The phenomenon of football fanaticism in the youth subculture

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of football fanaticism in the youth subculture. The relevance of the research is largely due to the role played by the youth subculture in modern society, an integral part of which is the informal "fan movement", which manifests itself in various fields — music, fashion, politics, ideology, sports, etc. "football fanaticism" has become widespread in Russia, the analysis of which allows us to highlight the essence and characteristic features of youth "fanaticism" in general. To study this problem, a questionnaire survey, a focused group interview, and conversations on forums with fans of Spartak, Zenit, and CSKA football clubs were used as quantitative and qualitative research methods. These methods were the most suitable, because with their help, the opinion of schoolchildren about football fanaticism was studied, groups of teenagers who consider themselves football fans were identified, their subculture was studied, the causes and factors of the spread and "departure" of teenagers into fan groups were determined. According to the results of the study, the image of a football fan was formed. According to schoolchildren, a football fan is a devoted sports fan belonging to a close-knit group of peers, promoting sports, the priority value for which is a favorite hobby. Thus, the questionnaire survey made it possible to identify groups of "fans" and a range of questions for further investigation of the phenomenon using a group focused interview.