The interweaving of network nationalism and transnational cultural consumption: the role conflict of K-pop fans

Abstract

As the patriotism interweaves with emotional attachment produced by cross-cultural communications, K-pop fans influenced by network nationalism will fall into the predicament of role conflict and adopt multiple coping strategies, hence providing new ideas for revealing the results of overlapped fields of politics and entertainment. Analysis of fans’ behaviors in a series of nationalistic events establishes that these fans attempting to form an emotional community across the border are caught in a dilemma of identity choice with various role expectations. The consequences of the choice are related to some factors such as patriotic cognition, fans’ immersion, fans’ expectations, patriots’ expectations, and risk perception, leading to four attitude tendencies including spontaneous patriotism, compromise patriotism, gentle star-worship, and resistance star worship. This study argues that precautions should be taken against the tendency that network nationalism transforms into narrow nationalism and that we need to understand the political potential of fandom as a cultural community.