Communication theory observes and analyzes communication phenomena. Humans communicate constantly through both verbal and nonverbal ways to express and share thoughts, ideas, emotions, and needs among many other things. When we use communication theories we are examining the different ways in which each person interacts with others around them. 

One prominent communication theory is Symbolic Convergence Theory, created by Ernest G. Bormann in 1972. When first constructed, Symbolic Convergence Theory was typically used for small group communication practices. The use of this specific theory is to analyze how groups of like-minded individuals when coming together, talk with each other, spread their ideas and messages, and how they create their own fantasy or rhetorical vision. 

However, there has not been much research conducted to study the communication practices of online groups. Social media and the internet in general are fairly new territory in the realm of communication research. With how vastly large and new the internet is, there are boundless opportunities to delve into how social media users interact with each other. The purpose of this paper is to use Symbolic Convergence Theory to view and analyze how groups of young men on the internet have created their own fantasy realm after watching ‘American Psycho’ and how they have spread their messages across the web to reach the masses.

The emergence of Social Convergence Theory (SCT) first occurred in 1972 thanks to Ernest G. Bormann, professor of communication at University of Minnesota. In the first publication discussing the nature of SCT, it was not initially referred to as such. Rather it was often referred to as group fantasizing or fantasy theme analysis. 

The original intended use for this type of theory or analysis was to observe small group communication and relate their communicative strategies back to rhetorical theory as well as gaining insight to how it has spread to the public and has been communicated to the masses (Bormann, 1972). 

It wasn’t until in 1982 where Bormann applied fantasy and rhetorical vision to the Cold War paradigm that he used the term ‘Symbolic Convergence Theory’. By looking at SCT through studying the Cold War we can see that it is a general theory that provides us an overarching explanation for human communication along with explaining the different ways groups cause these communicative practices to spread to a larger audience and evolve throughout the human population (Bormann, 1982). 

SCT aims to observe the social realities created by groups to gain insight into their motivation, ways that they express and share emotion, and the general cohesiveness of how they spread beliefs and meanings based on created fantasies (Bormann, 1972). 

SCT has a five-part life cycle that demonstrates the rise and fall of evolved group fantasies. The creation of consciousness accounts for the initial sharing of new fantasies that creates a framework of symbolism for communities that then leads to raising the consciousness by encouraging newcomers and those who are interested in the fantasies to share the group’s ideas and meanings, now turning those interested parties into members themselves. To sustain consciousness, the group has to keep its members committed and interested in their rhetorical vision (Bormann, 1996)

If it comes to a point where the rhetorical vision loses its ability to sound compelling and loses its power, it starts to decline. If the rhetorical vision becomes way too complex with problems of not being able to create rapid change and a rise of contradictions within the fantasy, it will implode all at once instead of slowly declining to an end (Bormann, Cragan, Shields, 1996).

When SCT was first explained by Bormann, questions regarding the relationship between the process of SCT and the creation of a group’s social reality were raised. Mohrmann interpreted Bormann’s theory as that the fantasy drama itself was the cause for a social reality to be created. Bormann revisited his original explanation of SCT and fantasy drama ten years later to address the misconception. What he really meant is that it’s the communicative process of sharing thoughts and ideas about the fantasy drama that then creates the social reality (Bormann, 1982). Members of the community will not act in accordance with the beliefs and ideas of the community until they are a part of the communicative process. 

Becky Swanson Kroll (1983) and John Cragan and Donald Shields (1992) used the properties of SCT in similar ways but for two vastly different groups. By analyzing the use of fantasy types and redefining words, Kroll looked through the lens of SCT to study the emergence of the women’s movement in the 1970s. She was able to conclude that by painting out women as “victims” and men as “enemies”, the women’s movement group was able to create a name for themselves and garnered strength by combining forces and gaining support for their new interpretations of social reality (Kroll, 1983).

Similarly, Cragan and Shields also observed the usage of creating meaning through a group making a name for themselves by studying corporate strategic planning. As companies create names, slogans, and taglines for their business, it then gains an audience by acting as friendly, helpful, and sociable. SCT is used as a strategic strategy to bring a unity of focus to the workplace in order to create these forms of advertisement and sales stories (Cragan, Shields, 1992). 

Zanin, Hoelscher, and Kramer (2016) however, found discrepancies within the theory when using it as a framework for looking at life enrichment groups, specifically a women’s rugby team. They delved into whether the shared common language of dramatized words (humor, analogies, figures of speech, etc) within that group actually meant there was a sense of agreement among teammates. It was also found that SCT makes the assumption that symbolic convergence is strictly beneficial to those involved and disregards how fantasy themes can create conflicts of stigmatization, marginalization, and alienation (Zanin, Hoelscher, Kramer, 2016).

A big limitation, however, that scholars have found while using SCT is that it all depends on subjectivity. When being presented with a lode of information, readers can interpret it in a bunch of different ways. If each person interprets the situation differently then they all arrive at differing conclusions.

‘American Psycho’ is a novel written by Bret Easton Ellis that was published in 1991 and later adapted into a major motion picture starring Christain Bale in 2000. The story follows the lead protagonist, Patrick Bateman, as he strives towards corporate success and aims to be well-known, well-liked, and generally popular within his upper-class social clique in New York City. Ellis’ intentions when crafting the story of Patrick Bateman were to make the character as shallow as possible (Rabin, 2016) to act a satirical critique of postmodern capitalism, surface narcissism, and yuppie culture. (Grow, 2016)

Following the release of the film adaptation, audience viewers, specifically men, began idolizing Patrick Bateman and used his character to further perpetuate the movement of the sigma male mindset (or also referred to as ‘grindset’). The idolization of the protagonist is something that Ellis hadn’t anticipated. Viewers and readers of his story have transformed themselves into the exact thing that Ellis was aiming to criticize and tear down. 

In the words of Joshua Sigafus, a contributor to ‘The Adult Man’, sigma males are a category of men within the socio-sexual hierarchy. Sigma males (sigmas) are considered the lone wolves and choose to live outside of the normal structures of society. He is a man who goes his own way (Sigafus, 2022).

The term “sigma male” was first coined by a far-right activist in 2010 by the name of Theodore Rovert Beale. The idea of sigma males along with other socio-sexual male identities rose to popularity by right-wing internet users on websites such as Reddit and 4chan (Yalcinkaya, 2022). Following in the footsteps of Patrick Bateman who views people, especially women, as nothing more than meat, members of this socio-sexual identity are known misogynists and intensely toxic (Yalcinkaya, 2022), adding to how toxic masculinity is taking over the male population. 

The emergence of sigma male culture and the idolization of Patrick Bateman broke norms in the way that these audience viewers completely missed the point of the book and film. Complete misinterpretation of the themes and messages have turned men into their own Patrick Batemans. The character himself breaks societal norms by the way he goes against what we typically think of the elitist upper class business men (Heise, 2011). Patrick Bateman breaks the norms of what viewers expect an average businessman to act like, therefore they become inspired to do the same and become the expectancy-breaking lone wolves in our own society. The whole premise of even being a sigma male in itself, is that you don’t conform to societal norms. 

‘American Psycho’ itself continues to be highly criticized for its gruesome depictions of abuse and murder and creates many arguments surrounding issues of censorship, violence, misogyny, and pornographic material (Rabin, 2016). 

People outside of the sigma male mindset and other socio-sexual hierarchies are often dumbfounded by the culture. One ‘American Psycho’ viewer believes that “this stupid culture sadly does not discern between depicting and endorsing something.” (MVW Encyclopedia, 2022) Many others often agree how baffling it is that something so obviously satirical can be so misinterpreted and create a whole culture of men praising a character that is depicted as a woman-hating, homophobic, narcissist serial killer. 

Bret Easton Ellis himself was surprised to see Patrick Bateman become so popular and be something of a cult leader (Grow, 2016). But he also notes that he doesn’t really care who connects with his story. Ellis believes that it is up to the audience to decide how to view and understand his novel, whether he agrees with them or not. There hasn’t been any sort of apology from Ellis following the birth of this culture for the same reasonings. The author can’t control how people make interpretations, all the blame is to be placed on that audience. ‘American Psycho’ is only rising in popularity as the years go on and the sigma male mindset perpetuates more and more. It’s difficult to predict how massive this phenomenon will grow to be, but one for sure is that it is in no way slowing down. The idea that there is a hierarchy of men is a rather new concept and still has plenty of time in our society and will surely try to reach as many people in the male population as possible. The uncertainty of how it will play out can be a rather terrifying concept at times.

‘American Psycho’ is a novel written by Bret Easton Ellis that was published in 1991 and later adapted into a major motion picture starring Christain Bale in 2000. The story follows the lead protagonist, Patrick Bateman, as he strives towards corporate success and aims to be well-known, well-liked, and generally popular within his upper-class social clique in New York City. Ellis’ intentions when crafting the story of Patrick Bateman were to make the character as shallow as possible (Rabin, 2016) to act a satirical critique of postmodern capitalism, surface narcissism, and yuppie culture (Grow, 2016).

We can use Symbolic Convergence Theory as a lens to view how fans of ‘American Psycho’ have developed their own social reality/fantasy and constructed their own shared beliefs and vocabulary; the mindset of being a sigma male. 

By using SCT we can gain insight into this group of males and learn their motives and how they choose to express themselves with other group members as well as the general public. 

The first step to the five step process of SCT is the creation of consciousness. The movie itself, ‘American Psycho’, is the main contributor to this start of a social reality. Although this was not the intentions of the author or director when crafting ‘American Psycho’, the main character being shown as a lone-wolf type who also dominates over his friends and colleagues has inspired a large audience to want to be just like Patrick Bateman. 

So now that there is a group of men who strive to act and live like Patrick Bateman, or any sort of sigma male, they raise the group consciousness by spreading their fantasies far and wide using primarily social media. All across websites such as Twitter, Reddit, and Instagram you find boundless accounts dedicated to further perpetuating the sigma male mindset. Other websites, like The Adult Man, pull your interest towards learning more and even joining the mindset by providing information, creating quizzes to see where you fit in within the male hierarchy, and the pros and cons of being a sigma male. 

This also plays into the third step of SCT, sustaining group consciousness. In order for a social reality or rhetorical vision to remain active and keep interested members coming in, they have to be engaging. So along with spreading information through websites and social media platforms, the sigma male group promotes these lifestyle practices that would seem absurd and strange to anyone living outside of this group.

Finally, is the decline of the rhetorical vision which can either happen slowly over a period of time or all come crashing down at once. In this instance, the sigma male mindset is still fairly new and popular among the younger generation of males today but there are a few signs of a slow decrease of committed members. There are still a large number of men who actually do believe in this mindset and reality and are 100 percent serious about it, but there has been an incline in those who have made it into a joke or meme. 

Whether this will either help further perpetuate the social reality or be the thing that tears it down is debatable. All across the same previously mentioned websites (with the exception of The Adult Man) you will find more ironic meme material about Patrick Bateman and members of the sigma male mindset than those who actually are in practice of the mindset. By seeing that their group is being mocked and joked about, members may disband and the slow decline of sigma males may begin. 

The way that I have used Symbolic Convergence Theory is a rather simple and basic way, just taking a group of people who have their own crafted beliefs, mannerisms, and ideas and viewing them through this lens to gain a better understanding of how they operate and how their fantasies have spread to the popularity that it has.

By looking through the lens of Symbolic Convergence Theory, we can gain previously undiscovered insight into the inner workings of the sigma male group. Future research into reigning communicative groups found across the internet can benefit from viewing their rise and (eventual) fall. By seeing how the sigma male group has dominated the male population and conquered the internet, future social media researchers can use these findings and same techniques to examine other existing harmful online groups and their behaviors. Given that the five step cycle of SCT can be used for sigma males, it can also be applied to other groups. 

In future research of the sigma male group it would be interesting and beneficial to also study the ways in which the opposing group interacts. By also analyzing the online group that mocks, ridicules, and criticizes sigma males there is the potential of unlocking even more insight into their communication practices. 

Some limitations I had when conducting my research were that there hasn’t been much recorded previous analyses of group communication on the internet. Most uses of SCT had been used primarily for in-person groups such as in workplaces and sports teams. There are obviously some major differences between the ways in which people communicate in person versus online. The misinterpretation of tone expressed online is definitely one of them that I found myself running into. It is sometimes rather difficult to know whether a person is being serious or lighthearted when their expressed message is only being displayed through a means of online text. 

Nevertheless, by using the theory of Symbolic Convergence to analyze group communication of those who follow and identify with the sigma male mindset I have gained unbeknownst insight and information of how their rhetorical visions are created, shared, and eventually diminish.

December 21, 2022