Leisure time today is driven by fandom. Once viewed as a social pariah, the fan and associated fandom as a whole has transformed into a popularized social construct researchers are still attempting to understand. Popular culture in the modern era is defined and dominated by the fan, and the basis of fandom has established its own identity across several platforms of media. As some forms of fandom have remained constant, including sports and cinema, other structures of fandom are emerging as the mass following of video games and cosplay are becoming increasingly prominent. Fandom has been established as an important facet in today’s society, and necessary research is required for understanding how fandom is shaping society as a whole. Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Media Fandom is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research that reviews some of the most exigent facets of today’s fandom and highlights understudied cultures of fandom as well as emerging intricacies of established fandom. While promoting topics such as esports, influencer culture, and marketing trends, this publication explores both qualitative and quantitative approaches as well as the methods of social science and critical perspectives. This book is ideally designed for marketers, media strategists, brand managers, consumer behavior analysts, researchers, academics, and students.

The internet has grown to become one of the largest communication hubs in history. With its ability to share content and create community bonds, it has seen many fandoms and online social communities develop within the past decades. While there are some detriments to these communities, there are also many benefits and potential uses for the betterment of society. The Research Anthology on Fandoms, Online Social Communities, and Pop Culture explores the ways in which the internet has presented itself as a platform for communities to gather. This essential reference source discusses the engagement of these communities, social media use, and the uses of these communities for education. Covering topics such as digital communities, transmedia language learning, and digital humanities, this book is a vital tool for educators of K-12 and higher education, digital folklorists, sociologists, communications researchers, online administrators, community leaders, and academicians.

In recent years, geeks have become chic, and the fashion and beauty industries have responded to this trend with a plethora of fashion-forward merchandise aimed at the increasingly lucrative fan demographic. This mainstreaming of fan identity is reflected in the glut of pop culture T-shirts lining the aisles of big box retailers as well as the proliferation of fan-focused lifestyle brands and digital retailers over the past decade. While fashion and beauty have long been integrated into the media industry with tie-in lines, franchise products, and other forms of merchandise, there has been limited study of fans’ relationship to these items and industries. Sartorial Fandom shines a spotlight on the fashion and beauty cultures that undergird fandoms, considering the retailers, branded products, and fan-made objects that serve as forms of identity expression. This collection is invested in the subcultural and mainstream expression of style and in the spaces where the two intersect. Fan culture is, in many respects, an optimal space to situate a study of style because fandom itself is often situated between the subcultural and the mainstream. Collectively, the chapters in this anthology explore how various axes of lived identity interact with a growing movement to consider fandom as a lifestyle category, ultimately contending that sartorial practices are central to fan expression but also indicative of the primacy of fandom in contemporary taste cultures.

The Routledge Handbook of Religious and Spiritual Tourism provides a robust and comprehensive state-of-the-art review of the literature in this growing sub-field of tourism. This handbook is split into five distinct sections. The first section covers past and present debates regarding definitions, theories, and concepts related to religious and spiritual tourism. Subsequent sections focus on the supply and demand aspects of religious and spiritual tourism markets, and examine issues related to the management side of these markets around the world. Areas under examination include religious theme parks, the UNESCO branding of religious heritage, gender and performance, popular culture, pilgrimage, environmental impacts, and fear and terrorism, among many others. The final section explores emerging and future directions in religious and spiritual tourism, and proposes an agenda for further research. Interdisciplinary in coverage and international in scope through its authorship and content, this will be essential reading for all students, researchers, and academics interested in Tourism, Religion, Cultural Studies, and Heritage Studies.

This book takes a close look at social media in sport and considers its significance for sport business and for the wider relationship between sport and society. Presenting new research, case studies and data, it examines the way people use social media, the changing art of managing social media platforms, and the theory and concepts that inform research on this important topic. Featuring the work of leading sport researchers from around the world, the book presents evidence-based analysis of contemporary topics including fan engagement, athlete activism, branding and sponsorship strategies, sportswashing, public relations and crisis communication. It presents case studies from sports and events such as the Olympic Games, the WNBA, professional football leagues, and Peloton, and across social media platforms including TikTok, Twitter and Instagram. This is essential reading for anybody with an interest in sport media, sport business, the sociology of sport, digital business, or new media studies.

Intrapersonal communication has been considered and studied less in comparison to general communication and other related topics. Moreover, intrapersonal communication is usually mentioned in the context of studying other topics, as opposed to being studied singularly. To fully understand the complexity and potential uses of this field of study, intrapersonal communication must be researched further. A Social-Scientific Examination of the Dynamics of Communication, Thought, and Selves focuses on the concept of intrapersonal communication, discusses how and why we communicate with ourselves, and considers how scholars can help humans improve and harness intrapersonal communication in fields such as artificial intelligence. The book also makes a forceful case for the importance and potential utility of intrapersonal communication. Covering topics such as language, sociology, and cognitive science, this reference work is ideal for sociologists, psychologists, industry professionals, academicians, scholars, researchers, practitioners, instructors, and students.

This is an open access book. As a leading role in the global megatrend of scientific innovation, China has been creating a more and more open environment for scientific innovation, increasing the depth and breadth of academic cooperation, and building a community of innovation that benefits all. Such endeavors are making new contributions to the globalization and creating a community of shared future. To adapt to this changing world and China's fast development in the new era, 2023 3rd International Conference on Social Development and Media Communication (SDMC 2023) to be held in November 2023. This conference takes "bringing together global wisdom in scientific innovation to promote high-quality development" as the theme and focuses on cutting-edge research fields including Social Development and Media Communication. SDMC 2023 encourages the exchange of information at the forefront of research in different fields, connects the most advanced academic resources in China and the world, transforms research results into industrial solutions, and brings together talent, technology and capital to drive development. The conference sincerely invites experts, scholars, business people and other relevant personnel from universities, scientific research institutions at home and abroad to attend and exchange! 2023 3rd International Conference on Social Development and Media Communication (SDMC 2023) will conduct in-depth discussions on the impact of social development on media communication and the impact of media communication on social development. Scholars in relevant fields are cordially invited to participate. We warmly invite you to participate in SDMC 2023 and look forward to seeing you in Xishuang Banna,China.