Sense of community in science fiction fandom, Part 1: Understanding sense of community in an international community of interest

Within the discipline of community psychology, there is debate as to the dimensions underlying the construct of psychological sense of community (PSOC). One of the few theoretical discussions is that of McMillan and Chavis (1986), who hypothesized four dimensions: Belonging, Fulfillment of Needs, Influence, and Shared Connections. Discussion has also emerged in the literature regarding the role of identification within PSOC. It has been suggested that differences in PSOC may be understood in terms of the degree to which members identify with their community (Fisher & Sonn, 1999). However, few studies have explored the place of identification in PSOC. In addition, whereas PSOC has been applied to both communities of interest and geographic communities, little research has looked in depth at PSOC within communities of interest. The current study, therefore, explored PSOC in science fiction fandom, a community of interest with membership from all over the world, by means of a questionnaire distributed at an international science fiction convention (N = 359). In an endeavor to clarify the underlying dimensions of PSOC, we included several measures of PSOC and measures of identification with the community in the questionnaire. Results showed that science fiction fandom reported high levels of PSOC. Support emerged for four dimensions of PSOC and an additional fifth dimension, Conscious Identification. These results and their implications for PSOC research are discussed. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.