Thesis (M.A.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of French and Italian, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 113-118).

This research aims to provide an accurate and more conceptually advanced view of football violence as practiced by Cardiff City fans both past and present, than the accepted views of football already available at an academic level. Expanding on work carried out at dissertation level, the research will attempt to provide a new model of football violence, and this will be constructed through the use of a variety of research methods to better understand football hooliganism as a socio-cultural phenomenon existing within the general field of football. Football as a field of activity will be discussed, as will the fact that whilst being a field of socio-cultural activity, professional football also has developed as a distinct market. The work aims to show why certain Cardiff City F.C. fans are not content to just watch their team participate, but who through a small leap of imagination cast themselves in the role of direct participant representing the team in the contest that is football hooliganism. Also to be discussed is why certain fans (usually at a formative age) would see those with a hooligan identity at Cardiff City F.C. as best representing their interests within the field, and who then go on to adopt a hooligan identity. The interests of Cardiff City fans within the field are explored, as are the specific set of social relations that have emerged. The emergence of the casuals as a socio-cultural category is examined as is media representations of them and in a reflexive manner the role of the police within the field is also examined. Finally the research aims to show how a group such as the Soul Crew, has by a combination of continued presence and growth within the field, gone on to become one of the dominant forces within the activity.

The aim of the present research is to investigate three factors, namely perceptions of fairness in intergroup situations, ingroup identification and spatial dimensions that are assumed to contribute to why individuals participate in violence against the police in soccer stadiums. In Study 1 perceptions of fairness, identification and spatial perspective were manipulated and the results indicated a significant interaction effect between identification and spatial perspective. This interaction effect had a significant influence on negative behavioural tendencies towards police. In Study 2, identification and spatial perspective were manipulated and once again the interaction effect between identification and spatial perspective was found. A main effect of identification was found in that participants who identified lower with fans showed significantly more positive attitudes towards police. The results of the two studies highlight the importance of looking beyond the inherent nature of the crowd itself when analysing situations of police/fan conflict, and also the need to further investigate the spatial dimension and how it influences social judgment and decision making.