Fan Violence
While watching the video in which individuals were beaten up at sporting events. I began to ask myself what is it about putting on a jersey that leads one to vilify one another? More importantly what makes them feel that their actions are justified? The psychologist in the documentary credited the increase in fan violence to a reduction in church participation and other avenues that fulfill one’s need to belong. The need to belong is an incredibly important concept and is simply the need to give and receive attention from others. However, the psychologist was drawing a causation between the reduction of church participation and the increase in fan violence. This is scientifically improper because one can only draw a correlation from their knowledge, not causation, without an experiment.
There must be more factors that contribute to this action. It can not solely be that people feel a need to belong and therefore feel justified in beating up referees and other teams. This is where deindividualization and groupthink come into play. Deindividualization is the loss of self-awareness in groups. For example, when a riot occurs, one has a higher inclination to rob and steal, than if there was no riot. Similarly, groupthink is that practice of making decisions as a group in a way that discourages individual responsibility. Specifically, one does not feel responsible for their actions because there is a higher level of diffusion of responsibility throughout multiple people than if they acted alone. These two factors play a role an important role in the vicious beatings exemplified by the crowd did not stop them. Rather, parents and other fans created an environment which makes it socially acceptable to beat up other people.
Although there is no specific psychological concept that explains this action except for catharsis: the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions. However, catharsis has been discredited as a correct hypothesis. I believe that individuals who act out in these sporting arenas do so in a subconscious attempt to release frustrations. Whether that be fiscal, social, or emotional problems. I believe that they are further enabled by the situation to act in such an immoral manner.
You pointed out that some of the major components that contribute to out of control fan violence is the need to belong to something as well as a diffusion of responsibility throughout the group. It got me thinking that those things both feed into each other. You put on the jersey to feel a part of something, but now that you are a part of something, you are able to diffuse responsibility throughout that group. Conversely, if you're looking for a way (consciously or not) to exhibit some of your more socially unacceptable urges, it may be that joining a group is what finally gives you the confidence act on those urges. Perhaps the high level of violence is not an unfortunate cross over between two human behaviors, but it is human behavior feeding into itself, both behaviors strengthening the other.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your theory and I think it applies to many more serious events like the Kitty Genovese case. This case clearly demonstrated the diffusion of responsibility because all the neighbors assumed that another neighbor would call 911 which ended with none of them calling. I think something like fans cheering on a sports team is a very interesting and clear example of responsibility diffusion when they become violent.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your idea in this. Cheering for your own sports team is not a big deal but they make it so in the stadium which leads to the fights. Do you think there should be added security in stadiums so that the audience can be more safe? In some of the fights in the videos it looks like some people unwittingly joined the fight simply because they got dragged into it along with the others
ReplyDeleteI think that this an extremely fascinated idea and is something that is thoroughly ignored by many. As a huge soccer fan, I am often very passionate for my team and I get in altercations with my friends who support rival teams. For me, it's about defending your team, as it is almost a part of you. Violence among fans is an extremely big issue in soccer, especially among teams in Europe and South America. I think part of it is men who have too much testerone, and feel the need to show eachother up at a sporting event.
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