Contemporary Tribalism
Contemporary tribalism has different forms penetrated all spheres of modern life. The development of new roles within the social or political system becomes in itself a source of incompatibility, so that established patterns of behavior in one set of relations may hinder the effective fulfillment of a new role in another set of relations: the incompatibility is resolved by a modification of the established pattern of behavior. One of the main arenas where tribalism found is sport and recreational acitivities. Tribalism in sport is one of the most important ‘problems’ faced by society because it is closely connected with violence and aggression of funs. Also, tribalism is sport is one of the most interesting examples because it includes different subgroups of tribes within one arena.
In sport, even with less extreme and less intense, fans are predisposed to identify very strongly with their team or major players. The range of beliefs about the powerful influence of fans on the performance of players and their club, and so on the outcome of matches, make it no surprise that most fans see themselves to be a central part of the club. For instance, football, NBA or baseball fans not only identify very closely with the club they support, the club symbolically becomes part of their own identity. It is no mere coincidence that fans identify themselves and each other by using the club’s name. The intensity of the identification is matched by its complexity. The club or league becomes part of supporters’ social identities, which means that there is an emotional and cognitive identification with the club, another imaginary community, for fans see themselves as the real supporters of the club or league. “The sense of belonging, it turns out, will not go down without a fight” (Winder, p. 10). They see themselves as providing finance and believe themselves to uphold the traditions of the club and league: fans are the self-perceived moral custodians, albeit custodians who feel exploited and frustrated at their lack of access to most club decision-making. The belief that the club belongs to the fans appears a distortion of economic reality, but is more statement of the intensity of feelings fans have for their team and an expression of their belief that they are genuinely part of it (Wallace-Wells 45).
Another interesting subgroup in sport is armatures vs professionals. Gunston (2005) admit that “this led the way for professionals to dominate virtually all areas of other, once-elite sports, including rugby. As rugby union’s development in the late twentieth century brought it to resemble other professional team sports, the Rugby Football Union remained steadfast in retaining the game’s officially amateur status” (32). The increasing significance of prestige of ‘class’ is a category of social interaction in sport. In this case, tribalism is an irrelevant category in many of these new sets of relations; it does not thereby cease to operate within them.
The very intense identification of fans with a team or a player is important in exploring some of the reasons for crowd violence. There is little surprise when players overstep the mark, when their actions spill over into violence. Nor despite some comments to the contrary is anyone really surprised when club officials similarly misbehave. Yet the identification of supporters with teams is, at least in their own eyes, even more intense – and the sport itself is an event historically replete with aggressive and violent social meanings, in which supporters participate. Critics state that:
“The real message is that the beast of tribalism is not easily laid to rest. Celtic and Rangers have both a major self-interest and a serious public interest in playing their parts, persistently and unambiguously, in replacing destructive passions with a genuine love of the sport” (Morning View 8).
Perceptions of a form of unity between supporters and clubs have been explored in the accounts already analyzed. In this case, supporters become football supporters through a complex socialization process with different social influences acting upon them. There is social interaction with other supporters but there are also the effects of playing some football itself (Wallace-Wells 56). Off the field it is expected that fans will display pejoratively aggressive behavior to both the opposing team and its supporters: it is understood that this may lead to the odd clash with other supporters.
Following Wallace-Wells (2004) the socialization leads individuals to adopt a cultural framework that stresses different values from those proclaimed appropriate for everyday social life. Both players and supporters are socialized into a culture that accepts aggression and violence as central to the game but accompanies this acceptance with all manner of inconsistencies, uncertainties, qualifications and disagreements. For this reason it is more accurately described as violence. These social meanings reflect the broad traditions of the sport but accommodate specific variations in traditional behavior to be found at different levels of participation and in different geographical locations (Sandall 57).
Critics admit that the culture is not the same as violence itself, aggression and an aura of violence are essential elements in the cultural framework that determines the experience of being involved in sport. For instance “The real message is that the beast of tribalism is not easily laid to rest. Celtic and Rangers have both a major self-interest and a serious public interest in playing their parts, persistently and unambiguously, in replacing destructive passions with a genuine love of the sp: (Morning View 8). Becoming so absorbed in the occasion leads to a transcendence of the individual’s sense of self. Self-absorption is rendered impossible: the self is so engaged with the action that it becomes merged with the flow. The extent to which club affiliation plays a prominent part in any one individual’s social identity will be variable. The triggering of that element as a salient feature of an individual’s social identity will vary across different social situations. For some only the social events around the football match will induce a sense of collectively sharing in that social identity: for others this social identity will be much more widespread. To be a football supporter requires an individual to recognize some shared identification not only with the club, but particularly with the other supporters. For instance, “The Sydney 2000 Olympic Games convincingly demonstrated that Australian sport had become a chaotic mix of ancient ritual, traditional athletic contests, slickly marketed and customized leisure experiences, and ultra-professional sports that combine complex strategy with Hollywood-style showmanship” (Gunston 31). Experiences dramatically intensify the feeling of being part of a community based around the team. The result is that fans will in victory embrace strangers, their fellow club fans.
Apparently at one with the mass of the crowd, supporters believe that their efforts are also at one with the team. The characteristics required for a experience are fulfilled vicariously. Unambiguous goals are sought by both players and fans: both receive the same immediate feedback. Scoring goals is more than just an excuse for the experience, but other aspects of the game can also produce experiences. It is the optimal experience that is sought by the soccer fan: it is this that supporters primarily recall. The experience of the highs allows the ‘obsessed’ supporter to accept the less welcome lows. Wallace-Wells (2004) underlines that the football fan wishes to be excited by the match; to become lost in the action (9). The violent culture of the sport is important in creating that sense of importance. However, that has to be distinguished from actual violence. The accounts of Gunston (2005) show that peak experiences can result from the emotional tension induced by the sheer sense of involvement in the match; an involvement marked by the personal sense of commitment to a shared tribalism with players and fellow supporters alike. Winder (2004) describes tribes as:
“They are exclusive and fundamentalist; they often stipulate or propose racial conformity as a condition of membership. Football fanatics might even turn out to be one of the least significant manifestations of the trend: playful, Punch-and-Judy versions of a more acrid impulse” (10).
Many factors mediate between the available cultural meanings that guide actions and the actual behavior of players and supporters alike. Just as players and supporters can behave in totally independent ways, so the behavior within these two groups vary widely on the same occasion. The culture of violence provides the broad framework from which tribalism meanings of how to participate in the sport are derived.
A sense of tribalism can be explained by experiences which bond individuals more closely together. Amongst the casuals, it is essential that group members do intensely identify with one another. Given the considerable uncertainty in the world of the casuals, some constancy is essential. Security for the casuals depends on the group. Other members need to be reliable: mutual trust is essential (Wallace-Wells 78). One casual’s response can determine whether another casual receives assistance, or a bad beating, or even worse.
The behavior of fans demonstrates how violence in which soccer is immersed does not necessarily lead directly into acts of real violence. The cultural framework has not been totally discarded by these supporters: they still attend to some of its cultural elements. Anti-English sentiment is very evident. Support is still given to the team, and experiences are still attainable by this vicarious, if more traditional route. However, collective participation of supporters in their own occasion is much more likely to produce a experience and feeling of identity (tribalism) than attending to the game alone, as the boring experiences of more conventional supporters have shown. Winder’s account illustrates that fighting is really only the excuse for achieving a experience. It is not all pleasurable, but it is highly enjoyable. The culture of sport encapsulates social meanings that allow for aggression and some violence. “As the old tribes dissolve–family, village, language and nation–so the dislocations of modernity promote a parallel desire to cling on to them before they disappear for ever” (Winder 10). Physical pain to the self is of little consequence to an individual who is submerged in ‘the intensity of the flow’ (Wallace-Wells 48).
Traditionally soccer has emphasized strong identities among its fan groups. Their objectives are relatively unambiguous. Feedback on the effects of casual actions is immediately clear. So strong is this particular situation of adolescents’ social identities that it tends to dominate the total complex of their individual social identities: they are casuals above everything else (Wallace-Wells 80). Thus the principle of situational selection operates within a developing system that is marked by the continuing conflict of different principles of social organization.
In sport, tribalism takes different forms including a conflict between fans, different teams and players, armatures vs professionals, and between professionals themselves. Because primarily interaction between players and funs still tends to be in terms of tribe, and because the various sets of relations which make up the urban social system are interdependent, tribalism tends to be carried over into, and to operate within, all the sets of relations in which the sport events are involved. Through the linking together of certain tribes on the basis of sport preferences, sport tribalism provides a framework for organizing interpersonal relations amongst funs and sportsmen.
Works Cited
Gunston, R. Play Ball! How Sports Will Change in the 21st Century. The Futurist, 39, January-February 2005: 31-32.
Morning View: When Sport Is No Longer Sporting. The News Letter (Belfast, Northern Ireland), May 4 1999: 8.
Sandall, R. The Culture Cult: Designer Tribalism ; Other Essays. Westview Press. 2001.
Wallace-Wells, B. How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization. HarperCollins.
Winder, R. The Lost Tribes. New Statesman 133, June 21 2004: 10.