ABSTRACT
Social knowledge and understanding of contemporary soccer hooliganism remains limited. Public knowledge of the phenomenon and its media representations tend to overlap more consistently than they diverge. Even prima facie empathetic studies of soccer’s deviant dimensions succumb to reified sensationalism or effective hypocrisy. Research with the CCS suggests that, in the process of counteracting the pressures, Hibs casuals have collectively germinated a unique moral and existential framework, a social ontology. The accessibility of social ontology to prospective CCS supporters – its demarcation of familiar and identifiable social groups within a coherent socio-normative framework – and its easy reproduction, are the principal bases for the longevity of the subculture as a whole. The CCS is also sometimes known as The Brotherhood or The Mafia, though its nucleus and fellow travellers alike prefer The Family as an alternative nom de guerre.
