Bibliometric analysis of violence in football: A look from the social sciences

Abstract

Violence in football, despite being a problem of high social relevance, continues to be addressed in a fragmented manner within the social sciences. The first episodes of violence by ultras groups in stadiums have mainly given rise to analyses focused on their causes, usually from narrative approaches. This approach is reflected in book chapters and other bibliographical texts in the social field. However, there is a clear lack of scientific literature that examines this phenomenon in a comprehensive manner, which limits the possibility of establishing a solid theoretical basis and developing effective preventive strategies. In this context, the present study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis of violence in football, with the purpose of identifying relevant research from different social science disciplines through one of the main academic databases. For this purpose, 258 articles indexed in the Web of Science database were reviewed, using the term ‘football violence’ as the thematic search criterion. The analysis of scientific production included variables such as: a) number of articles per year, b) type of documents, c) type of articles, d) languages, e) countries, and f) citation themes. The scientific cartographic analysis also considered: a) co-authorship and b) co-occurrence of terms. VOSviewer software was used for data processing. The results showed a limited scientific production, although with a sustained growth trend from 1985 to the present. In terms of co-authorship, 517 authors were identified; however, no significant connections between their publications were observed, reflecting a limited academic cohesion around the subject and the absence of consolidated research groups, resulting in 217 independent clusters. Among the scientific disciplines that contributed relevant studies, Sociology (7 publications), Psychology (4 publications) and Social Sciences in general (1 publication) stood out. The most productive category within Web of Science was ‘Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism’. The co-occurrence analysis identified thematic clusters organised into seven main areas: 1) football culture, 2) societies and human relations, 3) study and research methodology, 4) development and social dynamics, 5) space and geographical context, 6) psychology and human behaviour, and 7) violence and security. In addition, specific sub-themes were identified, including: 1) violence in football, 2) culture and aggressive attitudes, 3) verbal violence and aggression, 4) physical violence and aggression, 5) delinquency and criminal behaviour, 6) gender violence, 7) political and radical violence, 8) social phenomena and group behaviour, 9) violent behaviour and discipline in sport, 10) violence prevention and control, 11) football-related violence, 12) hostile and threatening behaviour, 13) social and psychological issues, and 14) violence in society and general culture. In conclusion, although football violence is a major social problem, the social science approach to football violence remains limited and fragmented. This underlines the need to consolidate a more robust theoretical basis and to foster interdisciplinary and collaborative research to advance the understanding and prevention of this phenomenon.