By: Sadie Chamberlain
Soccer, as a cultural form that mirrors the society we live in, reflects the broader sociopolitical realities that shape everyday life. Given its complex social and symbolic position, this study asks to what extent soccer represents the divisions that pervade society, or perhaps serves as a medium through which the values we consider prosocial are contested, negotiated, and reshaped within political realities. In other words, how does soccer operate in a world permeated by culture wars that frame social life through the binaries of liberal and conservative, forming what is perhaps a limited, if not exclusive, basis for moral judgment between right and wrong?
Previous studies (e.g., Gang et al., 2023; Numerato, 2016) have recognized that soccer can serve as a stage where fandom generates and circulates distinct value systems that transcend conventional sport discourse. Such observations have led us to imagine the soccer stadium as a potential manifestation of what Habermas conceptualized as the public sphere, illustrating its capacity to extend soccer’s prosocial function beyond sport. Yet, unlike Habermas’s ideal of rational and inclusive discourse, the communicative space of the stadium is fragmented, shaped by competing moral visions and social hierarchies. The dialectical relationships that emerge in defining the legitimate meaning of soccer are intertwined with broader cultural, economic, and political forces, including neoliberalism and contested constructions of inclusion and civic virtue.
To explicate soccer as a social totality that mirrors contemporary political experience, this study examines a soccer fandom situated in Spokane, Washington, a politically divided city in the Pacific Northwest. Its core supporters’ group publicly identifies with left-leaning values, such as opposition to social and gender-based inequalities, forming a central part of its organizational ethos. Our inquiry moves beyond illustrating what fandom does to examine what it means, both within and beyond the stadium. A critical case study employing Carspecken’s (1996) approach to qualitative inquiry provides the necessary depth for this analysis. Guided by Bourdieu’s (1993) notion of field, the Spokane soccer scene is conceptualized as a social arena where diverse actors (e.g., fans, club officials, players) struggle to define the legitimate meaning of the game and the moral values attached to it.
Preliminary observations reveal that soccer fandom in Spokane reflects, rather than transcends, the broader political divisions shaping civic life. Although soccer fan culture is often perceived as embodying liberal and inclusive values, the interactions within and around the stadium display ideological fault lines. These divisions extend beyond the stands into the relationships among players, fans, and club officials, as stakeholders navigate a complex field where ideological, class, and moral boundaries are continuously reproduced rather than unified by shared liberal ideals.
Ultimately, soccer in Spokane functions not as a politically neutral or uniformly progressive space but as a microcosm of civic polarization. Recognizing these dynamics invites a rethinking of how sport contributes to civic life, not as a vehicle for consensus, but as a site where the contradictions of democracy become visible.
About the student author
Sadie is a sophomore in the Sport Management program who has spent her first two years at Washington State University actively engaged in faculty-guided research. This research was presented at the Undergraduate Research Competition at the 2026 Applied Sport Management Association Conference in Philadelphia.
References
Bourdieu, P. (1993). Some properties of fields. Media Studies: A Reader, 94-99.
Carspecken, P. (1996). Critical ethnography in educational research: A theoretical and practical guide. Routledge.
Gang, A. C., Lee, J. Y., Griffin, R. B., & Pedersen, P. M. (2023). Understanding the Outcomes of Associational Involvement in Football Fan Clubs: Assessing the Validity of Socialization and Selection Hypotheses. Leisure Sciences, 1–20. Understanding the Outcomes of Associational Involvement in Football Fan Clubs
Numerato, D. (2018). Football fans, activism and social change. Routledge.