Class, capital and collecting in media fandom

This chapter focuses on the importance of class, distinction, and subcultural capital in the formation of fan identity and fan communities. It argue that to be a collector is to be a fan, and to be a fan is to build a collection of personalized and valuable objects that underline the importance of economic capital and social hierarchies within a fan community. The chapter outlines some of the key approaches to understanding fan capital and distinction, and summarizes the key characteristics of class in relation to collecting within media fandom. For many scholars of popular culture, the media offers a constant site of struggle between the powerful and powerless—those who determine what gets made and circulated as compared to those who are meant to consume and willingly accept. Collecting objects, keeping them, organizing them, and displaying them are by its very nature about the process of distinction and accruing capital: both economic and cultural.