The Identity Construction Of The Fandom Of Korean Pop Culture In Cyber Space

Identity is always one of the most important issues in social science.In the post-modern society,with the development of digital technology and the great impact of globalization,the problem of identity is becoming more complicated.As an important presentation of modem culture,the fan culture is a combination of social,political and cultural factors,providing a way for people to construct and reshape identity.Therefore,this paper chooses a fan group of Korean culture to study,base on the theories of Performance-Imagination paradigm and social psychology,discuss in two aspects of individual and collective,try to reveal the mental mechanism and social background in the process of identity construction.The reconciling of participatory observation and depth interviews give the opportunities to understand individual's mind and social interaction.The study finds that construction of the identity of fan(s)is a complex process both in the sense of social and psychological:the relation between fan and idol,between fan and fan group and between fan and the society are impacted mutually,and resulted in an integrated fan identity.Narcissism,imagination and performance that are regarded very important for fan's identity by Abercrombie and Longhurst are also playing vital roles in the construction of collective identity in the way of group preference,community imagination and cultural practices.There are four parts of this dissertation.The first part includes introduction and the first chapter,giving an elaboration of research question,research frame and important concepts,also making an explanation of research method.The second chapter based on Performance-Imagination paradigm to discuss the psychological mechanism of individual fan.The study uses the materials from the Internet and interviews to improve the paradigm and try to enrich it.Because of the narcissistic understanding of the outside,the fans are able to think the idol as the extension of them.The imagination makes the sense works to make fan and idol come to agreement.In the media society,people begin to use media to get the resource of imagination for performance.The third part discusses the social and mental factors in construction of collective identity for fans.Fandom is not the sum of its members,but also related to dream,belief,values and power.To a great extent,the collective identity of fan is no longer the identity with the idol and media text,but the group.This chapter maintains the logic of Performance-Imagination paradigm,through the elaboration of social psychology,the writer discussed in group preference,community imagination and cultural practice.This part also uses the analysis of power relations to elaborate.Also,this chapter will talk about the establishment of the group border to make an in-depth exploration.The last part is the conclusion of this dissertation.The fourth chapter try to answer some questions which is important but haven't get the answer,like the relationship between fan and society,and the impaction.Also,this part discusses the problem of this study and the possible research direction in the future.