Sports Fan Violence in North America

Working within the sociological collective behavior tradition pioneered at the U. of Chicago by Robert Park and, later, Herbert Blumer, Lewis (emeritus, sociology, Kent State U.) analyzes riots that occur in association with organized sports in North America, focusing particularly on celebration riots carried out by fans of the winning team, which are more typical of the region than punishment riots, their opposite. After providing theoretical background on the collective behavior approach to violence and describing his own "intensive cast history analysis" methodology for investigating fan violence, he discusses the structural and demographic conditions under which fan violence takes place and presents a theory of socialization for understanding it. He then examines two major incidents--the Ohio State celebrations in 2002, and those in Boston after the Red Sox victory over the Yankees in 2004--as well as societal reactions to them. He concludes with a review of proposed solutions for the prevention sports fan violence. Annotation 穢2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)