Elements of the Habitus of Chinese Football Hooli-Fans and Countermeasures to Address Inappropriate Behaviour

Abstract

This paper relates to the spectator violence associated with men’s football in China Following Pierre Bourdieu’s Field Theory, the Chinese football ‘field’ can be understood as a social space where hooli-fans behaviour reflects aspects of a specific habitus, and it is this concept which represents the key focus of this study. In the empirical research on habitus reported here, 400 participants took part in a questionnaire survey. The data were subjected to Exploratory Factor Analysis in which four cultural factors were extracted, namely 1) a predisposition to promote barbaric behaviour, 2) attitudes to the concept of victory-defeat, 3) national self-esteem and 4) emotional abreaction. These four factors help to explain features of the aggressive behaviour of Chinese football hooli-fans. Additionally, these insights into the phenomenon of violence and aggression on the part of spectators contribute to understanding of development of countermeasures against hooli-fans. The solutions lie not simply with the hooli-fans themselves, but may be aided by the actions of players, the media and football’s management bodies.