ABSTRACT

Professional football is one of the most popular television 'genres' worldwide, attracting the support of millions of fans, and the sponsorship of powerful companies. In A Game of Two Halves, Sandvoss considers football's relationship with television, its links with transnational capitalism, and the importance of football fandom in forming social and cultural identities around the globe. He presents the phenomenon of football as a reflection postmodern culture and globalization.Through a series of case studies, based in ethnographic audience research, Sandvoss explores the motivations and pleasures of football fans, the intense bond formed between supporters and their clubs, the implications of football consumption on political discourse and citizenship, football as a factor of cultural globalisation, and the pivotal role of football and television in a postmodern cultural order.

chapter 1|12 pages

Introduction

Football and modernity

part |2 pages

PART I Football fandom and consumption

chapter 2|12 pages

Fan practices and consumption

chapter 3|17 pages

Fandom, identity and self-reflection

chapter |3 pages

Summary to Part I

part |2 pages

PART II The social and cultural diffusion of football

chapter 4|18 pages

The politics of football

Fandom and the public sphere

chapter 5|34 pages

Football and cultural globalization

chapter |2 pages

Summary to Part II

part |2 pages

PART III Football and postmodernity

chapter 7|29 pages

Television, football and hyperreality

chapter |3 pages

Summary to Part III

chapter 8|8 pages

Conclusion

chapter |6 pages

Method and research