Chapter 16 Quiz
Multiple Choice (1 point each)
1. Mancur Olson's collective action problem identifies which fundamental obstacle to organized collective action?
a) The difficulty of communicating across large groups b) The free-rider problem: individuals are economically incentivized to benefit from collective goods without contributing c) The challenge of coordinating action across geographic distances d) The tendency for organizational leadership to become corrupt
2. According to this chapter, the "parasocial commitment device" solves the collective action problem in fan communities by:
a) Providing financial incentives for participation b) Requiring all community members to contribute c) Generating standing affective motivation that pre-exists and transcends specific action decisions d) Eliminating the free-rider problem through social enforcement
3. The 1968 Star Trek letter campaign is significant in fan activism history primarily because:
a) It produced the most letters ever sent to a television network b) It established that existing fan organizational infrastructure could be repurposed for advocacy, powered by parasocial commitment c) It was the first organized fan community of any kind d) It directly influenced subsequent television industry decisions about audience research
4. The "parasocial distortion problem" in fan civic action refers to:
a) The tendency for fans to distort facts when advocating for political causes b) The risk that fan civic action serves the object of fandom more than the independent social cause c) The distortion of social reality produced by parasocial relationships d) The problem of fans being too passionate to engage in effective civic communication
5. The Tulsa rally ticket reservation campaign is analytically significant because it:
a) Was officially organized by ARMY leadership through formal channels b) Demonstrated that fan organizational infrastructure built for fan purposes can be rapidly repurposed for political action c) Was the first fan community political action in US history d) Directly reduced the number of people who attended the rally
6. The "astroturfing" accusation directed at fan civic action suggests that:
a) Fan communities are infiltrated by political operatives b) Fan civic activities that primarily benefit the brand of their object of fandom may not be genuinely civic c) Fan community members are not qualified to engage in political action d) Fan civic action is always covertly organized by the object of fandom's management company
7. Mireille Fontaine is described as representing which pathway in the "fan-to-activist pipeline"?
a) Political education through fan fiction b) Development of civic organizing skills through fan community management c) Conversion from political apathy to activism through parasocial attachment d) Transition from fan community leader to professional political organizer
8. Which of the following best describes the global/local tension in fan civic action?
a) Conflict between globally famous fans and locally known fans b) The challenge that fan communities' global capacity often produces US-centric political actions with different implications for members in other countries c) The difficulty of translating fan civic campaigns between different languages d) The tension between global platform governance and local community norms
Short Answer (5 points each)
9. Explain how ARMY's organizational infrastructure for streaming campaigns and chart promotion is structurally similar to political organizing infrastructure. What specific features does it share?
10. The Harry Potter Alliance shifted from Harry Potter-specific to broad fandom-civic framing. What problem was this shift designed to address, and how does it address it?
11. Describe two specific ways that Mireille Fontaine's trajectory illustrates the fan-to-activist pipeline. What conditions in her fan community participation enabled this development?
Essay (15 points)
12. The chapter argues that fan-based civic action has "genuine tensions" — including the parasocial distortion problem, the astroturfing accusation, community fragmentation, and the global/local tension — but that these tensions do not eliminate the genuine civic significance of fan community engagement. Write an essay that: (1) explains the most important tension, using specific examples; (2) explains why this tension does not eliminate the civic significance of fan action; and (3) identifies what would need to be true for that tension to be adequately addressed in a specific fan community's practice.
Length: 400–600 words.
Answer Key
- b
- c
- b
- b
- b
- b
- b
- b