Hooliganism

The study of hooliganism—violence committed by sport fans—has been an isolated area of academic inquiry (Spaaij & Anderson 2010), despite the fact that scholars with varying backgrounds have studied the phenomena. Sociological (Dunning 2000), anthropological (Marsh 1978), and psychological (Armstrong 1998) explanations for the occurrence of hooliganism have been given. These explanations too often emphasize the irrational character of the violent behavior: hooligans are considered to be outrageous, emotional, and involved in a highly ritualized act. In many respects, these assumptions about violent fans resemble the psychological and "convergence" explanations made about participants in protests and riots in the 1960s. However, while social movement scholars have since considered alternative explanations for participation in protests, and even riots, such as shared mobilizing grievances, students of hooliganism have until recently not considered fan violence as inspired by such motivations. This is unfortunate, since oftentimes hooliganism could well be driven by grievances and the urge to express them.