Fan Elitism Scale

Instructions: Please rate your degree of agreement with the following items.

1. I know more about [insert interest] than most fans.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree

2. I know more about [insert interest] than most other people.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree

3. My opinion regarding [insert interest] is usually correct.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree

4. I am often certain I am right when discussing [insert interest].

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree

5. I am annoyed when someone asks me simple questions about [insert interest].

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree

6. I don’t take the opinions of most [insert fans of interest] seriously.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree

7. I avoid the new fans in most discussions of [insert interest].

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree

Scoring:

Self-Inflation: average of items 1, 2, 3, 4.

Other-Derogation: average of items 5, 6, 7.

Cite: Plante, C. N., Reysen, S., Chadborn, D., Roberts, S. E., & Gerbasi, K. C. (2020). ‘Get out of my fandom newbie’: A cross-fandom study of elitism and gatekeeping in fans. Journal of Fandom Studies, 8(2), 123-146. https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs_00013_1 [Link]

Purpose: The purpose of this measure is to assess fans’ degree of elitism.