Ideological dimensions of the public debate about violence in Brazilian football

Abstract

This study aimed to answer the following question: can the discourses produced in the public debate about violence involving Brazilian football supporters be considered ideological, establishing and maintaining domination relations? The concept of ideology proposed by John B. Thompson was used, as well as his methodology: the depth hermeneutics. Following the traditional structure proposed by this methodology, the study was divided in three interdependent parts: the first one, analyzed the socio-historical context of the debate. Afterwards, its formal and discursive structures are analyzed. Finally, the outputs from the formal and discursive structures were interpreted. It was possible to conclude that the debate discussed here uses a narrative wich stigmatizes the football supporters involved in violent actions, specially the "organized supporters", who are maintained in a domination situation.