NCJ Number
196848
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 7 Issue: 5 Dated: September-October 2002 Pages: 453-475
Date Published
2002
Length
23 pages
Annotation
In this literature review, the author reviews the theoretical and empirical resources available for researchers who have focused on sports fan violence and uses social-problem and moral-panic approaches to organize theories of and research into fan violence.
Abstract
The social-problem approach addresses what causes the "problem" of fan violence. The moral-panic approach focuses on how fan violence is interpreted as a social problem. The social-problem approach to fan violence from the positivist perspective implies a search for the causes of fan violence; the moral-panic approach from the constructionist perspective features narratives of fan violence constructed by the media and other social agents. As a social problem, fan violence is patterned behavior that threatens the social fabric. As an occasion for moral panic, media reports of fan violence exaggerate the empirical reality of the phenomenon. In the social-problem approach, group opposition appear in frustration-aggression theory, which predicts that unsuccessful efforts by fans to achieve a desired identity (i.e., winner) compel them to act aggressively toward an outside group they deem responsible for their unrealized ambition. Group antagonisms are also implied in the moral-panic approach; for example, the "labelers" and the "labeled" represent two opposing groups. Politicians, sport administrators, the media, and moral authorities ("labelers") raise the passion of the public to create opposition against a perceived problem ("labeled"). If group antagonisms are a significant factor in fan violence, research can explore ways to reduce that antagonism; for example, the entertainment dimension of sport could be promoted as strongly as the competitive dimension. 73 references