I would like to analyse a key social problem such as 'football hooliganism' from a sociological perspective and critically evaluate the proposition that a social problem such as this is created by society.

The first 200 words of this essay...

COMMUNITY AND THE POLICE

Introduction

I would like to analyse a key social problem such as 'football hooliganism' from a sociological perspective and critically evaluate the proposition that a social problem such as this is created by society.

Football hooliganism is very difficult to define, mainly because the media have been extremely flexible and indeterminate in ascribing the 'hooligan' label to different incidents. Football hooliganism occurs at local, national and international levels and is by most to mean disorder involving football fans. Usually this involves criminal activity and in most, but certainly not all, cases occur either at or just before or after a football match. Much football crowd disorder is spontaneous, but a lot is prearranged by gangs (or 'firms') who attach themselves to football clubs and arrange to meet, and fight, firms from other clubs.

The seventies and eighties saw some of the most violent and devastating scenes ever witnessed, and these incidents were covered in sickening detail by the media and whether a football fan or not, there can be few people who do not remember the disasters at Hillsborough and the Heysel stadiums where in total 137 lives were lost, 98 at