Doświadczenie czarnego łabędzia, mity logistyczne i okręt Tezeusza
The Black Swan Experience, Logistical Myths, and Theseus’s Ship

Three Mechanisms Creating and Strengthening the Collective Identity of Fans

Summary/Abstract: This text provides a critical discussion of the dominant concepts used to identity soccer fans and proposes new ways of analyzing the fan phenomenon. The two most widespread interpretative frameworks divide fans into ‘traditional’ supporters and ‘consumer’ fans. The authors indicate that this division is not the only possible frame for viewing fans’ identity. The examples provided demonstrate that fans’ individual and collective identities do not develop solely on the basis of events associated with the soccer field. Among other things, their identities can be shaped by unexpected human or non-human factors or catastrophes, or by struggles to preserve the past or the club’s heritage. Such instances prove that the formation of identity involves more than the dichotomy between a traditional fan and a consumer fan. This text also contributes to expanding the interpretative realm in contemporary research into group identities.

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