Football Fans And Football Passion - Self-development, Society

What does belonging to a football fan give? Just what Abraham Maslow wrote in his famous theory of motivation is a sense of belonging

Good hunting, brother

By the way, he did not draw any "pyramid" - its followers invented it for convenience. But the need to belong to a social group is really one of our “basic needs”. And here it doesn't matter to whom you "belong" and for whom you "support".

The main thing is to be “your own”, to be involved in the “common cause” and to feel this very “belonging”

To simplify greatly, it is common for a person to belong to some kind of "pack". And then there is someone to wish you: “You and I are of the same blood! Good hunting, brother”- and other things that are extremely necessary for the comfortable psychological existence of a young modern person, which no“individualism”can corrode in us.

One among his own

Moreover, we still have such an interesting and very “basic” (in the sense that it is formed very early and a lot of things hold on to it) thing, like identity. And this very identity is just formed according to the principle of "friend or foe".

That is, these people are “mine”, and I, respectively, “their”. And all the rest are "strangers". And with "mine" I feel comfortable, interesting and safe. I have my place and my role in the community here. And I have no confidence in “strangers”, because I have no idea what to expect from them.

The very form of organizing fan communities provides young people with a rare opportunity today to undergo a kind of "initiation" among their own kind

Initiation, or second, social, birth, in "traditional cultures", by the way, was a mandatory procedure in not so long ago.

To merge in the ecstasy of the same

In adolescents, participation in such associations remarkably serves their age-conditioned desire to join a community. Thus, on the one hand, they can show their dissatisfaction, or, as psychologists say, “negativism”, in relation to the “adult world”. And on the other hand - to demonstrate their "bright individuality", merging in the ecstasy of the sameness with their peers.

The problem is that these natural, ancient, "healthy" psychological mechanisms can work not only "in plus", but also in "minus"

Features of "black and white" thinking

As we know, football fans, since the inception of their communities, have cultivated "differences" and "differences" between the adherents of one team from all others. And this is manifested starting with the symbolism - scarves, hats, favorite colors, attributes and more. This means that you don't need to make special efforts to redirect the supply of young energy in a different direction.

Hence, by the way, the fans' tendency to "radicalize". It is easy enough to radicalize people whose community is already built on the principles of "black and white" thinking

Not on purpose?

Add to this the large percentage of young people for whom “youthful maximalism” and uncompromising attitude are “natural” age characteristics. Plus, so to speak, a specific range of interests and the level of education of most of the participants in such associations. And you will receive all the necessary set of qualities for the use of fans for purposes far from football. We have abundant examples of this in recent years.

So, on the one hand, football passions allow society to “channel” a lot of young and rather destructive energy. On the other hand, there is always a problem of how to keep its manifestations within the "civilized framework."