Kan Harry Potter-fandoms förstås som religiositet? : En analys av tre empiriska studier

Sammanfattning: The relationship between fandoms and religion has become an increasingly popular topic to study within the field of the sociology of religion. In previous studies, there have been different views concerning whether or not fandoms should be regarded as religious from a functional perspective. This issue is especially interesting considering the decreasing popularity of traditional religion in some aspects.   The aim of this essay is to study how Harry Potter fandoms are described in previous studies. The study aims at discerning both the empirical data and how the data is interpreted. The material in this study consists of three previous studies about the communities centered around Harry Potter fandoms. These studies were analyzed in relation to Meredith B. McGuire´s (2002) concept “cultic stance” and Matt Hills (2002) concept “neoreligiosity”.  The studies were analyzed through a hermeneutical text analysis. According to the results, the Harry Potter fandoms examined in the previous studies somewhat relate to both abovementioned theories. The cultic stance was applicable when the fans described a desire for some kind of god or supernatural power. The neoreligiosity was applicable when the fans described their fandom with religious language. The previous studies in my material describe fandoms from different perspectives. The analyses of the previous studies which resulted in that the concepts fit differently on the different previous studies.