This book explores football fan activism and its impact on contemporary football culture in England, Italy and the Czech Republic. Offering original insights into the power of fan activism to influence social change, this book also has wider implications for understanding social movements.
The study of football fandom is a fast-growing area of research in the sociology of sport. The first work of its kind, this book explores football fan activism and its impact on contemporary football culture in England, Italy and the Czech Republic.
Presenting a comparative study of fan activism in national and transnational contexts, it explores the characteristics of each country's football fan culture as well as the varying and at times volatile dynamics between fans, authorities and the mass media. Its chapters address key themes and issues including: fans' reactions to policing and security measures in football stadiums; the socio-cultural significance of symbols and rituals for fans at football games; and fans' critical engagement with football club ownership and management. Offering original insights into the power of fan activism to influence social change, this book has wider implications for understanding social movements in other cultural and political spheres beyond Europe.
Football Fans, Activism and Social Change is fascinating reading for all students, scholars and football fans with an interest in sport studies, fan culture, politics and society.
"This book provides a detailed view of fan-based activism and of fans' response to globalisation and commodification processes that have affected football over the past decades. By analysing fans' activities, it can be said that some aspects of their struggles can be applied to an analysis of the wider social context. This book, with its extraordinary contribution to this field of social sciences, is an excellent roadmap for further research into the phenomena of fan activism and processes of change in modern sports, especially football." - Dino Vukusic, Institute of Social Sciences 'Ivo Pilar'
