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The Hooligan's Mind
Author(s) -
Maniglio Roberto
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2006.00315.x
Subject(s) - unconscious mind , football , phenomenon , order (exchange) , psychology , social psychology , criminology , sociology , law , epistemology , psychoanalysis , political science , philosophy , economics , finance
Football hooliganism is a world phenomenon and an everyday matter. Society spends a lot of money to prevent and control it. We need to know what hooligans think in order to anticipate their actions and prevent their violent behaviors. In this paper, I propose a theory of the hooligan's conscious mind, by analyzing the thinking of a real Italian hooligan who was my patient. I will show that violent behaviors of hooligans are not unconscious, because the mental states (both beliefs and goals) of hooligans are explicitly represented in their mind. In contrast, I will suggest that both supporting and fighting are planned (i.e., goal directed), because “recognized supremacy” is explicitly represented as the ultimate goal. In fact, hooligans support and fight in order to be recognized as good hooligans, i.e. as good supporters as well as good fighters.