Violence and Racism in Football:
Politics and Cultural Conflict in British Society, 1968–1998
Brett Bebber
Perspectives in Economic and Social History
978 1 84893 266 1: 234x156mm: £60.00/$99.00
978 1 84893 267 8
In postwar Britain, social anxiety about government repression, immigration and unemployment spilled over into violence and racial intolerance. Much of this tension was vented at football matches, traditionally the forum for working-class diversion. This study, based on government records, newspaper articles and fanzines, explores the complex interaction between politicians, police and the perpetrators of the violence. Bebber looks at how successive governments tried to impose law and order on football ‘hooligans’, whilst inadvertently escalating the violence. Football is revealed not only as a mirror of society but as an agent of social and cultural change.
Sample pages
Readership
Social and Economic History, Twentieth-Century Britain and Politics
Contents
Introduction: Sport, Politics and History in Postwar Britain
Part I: Violence and Politics in British Football
1 An Introduction to Football Violence: Context, Community and Conflict
2 Moral Anxieties, National Mythologies and Football Violence
Part II: The Total Policy of Containment
3 Violent Environments: Physical Space, Discipline and Football Disorder
4 Police and the State: Tactics, Networks and the Development of Football Policing
5 Stretching Punishment: The State, Law and Order, and Threatening the Spectator
Part III: Racism and Cultural Conflict in British Football
6 The Football Front: Neo-Fascist and Anti-Fascist Politics in Football, 1977–85
7 'Ten Years Behind the Times': Racism and Anti-Racism in Football, 1986–98
8 ‘A Different Set of Rules’: Black Footballers, Anti-Racism and Whiteness
Conclusion: Legacies of Violence in British Football
Reviews
'extremely well-researched, insightful and scholarly - a welcome addition to work on sport and football' Sandra Dawson, Northern Illinois University
'detailed and rigorous, Bebber's book makes a significant contribution to sports history, sociology and twentieth-century British social history' Matthew Taylor, De Montfort University
