Becoming a Nationalist Activist: Exploring Biographical Paths of Polish Football Fans

Abstract

The article explores the biographical process of becoming a nationalist activist in the environment of Polish football supporters. Analysing the issue in focus, it also aims to show how the biographical approach can be a useful method to study the processes of reproduction of bottom–up nationalism in general. To this end, we use the classic theoretical approach of Thomas and Znaniecki to explore autobiographical narratives from interviews with 35 nationalist activists from supporter groups of Polish football clubs. The analysis identifies three patterns of the process of becoming a nationalist activist, which are described as patterns typical of keepers, the awakened and followers. The study indicates that the national-martyrological attitude is the foundation of the distinguished paths, and shows how the supporter environment develops the national-martyrological attitude into nationalist activism.