Social privilege is defined as the advantage or immunity given to a particular group of people or an individual. Privilege can be but is not limited to a person’s class, age, education, mobility, race, religion, and gender. To a certain extent, almost everyone has some sort of privilege– some more than others. The online community I chose to focus on was the Beyhive. It’s a large online fanbase for Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter.

As a fan of Beyonce’s music, I could have a bias toward the Beyhive.  Growing up I had the privilege of having access to music through digital platforms from a young age. I have been a big fan of Beyoncé’s music for a very long time– additionally, as an activist, I appreciate her using her platform to speak out about issues. My opinions can influence the way I do my field research and how I observe any behaviors within the community. As a woman of color, I think that my race and identifiers will allow me to connect with other women of color in the online community. My age, however, might be an identifier that may make it harder for me to access and understand other members of the community. Since I am doing field research on a specific artist and fan base, as a fan I might find it harder to view the community as an outsider. As an artist, she has a very diverse and global fan community which brings diverse thoughts and opinions to the community.

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.