Constructing Communal Gamers: Gamers' Group Identity Work

Abstract

Using two years of ethnographic fieldwork and 17 in-depth interviews, I examine a college gaming group's identity work. Stigmatized as social isolates, gamers employed oppositional identity work to construct themselves as “communal gamers.” Gaming Council members signified an identity counter to prevailing stereotypes by collaboratively coding “communal” to promote member interaction, affirming communality through joking and member recognition, and policing to enforce proper identity presentations. This study contributes to identity work research by furthering our understanding of identity work as group process and how groups manage identity dilemmas.

Citation

Buyukozturk, B. (2022), "Constructing Communal Gamers: Gamers' Group Identity Work", Conner, C.T. (Ed.) Subcultures (Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 54), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 53-72. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-239620220000054004