Problematic faves: How our morals influence our media consumption and relationships with other people.
Open Access
- Author:
- Byers, Kyleigh
- Area of Honors:
- Sociology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Beth Montemurro, Thesis Supervisor
David Ruth, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Morals
Friendship
Popular Culture
Media
Online Friendships - Abstract:
- Social relationships with others are essential in human life and functioning. There are multiple factors that contribute to the creation of friendships such as homophily, morals, and proximity. Within the modern era, friendships have also moved into the online sphere and have created their own forms and methods of creating and maintaining these relationships. The media we consume and our interests are also a contributing factor in online relationships and communities, better known as “fandoms.” With the increase of globalization and new people and cultures interacting with each other, so has the global consciousness for inclusion and justice. Using survey research, the present study seeks to understand the connection between morals surrounding media consumption, questions of “problematic-ness” and “cancel culture," and how it may affect the friendships we create and maintain with others. Participants were recruited through word-of-mouth and social media, and completed a self-report questionnaire regarding their interests and experiences, as well as the Moral Foundations Questionnaire, the Online Friendship Preference Questionnaire, and demographics. Results showed that online friendships and progressivism are not always a factor in ending friendships over moral disagreements in fandom. Qualitative responses shared the variety of reasons why people may or may not stay in friendships or fandoms with deemed problematic creators or celebrities such as not being in morally incongruent friendships/fandoms, not being bothered by friend’s interests, or the level of ease or difficulty in leaving fandoms or ending friendships.