Non-elite conceptions of Europe: Europe as reference frame in English football fan discussions

IF 16.4 1区化学 Q1 CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Accounts of Chemical Research Pub Date : 2020-12-18 DOI:10.30950/jcer.v16i3.1089

R. Weber, A. Brand, A. Niemann, F. Koch

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引用次数: 4

Abstract

Discursive approaches to Europe usually focus on elite discourses and target a narrow political understanding of Europe. Against the backdrop of rising Euroscepticism and the known elite-mass divide on issues of European identity, it seems important to shift the focus toward non-elite discourses on Europe. Given that club football is largely Europeanised (player markets, continent-wide club competitions and broadcasting of matches), we analyse how fans of the English Premier League club Manchester United discursively construct ‘Europe’ in relation to their sport. Our main research question aims at identifying how identifications of fans have been unconsciously Europeanised in the wake of an ongoing Europeanisation of the game. We explore online discourses on rivalry, competition and player transfers in club football as these areas are strongly influenced by the interplay of national and European inclinations. Preliminary results of our qualitative content analysis demonstrate that Manchester United fans, inasmuch as their club ‘goes Europe’ on a frequent basis, have developed transnational perspectives on football. Distinctions between ‘us’ and ‘them’ are not predominantly based on nationality, even though they remain complex. However, European orientations (not the European Union as such) seem to play more of a prominent role than commonly assumed.

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欧洲的非精英概念：欧洲作为英国球迷讨论的参照系

对欧洲的话语方式通常侧重于精英话语，并针对对欧洲的狭隘政治理解。在欧洲怀疑主义抬头和已知的精英群体在欧洲身份问题上的分歧的背景下，将重点转移到非精英群体对欧洲的讨论上似乎很重要。考虑到俱乐部足球在很大程度上是欧洲化的（球员市场、全大陆的俱乐部比赛和比赛转播），我们分析了英超俱乐部曼联的球迷如何在他们的运动中随意构建“欧洲”。我们的主要研究问题旨在确定在比赛持续欧洲化之后，球迷的身份是如何被无意识地欧洲化的。我们探讨了俱乐部足球中关于竞争、竞争和球员转会的在线讨论，因为这些领域受到国家和欧洲倾向相互作用的强烈影响。我们定性内容分析的初步结果表明，曼联球迷，因为他们的俱乐部经常“去欧洲”，已经形成了对足球的跨国视角。“我们”和“他们”之间的区别并不是主要基于国籍，尽管它们仍然很复杂。然而，欧洲取向（而不是欧盟本身）似乎比通常认为的更为突出。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Accounts of Chemical Research 化学-化学综合

CiteScore

31.40

自引率

1.10%

发文量

312

审稿时长

2 months

期刊介绍： Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance. Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.