Citation

Nepomuceno TCC, de Carvalho VDH, Silva LCE, de Moura JA, Costa APCS. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022; 19(15): e9711.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph19159711

PMID

35955065

Abstract

The Bedouin syndrome represents social interactions based on four premises: a friend of my friend is my friend, a friend of my enemy is my enemy, an enemy of my friend is my enemy, and an enemy of my enemy is my friend. These extensive associations exist in many social and economic relationships, such as market competition, neighborhood relations, political behavior, student gangs, organized crime, and the violent behavior of sports spectators (hooliganism) worldwide. This work tests the Bedouin syndrome hypothesis considering the violent behavior in the football fan culture. We construct relational networks of social affinities to represent the social interactions of organized fan bases (Torcidas organizadas) involved in hooligan violence in Pernambuco, Brazil. Contrary to prior expectations, the results evidence no statistical support for the Bedouin syndrome in 13 of the 15 analyzed clubs. There is weak statistical support in two interactions and strong statistical support in one interaction to state that a friend of my enemy is my friend (instead of an enemy). The only support for the Bedouin syndrome is circumstantial based on a prior assumption of an alliance. We propose a network development that can be more suitable to represent football fans' violent behavior. The results contribute to understanding the hooliganism social phenomenon in football-rooted cultures and their impact on public health, identifying potential determinants for organized violence by young spectators' and supporting police strategies by defining relevance scores for the most potential clashes and coalitions of gangs.

Language: en

Keywords

violent behavior; Bedouin syndrome; behavioral sports economics; hooliganism; network analysis