The Anomalous Beasts: Hooligans and the Sociology of Education

Abstract

This paper argues that the subspecialism of sociology of education has, for a century, been ambivalent about the `hooligan'. It has both celebrated and excoriated the anti-school working-class boy. Similarly, the mainstream of sociology has been ambivalent about sociologists of education, both relying on them and ignoring them. Thirdly, the paper speculates on the position of hooligans in Britain in 2025 and the relationship between mainstream sociology and the sociology of education in that year.