content analysis

I have to say, I’ve always been somewhat skeptical about the notion of culture as an independent variable. Like many sociologists, I tend to think primarily in terms of the structural forces that shape social behavior. For example, how race/class/gender shape life chances. However, a fair number of scholars working within sociology’s “cultural turn” are interested in the independent effect of culture. To be perfectly honest, such arguments often baffle me.

But last night I came upon a great example of how culture can affect behavior independent of structural factors. As one of the five American soccer fans, I was doing my part and watching ESPN2’s MLS Primetime Thursday, the one time per week when games from our national soccer league are shown on basic cable (several other games are shown on Fox Soccer Channel and Telefutura). The match-up was between the ever-disappointing New York Red Bulls and the red-hot Toronto FC. The game, played on a cold, windy, rainy night in Toronto, benefited from the enthusiasm of the wildly supportive and vocal fans, who sang and hurled streamers all night. A great description of the crowd by soccer writer, Ives Galarcep, is available here.

Toronto FC is an expansion team founded last season. Unlike American soccer clubs which have struggled to fill their stadiums at times, TFC has sold out of season tickets in both of their first two years. Nearly every game draws a wild capacity crowd. The only possible structural explanation for this disparity is that BMO Field is in downtown Toronto (or on its outskirts), unlike the other stadiums, which are usually hidden in the suburbs. Nonetheless, given the enthusiasm of the TFC fans, I’d guess they’d show up even in the suburbs.

It seems to me that the strong cultural imprint of British culture on Canadian culture has led to the huge base of fanatical Toronto fans. Many would be tempted to point to the fact that Toronto is a city of immigrants and, given that soccer is a global sport, the immigrant population might explain the high level of support. Of course, several other MLS cities have large immigrants populations: New York, LA, Houston, Dallas, among others (moreover, I saw mostly Anglo-Saxon faces in last night’s crowd). I’d guess that Canadian culture, more than American culture, (well, sporting culture at least) is derived from British and European sources. This cultural similarity leads to a greater understanding of and support for soccer among Canadians. This phenomenon seems to me a pretty good example of culture having an effect on behavior independent of structural forces.

Then again, there are well-armed forces that keep American crowds from acting too much like English supporters. Galarcep writes,

Seeing stadium security toss pass unrolled streamers to the crowd was amazing. Imagine seeing that at Giants Stadium. Not only would that not happen, if you tossed a streamer at a player at Giants Stadium you would get tackled by two state troopers as a state police dog mauled your leg.