Abstract
Hooliganism is once again part of the football scene in England this season. Recently there have been a number of publications which give social scientific explanations for the phenomena which is known as "football hooliganism". The purpose of this essay is to critically review this literature under the headings of: 1) the context of cultural change, 2) the structure of the subculture, 3) theories of aggression, 4) the amplification of hooliganism, 5) measuring and predicting the conditions. Finally, what to do about the problem is considered under containment or societal change. The author suggests that there is no simple explanation for the hooliganism and no simple solution for dealing with the problem either. It is concluded that a synthesis of some of the explanations, without divorcing football hooliganism from society more generally, is required, and that both a number of short term preventive measures and longer term societal changes need to be carried out.
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