I love the New England Patriots, but when I say that, especially after someone has already met and spoken to me, they immediately give me a look. Most of the time their face is filled with disgust. You would think that would bother me. Does it? Absolutely not. I love my team, win or lose.
The New England Patriots is an in-group I belong to. In-group means when someone categorizes themselves as a part of a group they feel committed to. I promise you, I am 100% committed. Now, there are many teams that I don’t like which would be the out-group (any other groups seen as potential rivals). Being the fan of a winning team, clearly, we have some rivals. We won today 33-7 against the Redskins.
What’s interesting is how this could play out in real life relationships. I do know plenty of people who are a part of the out-group regarding football and my in-group. That has not affected my relationship with them in any way. We’ve remained friends that hang out. I mean my best friend is an Eagles fan and I dated a Giants fan at one point in my life. For others that is not the case.
Prejudice is a set of attitudes towards members of a group. There are some that have prejudices against fans of other sports teams. For example, I could say that I do not like Seahawks fans (this is actually not true, but they were the first team to come to mind), but I wouldn’t allow that to stop me from working with one or hiring one when I used to work in HR. I even hired Steelers fans.
Discrimination is an overt negative behavior towards a person based on his or her membership in a group. Discrimination has begun to play a large role in sports teams and relationships. A lady I was acquainted with discussed with me that she refused to date anyone that was a Redskin’s fan (she loved the Cowboys). A coworker of mine gave up her love for the Cowboys to become an Eagles fan to keep the peace in her home with her fiancé. Personally, I could never and secondly, I would never have thought to use that as a determining factor on dating someone.
Stereotypes can also be projected based on your in-group, by out-group members and vice versa. Stereotypes are defined by Gruman as beliefs about the characteristics, attributes, and behaviors of members of certain groups. When I worked in HR, an interviewee saw my Patriots lanyard and tried to make a funny remark about if I like the Patriots, I must be a cheater too. He thought it was funny, I however, did not.
Statements and actions like those create conflict. They go beyond the original reasons why two teams are rivals in the first place. This is how things get personal. While I use football as a way to relax and release stress by yelling at my television as if Coach Belichick and Julian Edelman can hear me calling out plays, others may use a win to feel validation over other people as a part of their emotional significance attached to their membership to that group.
Social identity reflects a sense of identity based on the social groups to which individuals belong or with which they identify according to Gruman. A sports fan’s commitment to their group may include putting down others.
While I do believe that contact hypothesis which is “the assumption was that positive contact with members of an out-group could decrease negative stereotyping of the out-group by the in-group and lead to improved intergroup relations” (Gruman, 2017) could work in other situations. It’s important that both parties feel relatively equal in power and status, but with sports, if a team loses, you can throw that notion out of the window.
Gruman, J. A. (2017). Applied Social Psychology. [MBS Direct]. Retrieved from https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781506353968/
NEWWWWW ENGLAND WINS pic.twitter.com/apFWbIWI3i
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 6, 2019