The European Ritual: Football in the New Europe

by Anthony King

Football constitutes a vivid public ritual in contemporary European culture through which emergent social solidarities and new economic networks have come into being. This fascinating and unique volume traces the transformation of European football from the 1950s to the present, focusing in particular on the dramatic changes that have occurred in the last decade and linking them to the wider process of European integration. The examination of football illuminates how the growing dominance of the free market has changed European society from an international order in which the nation-state was dominant to a more complex transnational regime in which cities and regions are becoming more prominent than in the past. The study is supported by detailed ethnographic accounts emerging from the author's fieldwork at Manchester United and interview data with some of the most important figures in European football at clubs including Juventus, Milan, Bayern Munich, Schalke and Barcelona. It also includes a highly topical examination of racism in European football.

Hardcover

First published March 12, 2004

About the author

Anthony King was reader in sociology at the University of Exeter. He is now a Professor of War Studies at Warwick University.

In addition to his work on social theory, he has carried out extensive research on English and European football. He is currently researching European defence policy and capability. His work is currently specialising in the study of war and the armed forces and is particularly interested in the question of small unit cohesion.

Reviews

[Arya Nasoetion]

I've read one chapter of it (chapter about Bosman Ruling) when I was doing my master's thesis. I found this book at the Central Library of the European Commission in Brussels, when I was conducting study visit there. I could copy as many books, pages, journals, or anything there. FOR FREE!!!

But I only had time to copy one chapter of it, because at the same time I was also copying six articles from several journals.
I only had the chance to copy the chapter that mattered the most to my thesis. But actually I wanted to copy entire book!

So, this book is next on my to-read list.