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Chapter 11
The Rhetoric of Conflict Inside and Outside
the Stadium: The Case Study of an Italian
Football Cheer Group
Rosa Scardigno, Maria Luisa Giancaspro, Amelia Manuti,
and Giuseppe Mininni
11.1
Theoretical Background
11.1.1
Intergroup Conflict and Social Identity in Sport
Organized Support
Within the sports domain, organized support is a widespread phenomenon across
nations. Most recently, sociologists and psychologists have devoted much attention
to it because of its potential in engendering conflict and violence (Stott and Reicher
1998
). Over the decades, several explanations about the origin of these so-called
riots have been given (Stott et al.
2001
).
In accordance with the group mind hypothesis (Le Bon
1895
, trans. 1947),
open conflict is seen as irrational and normless, as a natural consequence of being
committed to large groups, which shuts off individual rational control. In this
overview, minds are not confined to the boundaries of individuals, and some groups
can present specific features that are not apparent in their members (Theiner et al.
2010
).
On the other hand, the so-called individualistic tradition (Allport
1924
) has
claimed that group behaviors may derive from participants' common traits (this is
the case, for instance, with violent and antisocial personalities). In this perspective
(Dunning
1994
), the football crowd conflict and violence should be related to
the convergence of “roughly” socialized persons (Suttles
1968
). Among the latest
approaches, the Leicester school (Dunning et al.
1988
,
1991
) has claimed that
violence can be related to the presence of these typologies of individuals in the
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