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I have found this website titled,
Psychological analyses of trek fans.
("It's long but interesting!")

BY Maurice Cusack Donncha Kavanagh
Department of Management and Marketing
University College Cork
Ireland

From website at:
http://www.scos.org/conference2001/Abstract/08.html

Extended Abstract, The phenomenon of stigmatization has been studied in depth in the fields of medicine (especially psychology) and sociology. In these literatures, the term stigma is usually reserved for groups like the physically handicapped, the blind, ex-convicts, racial minorities, homosexuals, and so on - people who are deeply discredited in some way or another. In contrast, our research has focused on a different group, namely those whose share a common form of symbolic consumption that results in their stigmatization. Or, in other words, we are interested in the particular instance of stigmatism associated with the consumption of particular products where the identity that is decoded from the assemblage of symbols is a tarnished one. We refer to this as stigmatic consumption, which we define as consumption that causes a devaluation of the consumer in the eyes of others. Thus, our focus is on what one might refer to as ‘deviant consumers’ and the process of consumption whereby the consumer becomes part of a social group that is stigmatized by others.[1]

Our study has focused on one particular group of ‘deviant consumers,’ namely fans of the American television series Star Trek (“Trekkies”). Surrounding the series there is a well-developed and widely recognized and accepted negative stereotype of its archetypal consumer. According to this stereotype Trekkies are social misfits, they are feminized and/or desexualized, they are infantile, emotionally and intellectually immature, they are mindless consumers who are willing to buy anything associated with the series, and they are unable to separate fantasy from reality (Jenkins 1992). Our study examines the manner in which this by-product of their interest in the series impacts on them, and in particular, how they react in this atmosphere of antagonism. We could have chosen from any number of empirical sites. We chose Star Trek fans because, unlike other “deviant” consumer groups, the continuation of consumption in the face of antagonism is voluntary, rather than reflecting a compulsion (alcoholics, drug addicts) or a lack of feasible options from which to choose (the poor).

In media accounts, film representations, and academic studies of “the fan,” the overwhelming image is one of deviance and pathology. He/she is either the infatuated and “obsessed loner” who stalks, threatens and kills famous personalities, or the “hysterical member of a crowd” causing crushes at rock concerts, screaming and weeping at airports, rioting at football games (Jenson 1992). In her examination of the depiction of fans and fandom in Hollywood film, Lisa Lewis (1992) found that in every case the fan impulse was problematic. The movies she scrutinized ranged from sympathetic celebrations like Hollywood or Bust, to darker, accusatory statements such as The Fan, but several key representations and issues were present in all: “Fandom is overwhelmingly associated with adolescence or childhood, that is, with a state of arrested development or youth oriented nostalgia, not mature adulthood. Furthermore, the fan impulse is presented as feminine, not masculine…. Although nine of the major fan characters in the films are male, and only eight female, a feminine sensibility structures all portrayals” (1992: 157-158). In their narrative resolutions most of these fans achieve a degree of stardom, which is presented as the solution to their yearnings. In other words, fandom is presented as stemming from loneliness and oppression, from a lack of recognition, and therefore it is a condition that fame resolves. This implicit notion that fandom is a sort of psychological compensation is explicitly endorsed in popular press and academic accounts. Celebrity-fan relationships have been characterized as instances of erotomania (a psychiatric disorder in which someone has a delusional and idealized romantic fixation on another person), or as “borderline erotomania” (where the individual is not delusional but consciously entertains distorted interpersonal attachments) (Harrington & Bielby 1995).

The paper reports on a two-year study of fans of Star Trek. Data was drawn from a variety of sources. The most important source was in-depth interviews with a convenience sample of eighteen Star Trek fans regarding their interest in Star Trek and their experiences of being a fan. The sample consisted of eleven men and seven women (most of which were university educated) and comprised a variety of nationalities. Ages ranged from late teens to early fifties. Half of the informants were very active in fandom - i.e. five were STARFLEET captains, two ran an official Leonard Nimoy fan club, one wrote and performed Filk music and was fluent in Klingon. The remaining nine informants were not members of Star Trek fan clubs/organizations, but considered themselves fans nonetheless. Activities engaged in by these fans included watching the program regularly, collecting videos, books and memorabilia, decorating accommodation with Trek posters, wearing T-shirts, chatting with friends about the series, publishing web pages, etc. These activities allow us to make a useful distinction between fans and ‘ordinary’ viewers: a viewer is characterized as being a passive consumer whereas a fan is much more active. This is a somewhat arbitrary division and part of our study examines this boundary and how it is patrolled. We also conducted a number of briefer and more structured questions/answer sessions. Throughout the study, the Internet was used as a source of background information and empirical data, and we visited numerous Star Trek newsgroups, bulletin boards and chat rooms that were devoted to a variety of Trek related topics, and downloaded over a thousand pages of posts.

The research followed the interpretative approach, seeking to represent the fan’s view of their world. However, the nature and complexity of the research topic meant that there was also a necessity that we read between the lines, and in certain places, that we even read against their interpretations. We drew on a variety of theoretical frames - from consumer research to communication studies to the labeling theory of deviance to Foucault’s writings on power and Bourdieu’s concept of Taste - to gain an understanding of the phenomenon under examination.

The central ‘findings’ of our research can be summarized as follows:

1. In terms of social control, we found it useful to distinguish between the macroscopic gaze (of the media and academics) and the microscopic gaze (of those that are closest to Star Trek fans). An important point was that the social control of fans should not be seen as a simple top-down dichotomy in which fans are disciplined and controlled by a more powerful elite. Instead, the stigmatized consumer often holds as valid the same basic beliefs and values, the same notions of good taste, and the same concern with self-control and rationality that those closest to him/her does. Foucault’s concept of the disciplinary gaze – a form of social control that results from the sense of being under constant surveillance – proved to be especially useful in understanding the phenomenon. In particular, the paper explores how fans escape the gaze of others and the disciplinary gaze of self-criticism.

2. Humor is a primary way whereby Star Trek fans are stigmatized, socially controlled, and chastised, and fans are routinely faced with the dilemma of how to deal with Jokes about Trekkies. The difficulty is that humor operates in such a way as to protect the Joker and the Joke against attack. Jokes take place in a framework where actions and words are defined as not serious or significant – as being without consequence. The ultimate defense of the joker who has been challenged is to simply claim with disbelief ‘I wasn’t serious’ or ‘I was just joking’. Such a response quickly shifts the blame back on the critic by accusing him of not having a sense of humor and implying that he is ‘over-sensitive’ or that he cannot ‘take a joke’ - and therefore is not quite a normal person (Powell 1988). If the Trekkie does not “get the joke” it is doubly incriminating. Not only is he too serious, he is also too serious about Star Trek, which was the basic point of the joke in the first place. Conversely, fans themselves often use humor and an ironic attitude to Star Trek to manage their own feelings of guilt and potential stigmatism.

3. In contrast to much of the consumer research literature, the study indicates that symbolic consumption is contested ground, where at best meaning is negotiated, and at worst, definitions are forced on the consumer. Furthermore, many of our respondents describe their behavior as an addiction, craze, or compulsion although they were also ambivalent about whether this was a ‘positive’ or ‘mild’ addiction, or basically deviant behavior. In other words, our respondents had co-existent and contradictory viewpoints reflect their oscillating feelings of guilt regarding their interest, and they employed a range of techniques to resolve this ambivalence.

4. The question of what they should call themselves is a hotly debated topic amongst fans of Star Trek. This is because the act of labeling may be seen as part of an effort to gain control over the object or phenomenon that has been labeled. Thus, many see the label ‘Trekkie’ as a media construction that was foist upon them and which is belittling. Similar to other stigmatized groups, they adopt various strategies to deal with this labeling issue so as to reclassify themselves as ‘normal’. One strategy is to reclaim the term by redefining it’s meaning in positive or openly resistant terms. Another is to suggest and promote an alternative label that circumvents the negative connotations of the original. Yet another is to embrace the term, but in an ironic manner.

5. In Goffman’s (1963) analysis of stigma, he distinguished between two categories of stigmatized individuals - the discredited and the discreditable. What marks the discredited as different is immediately apparent to all (e.g. burn victims), while for the discreditable their difference/deviance is not conspicuous or known beforehand (e.g. ex-convicts). The problems faced by the two are therefore quite different. Because he cannot hide, the discredited is forced to manage the tension generated during social interactions. In contrast, the discreditable manages information about his failing: “To display or not to display; to tell or not to tell; to let on or not to let on; to lie or not to lie; and in each to whom, how, when, and where” (p. 57). Star Trek fans are most appropriately classified as discreditable since they can decide when and to whom they wish to reveal their ‘deviance’. Thus, the strategic management of symbolic cues is especially important for fans, and our paper describes how this is affected in practice.

6. An important way through which stigmatism is managed (or organized) are through the development of alternative, more affirmative and fan-friendly discourses of Star Trek. These alternative discourses present ‘reasons’ explaining why it is a quality television series, and in turn why being a Star Trek fan is to be valued. So, for instance, they convert Star Trek’s status as an undifferentiated commodity (“just a show”) into a decommoditised phenomenon invested with special meaning by its followers. This ‘decommodification’ or ‘singularisation’ of a commodity is effect through a variety of consumer practices, such as the addition to a collection or through ritualistic behavior (Belk et al 1989, Kopytoff 1989). These alternative discourses may also lead to the (partial) neutralization of the dominant cultural critique. In effect, if fans have at their disposal logical and legitimate explanations of their tastes there is a greater chance that they will be able to reduce their ambivalence towards those tastes. The paper explores the most common alternative discourse invoked by Star Trek fans.

7. This section of the paper examines the process of being and becoming a fan. The research suggests that Star Trek fans seem to drift into a stigmatized category without considering that membership of this group is liable to bring them oppression. Stated differently, the deviance of being a fan is not crystallized around the committal of a single deviant act. We can contrast this with, for instance, tattooing or aesthetic plastic surgery where entering the category of ‘deviant consumer’ is clearly and unambiguously marked by a single event. The ambiguous relationship between the individual fan and the wider Star Trek community/organization is also considered in this section of the paper.
Finally, the paper considers how a study of fans and fandom can contribute to our understanding of organizations and organizing practices. If we are concerned with simply the organization of production, then it is unlikely that this study will have much to contribute. However, if we take a broader understanding of organization, to include the organization of identity, then our study provides some useful insights. First, just as Star Trek fans are stigmatized for being deviant, Star Trek clubs and organizations are also stigmatized for being ‘deviant organizations’ and these, in turn, can be considered part of a wider Star Trek community that is itself stigmatized at a more macro level. And while individual fans may not be a member of any club and may balk at the notion of a Star Trek ‘community’, they nevertheless negotiate/organize their identity within a relation network wherein these ‘deviant’ actors have a role (which, at an individual level, may be of greater or lesser importance). As we have seen, fans’ ambivalent attitude to other fans and fan clubs is part of this negotiation process and symptomatic of the stigma of organizing.

Secondly, the dismissal and stigmatization of Star Trek activities says something important about our understanding of ‘normal’ organizations. Drawing on Brewis and Linstead’s (2000) recent study of sex work, we can consider Star Trek fandom as another instance of the abject – the unacceptable part of experience that we reject or suppress. Following on the writings of Bataille and Kristeva, they see the abject as the “loathed and denied part of the self [that] continually flows back into the subject’s experience” (2000: 26). Applied to our study, their argument suggests that the very existence of Star Trek clubs and organizations is troubling because it reminds us that ‘normal’ organizations and ‘normal’ organizing practices lack something important and are therefore unfulfilled. Paradoxically, Star Trek clubs and organizations are important – at least to students of organization – precisely because they are dismissed as trivial and inconsequential. In other words, these clubs and organizations are crystallized instances of the hopeless (that which is cast aside or stigmatized; the lack in the ‘normal’) and it is this that makes them important and worthy of study. Furthermore, it is in this sense that we can say that stigmatism inhabits the ‘normal’ organization.

REFERENCES:
Belk, Russell W., Mellanie Wallendorf and John F. Sherry Jr. (1989), “The Sacred and the Profane in Consumer Behavior: Theodicy on the Odyssey,” Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 16 (June), 1-37.
Brewis, Joanna and Linstead, Stephen (2000), Sex, Work and Sex Work, Routledge, London. Fiske, John (1989), Reading The Popular, Boston: Unwin Hyman.
Goffman, Erving (1963), Stigma: Notes on the Management of a Spoiled Identity, Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Harrington, C. Lee and Denise D. Bielby (1995), Soap Fans: Pursuing Pleasure and Making Meaning in Everyday Life, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Jenkins, Henry (1992), Textual Poachers: Television Fans & Participatory Culture, London: Routledge.
Jenson, Joli (1992), “Fandom as Pathology: The Consequences of Characterization,” in The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media, edited by Lisa A. Lewis, London: Routledge.
Kopytoff, Igor (1986), “The Cultural Biography of Things: Commoditization as Process.” in The Social Life of Things. Arjun Appadurai (editor), Cambridge: Cambridge U.P. pp. 6491.
Lewis, Lisa A. (1992), ‘“Something More than Love’: Fan Stories on Film,” in The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media, edited by Lisa A. Lewis, London: Routledge.
Powell, Chris (1988), “A Phenomenological Analysis of Humour in Society,” in Chris Powell and George E. C. Paton (editors), Humour in Society: Resistance and Control, London: MacMillan Press.

[1] In using the word ‘deviant’ we are mindful that this is a contested term and that many sociologists believe that designations like ‘normal’ and ‘deviant’ have lost their true significance and that consequently any study of them is logically incoherent (Sumner, 1994).