Intergroup Contact, Islam and the 2022 FIFA World Cup

1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-38284-3
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 160 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Critical Research in Football

This is the first book to critically examine England football fans’ attitudes towards Muslims and Islam through the lens of a sports mega-event, drawing on fan experiences at the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup, the first staged in an Islamic society.

Drawing on pre-event interviews, audio-visual diaries, field observations, and post-event reflections with England fans, the book examines whether short-term sporting events can produce transformational shifts in fans’ attitudes towards Muslims and Islam, or whether they reinforce existing prejudices despite unprecedented opportunities for intergroup contact. To do so, it develops a novel theoretical framework by integrating Gordon Allport’s contact theory with Edward Said’s Orientalism, offering a unique lens for understanding intergroup encounters in a sporting context. Arriving at a critical juncture between the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia, as Arabian Peninsula states will likely assume a greater role in global sport, the book makes an important and timely contribution to our understanding of football fandom, anti-Muslim prejudice, and the potential for sport to address wider social and cultural issues.

This book is fascinating reading for researchers and postgraduate students in the sociology of sport, social psychology, postcolonial studies, and tourism and events, and will appeal to anybody with a broader interest in football fandom, intergroup relations, Orientalism, or the cultural politics of sports mega-events.

Zielgruppe

Academic, Postgraduate, and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Taylor, Thomas

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Islam & Islamische Studien Islam & Islamische Studien
• Sozialwissenschaften Sport | Tourismus | Freizeit Sport Ballsportarten American Football Fußball

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction 2. Contact, Otherness and Sporting Encounters 3. Staging Qatar: Fans, Islam and The Cultural Politics of 2022 World Cup 4. The World Cup ‘Bubble’: England fans and the Quest for Authenticity 5. The Politics of Encounter: Proxy Contact with Migrant Workers 6. Beyond the ‘Bubble’: Rethinking Contact

Über Autor(innen)

Thomas Taylor is a lecturer in Sports Management at University College Birmingham, UK. His research interests include the critical, social-scientific analysis of sport and sports mega-events, with a particular focus on racism and Islamophobia.