On the same team: the football media’s role in the formation and contestation of social identity discourses in contemporary English culture

Domeneghetti, Roger (2022) On the same team: the football media’s role in the formation and contestation of social identity discourses in contemporary English culture. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University.

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Abstract

This submission for a PhD by publication consists of four sole-authored studies published between 2014 and 2019—a monograph, Publication (a), and three articles all published in peer-reviewed journals of international renown, Publications (b), (c) and (d). The publications are located in the discipline of sociology of sport and also draw on a wide range of disciplines—including journalism studies, gender studies, media and sports history—for theoretical and methodological support.

Two related arguments run through the submission. The first is that football and the media in England have been increasingly functionally dependent since their modern inception in the late 19th Century. The resulting rivalries between median functionaries, and the organisations of which they were a part, led to intensifying competition and in turn the evolution of, and innovation within, football journalism. This underpins the second, which is that the result(s) of this socially constructed professional practice are discourses of social identity which both reflect and re encode long-held norms and values within English society.

Thus, this submission makes an original contribution in three key areas: It:

(1) addresses gaps in disciplinary knowledge, in particular by providing a coherent, longitudinal history of English football media previously absent from research in the area;

(2) shows how the practices of sports journalism are socially constructed;

(3) unpacks the way in which the outcomes of such practice have led to the discursive strategies that (re)present and reinforce notions of national identity and gender in contemporary English society.

Following a personal statement and introduction, the appraisal of research will be divided into three sections in which I will: (i) discuss the publications’ methodological and theoretical underpinnings as well as researcher positionality, (ii) provide a summary of the research, and (iii) articulate the original contribution of the submission, outline limitations and contextualise the submission within my ongoing research in the area.

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