“Are You in the Pit?” Role Embracement among Online Rock Fans

Abstract

By applying Erving Goffman’s concept of role embracement (1961), I analyze the role of a hardcore music fan, online and offline. I collected ethnographic data from discussion boards, an online questionnaire, interviews, emails, private messaging, and field observation to provide support for the usefulness of Goffman’s concept to illuminate aspects of online and offline role performances. “Attachment,” “demonstration,” and “engagement” are the three elements of role embracement that illustrate aspects of the hardcore fan’s passion for the Rolling Stones, expressed both on the Internet and in everyday face-to-face situations. The study shows that Goffman’s ideas about a person’s commitment to a role and the handling of potential stigma (1963) in relation to it can help researchers understand how fans or those belonging to a special interest community enact their roles in the ever-growing seamlessness of the offline/online spheres.

Citation

Baker, A. (2016), "“Are You in the Pit?” Role Embracement among Online Rock Fans", Symbolic Interactionist Takes on Music (Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 47), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 169-183. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-239620160000047019