Fandom Democracy?

Celebrity Leaders and New Forms of Citizens' Engagement
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-3-032-25246-3
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 190 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 386 g

This Open Access book starts with a thought-provoking question: are citizens in modern democracies becoming more like fans? With the growing fluidity of political identities and the rise of non-ideological political leaders presented as celebrities, it is worth exploring whether political allegiance and participation are increasingly shaped by forms of fandom—and what this shift means for contemporary democracies. Ultimately, the book provides an innovative perspective that deepens our understanding of the intersection between political communication and entertainment. While the phenomenon of celebrity politics has been widely examined, the perspective of followers and fans remains less thoroughly explored. In the digital media era, there is still much to uncover about how citizens engage with leaders’ celebrity strategies by adopting the role of fans. Moreover, toxic practices and forms of anti-fandom also shape the intersection of fan culture and politics. The research featured in this book adopts a mixed-methods approach, comprising a survey conducted across seven European countries (Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the UK) and the analysis of social media content from three countries (France, Italy, and Spain) to explore the nature of fan-like practices surrounding political leaders in online spaces.    The book aims to consider whether citizens primarily function as an audience, observing political leaders’ performances and consuming information about their public and private lives, or whether they also actively contribute as content creators, particularly on social media. By analysing the activities and practices of political celebrities’ followers, as well as the emotional connections they form with their political idols, the book examines whether citizens can be regarded as genuine fans, for whom the experience of fandom influences the shaping of their political identities.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Campus, Donatella

Ceccarini, Luigi

Mazzoni, Marco

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikationswissenschaften
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Politische Führung
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1.- Introduction.- 2.- Theoretical foundations of political fandom.- 3.- Identifying political fans.- 4.- Fans will be fans? Comparing leader-follower dynamics in the political and the star systems, by Fabio Bordignon, Luigi Ceccarini, Giacomo Salvarani.- 5.- Mapping political fandom: Male (not only young) and right-leaning, by Luigi Ceccarini, Rosanna De Rosa, Alberta Giorgi, Giacomo Salvarani.- 6.- Political fandom and anti-fandom on Instagram during the 2024 European Parliament election campaign, by Giovanni Barbieri, Sara Consonni.- 7.- From fans practising politics to politicians practising fandom: fandomesque political communication in Italy, by Marco Mazzoni, Giovanni Daniele Starita.- 8.- Conclusions by Donatella Campus, Luigi Ceccarini, Marco Mazzoni.- 9.- Appendix.

Über Autor(innen)

Donatella Campus is Professor of Political Science at the University of Bologna, Italy.
Luigi Ceccarini is Professor of Political Science at Carlo Bo University of Urbino, Italy.
Marco Mazzoni is Professor of the Sociology of Communication at the University of Perugia, Italy.