1. Contemporary Cultural Theory and Its Applications in the Analysis of Everyday and Popular Culture
Intro
Culture
· culture (from Latin: “cultura” lit. ‘cultivation’) is a term first used in antiquity by Cicero
· the term first appeared in Europe in the 18th century to connote a process of cultivation or improvement as in agriculture or horticulture
· in the 19th century, referred to the betterment or or refinement of the individual
Matthew Arnold (1869)
· a founder of anthropology
· begins to change the definition – culture is a complex cluster of social beliefs and behaviours that includes more or less human activity
Two wievs of culture in circulation from the late 19th century
1) the body of semi-sacred knowledge that improves us
2) the loose-knit anthropological term
- both are freely interchanged in argument today
T. S. Eliot – Notes Towards a Definition of Culture 1948
· no culture can appear or develop except in relation to a religion
Raymond Williams 1958
· we use the word ‘culture’ in these terms: to mean a whole way of life –the common meanings; to mean the arts & learning—the special processes of discovery and creative effort
E. P. Thompson
· culture is that complex whole which includes beliefs, art, morals, law, customs and other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society
· it is learned, shared and processual, it is shared and maintained and made by us
Clifford Geertz (1975)
· “The concept of culture I suppose... is essentially a semiotic one. Believing, with Mrs Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs and the analysis.”
Millwall Case Study
· an interdisciplinary examination of a working class subculture
· Social Theory (Bourdieu)
· Sociolinguistics (Bernstein)
· Social Hisotry (Williams)
Ideology
· Marx and Ideology
· Frankfurt School and the “Culture Industries”
· Gramsci and Hegemony
Structuralism and Poststructuralism
· Structuralism in anthropology (Levi-Strauss) and linguistics (Saussure)
· Poststructuralism (Foucault et al)
Modernism & Modernity
· modernity as a condition
· modernity as a set of cultural responses
· modernity as alternative modernities
The rise of ‘low’ culture (cultural studies)
Posmodernity and Postmodernism
· embodied culture
· Gender
· Bourdieu
The Interpretation of Cultures (Clifford Geertz)
· thick description and deep play
Myths and Popular Culture
2. Researching the Subculture of England’s Most Notorious Football Fans
1. The problem and its context
· Millwall as the exemplary hooligans – history of the club
- Milwall: an English professional football club based in South Bermondsey, south-east London
- Founded by workers (majority of Scottish origin) at Morton’s preserve factory on the Isle of Dogs in 1885
- they chose blue as their colour and the Lion rampart as their emblem
- Millwall was closely identified with particular proletarian occupational groups – the docks
- the club relocated to the Den south in 1910, getting a great amount support from the south of the river at New Cross – Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Deptford
- the social origins of the club’s support at this time came from working-class men, which was an important factor in the formation of the identity and culture of the club and the development of its supporting traditions
- Millwall fans: extremely noisy, violent, unpleasantly loud and harsh, disturbing the public peace
- in 1920, when the visiting Newport County FC goalkeeper was attacked with missiles (pociski rakietowe) and knocked out with a hook, the Den was closed for the first time
- the reported fight at FA Cup sixth-round game against Ipswich, led to the closure of Den and strengthened the negative image of Millwall fans
- serious disorder at fifth-round Cup tie at Luton in March 1985 caught by TV cameras became a focus of national attention and thus confirmed the status of Millwall as a symbol of worsening situation in the period when football game was gaining increasingly higher reputation
· ‘Millwall’ as a symbol & myth
- in the popular media representations, the Millwall fan signifies a complex set of social anxieties
- in the football context, the Millwall fan is the source of fear, disgust and desire
- the metaphoric power of the word ‘Millwall’ comes from the symbolic status of the ‘Millwall supporter’ as the typical ‘Football Hooligan’
- the symbolic status of the ‘Millwall fan’ is complex – it is both real and questionable story of violence characterizing particular patterns of masculine culture, and of ways in which popular examples of that culture meet with subcultural self-definition in the understanding of identity; it is also about a cultural struggle for the right to express that identity
- Millwall fans played a very important role in the establishment of ‘Football Hooliganism’ because of their violent activities during the key moments in the development of the media narratives
- the Den (stadium) became a ‘spiritual home of football hooliganism’
- In 1977, the makers of BBC1’s Panorama used Millwall fans as an example to describe and analyse the phenomenon of football hooliganism, defining and explaining the symbolic relation between the football hooliganism and culture – Millwall fans became a symbol of the country’s evil in the late 1970s and the most important figures in football subculture (‘Millwall archetype’)
- the defining negative image presenting Millwall fans as hooligans had been created and remained
- in the public, Millwall fans became a representation of brutality and violence
- the Millwall archetype introduces a Millwall fan as a symbolic being – his reputation always goes before him; the awareness of this symbolic status strengthens the cultural forms established by Millwall fans and is the reason for the development of their anthem “No one likes us”
· How do fans negotiate/manage their symbolic status?
- how Millwall fans see themselves as a community is mostly affected by the public engagement with reputation & myth
- Millwallism includes both elements of passionate local-patriotic English football-supporting and the collective responses to the reformulation of ‘Millwall’ as a highly-charged symbol in culture
- the concept of Millwall as a media symbol is particularly important as football becomes more commercialised and makes its way into middle-class markets – this is the background in which Millwall with all its bad reputation is placed, in contrast to the progressive change of the game
- the ganster tradition of south-east London has produced a variety of masculine culture characterized by dispositions towards fierce local pride, metropolitan supremacism, personal inviolability (nienaruszalność) and unpredictable brutality – all these characteristics had an impact on the development of Millwallism
- In football context, Millwall fans perceive their opponents as a joke
- the violence still used by some of the Millwall hooligan formations is based on a belief that Millwall fans have a specific kind of local toughness not compared with any of their potential opponents
· Extending the sociology of sport – football studies
- The size and variety of London has created a social mixture of intensively localist culture which became the main characteristic of the historical development of London’s working-class communities
- the South-east of London tends to be missing from its social history & if mentioned, is only described as the area associated with crime; it is the place which has produced some of Britain’s most notorious criminals
- the local-patriotic and masculinist structures of class cultures in London have its roots in the south-east
- this place of origin makes Millwall fans feel unique
- the south London gangster tradition is an important part of a Millwall fan’s identity
- leading normal lives and obeying the law, Millwall fans represent the distinct characteristics of the gangster culture – they are strong, self-confident, sharp and experienced, they have a strong sense of their unique identity
- the cult of crime and violation is also an element of their culture
- Millwall fans have a strong sense of pride and regard themselves as superior, personally untouchable; they are also distinguished by their unpredictable violence – this violence is the result of their toughness which can’t be compared with any of their potential opponents; they fear no one; some of them are active in violent conflicts
- fanzines (magazines produced by amateurs for fans of sport) served as an important means of communication between/within clubs, providing humorous insight into the experiences of Millwall; in these magazines, Millwall is presented with all its characteristics through specific language and images
- in football-related literature, the focus is on the experiences of the reformed hooligan
- these writings present Millwall fans’ activities as a myth in the shadow of dangerous urban surroundings; they also categorize their toughness & disposition to violence as typical of certain cultural groups such as dockers & gangsters
- Millwall fans are famous for their hatred towards Chelsea, whose fans came to south-east London to challenge Millwall
- Millwall-Chelsea games have been characterised by high degress of violence; the two groups are said to compete against one another for the supremacy of London
- the reason of Chelsea fans’ hatred towards Millwall is an attraction based on Millwall’s established status as hooligans
· Hypothesis
- Specific: Millwall Football Club is an informal cultural instution centered on the expression and maintenance of a specific variety of social identity (in context of globalisation/late modernity)
- General: Many football clubs in England perform this function, especially for their working class followers
· Research Questions
- Are Millwall fans really ‘the worst’? If so, why? Is such an assertion measurable?
The frequent violent activities of Millwall fans may suggest that they are indeed the worst of a kind. The use of missiles, instigation of fights and bringing damage to public property are characteristics by means of which they can be easily classified as hooligans. The assertion that they are ‘the worst’ is evidenced by their misbehaviour during football matches and the greatest number of closings of the Den stadium.
- How did the Millwall Myth originate? How does it work?
In 1977, the makers of BBC1’s Panorama used Millwall fans as an example to describe and analyse football hooliganism, fixing the association between the football hooliganism and culture; thus, Millwall fans became a symbol of the country’s greatest evil in the late 1970s and the primary figures in football subculture (‘the Millwall archetype’). The established negative image presenting Millwall fans as hooligans had been created and remained. It still functions as a representation of typical Millwall fan, presenting him in a negative way and hindering the possibility of improving this image.
- Who are these people? What does their subculture look like? Their broader regional culture? (i.e. form and expressive content)
Millwall fans are typically the representative members of particular proletariat groups. At the beginning, they were easily identified by their working class skinhead-style clothing and appearance. Recently, hooliganism was transformed by the casual subculture – with firm members beginning to wear designer clothes and posh sportswear. Millwall fans have their roots in the south-east London, the area which for decades has been associated with crime and poverty. This place of origin plays an important role as part of their identity distinguished by their strength, determination, sense of superiority towards others and disposition to violence.
- What are the deeper meanings of participation?
In the early stages, football misconduct was reported as relating to ‘over-excitement’ due to devotion. Today, it is suggested that the attraction of this abnormal lifestyle is to cultivate danger, take risks for excitement and feel the sense of achievement they bring with them.
- (Why do some of them fight?)
The reason Millwall fans engage themselves in fights at matches may be due to their need to add some charge to the game, just for ‘fun’ or simply out of boredom. It is no wonder these fans go hysteric...
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