impact of popular culture on the social identity of young adults: Harry Potter and the search for belonging

Popular culture has provided consumers with symbols and tools to make sense of the world. Developmentally children’s literature specifically provides the bases for emotional and psychological growth. Studies connecting popular culture and social identity theory (SIT) have demonstrated that popular culture supports social identities, however, research has not explored how or if popular culture creates social identities. Using the Harry Potter books, due to their popular culture dominance during the youth of the millennial generation, this study investigated the lived experience of young adults who had read all of the Harry Potter series. The findings of this study emerged around the usage of the participants of the Harry Potter books to make connections to their own life and their peers, to identify and label themselves and those around them, and to use both the Harry Potter books and other popular culture artifacts to navigate their world. Implications and recommendations are discussed for educational and workplace settings filled with Harry Potter readers, the Harry Potter readers themselves, and for future research. In the classroom, workplace, or individually, the study recommends that knowing the Hogwarts House that someone identifies with can expose their perceived strengths and weaknesses, which is helpful in both individual and teamwork settings.