dynamics in fandoms and fan communities to understand the problems fans experience when they interact with one another. It uses fractured fandoms as the case study to consider how these problems relate to all areas of people's lives.

The contributors of this collection explore various aspects and questions surrounding craft beer culture from perspectives of business, gender, community-building, branding, and culture.

Communicating with Memes: Consequences in Post-truth Civilization investigates the consequences of memetic communication, including online harassment, the election of Donald Trump, and the resurgence of once-eradicated diseases. The author examines the causes of these consequences, and what action-if any-should be taken in response.

Being a fan helps people to discover their identities, find friends, develop a sense of belonging, express themselves creatively, and act as powerful creators and participants in a capitalistic system. At times, however, being a fan becomes problematic, especially when clashes with other fans occur both inside and outside of their fandoms and fan communities. As their communication becomes contentious, power imbalances destabilize collectives and fans experience fear, sadness, pain, and harassment. Such problematic situations can become ';fractured fandoms.' Fractured Fandoms: Contentious Communication in Fan Communities observes the problems or fractures that occur within and between fandoms as fans and fan communities experience differences in interpretation, opinion, expectation, and behavior regarding the object at the center of their fandom. The book demonstrates the fractures through an examination of self-interviews, collected news stories, and previous research regarding these problems, ultimately providing an assessment of the causes and effects of such fractures and the larger social and cultural issues they reflect.