Militant extremist mind-set in Serbian football supporters: relations with the adherence to extremist social movements

ABSTRACT

Football supporters represent a specific social group which is prone to violence and ideologically based extremist behavior. In the present study we explored whether football supporters in Serbia are characterized by Militant Extremist Mind-Set (MEM), a set of beliefs characterized by terrorists and ideological extremists. MEM is constituted of three factors: Proviolence, Vile World and Divine Power. We hypothesized that all three factors are more pronounced in football supporters than in the control group of participants; furthermore, we assumed that MEM factors have an independent contribution in the prediction of support for extremist social movements. Relations between these variables are explored in a combined sample of male football supporters (N = 128) and the control group (N = 118). Obtained results confirmed all hypotheses. All MEM factors were found to be more pronounced in football supporters. All three beliefs independently predicted support for extremist social movements. Finally, the interaction between group membership and Vile World in predicting support for the extremist movements was found: football supporters with elevated belief in Vile World were especially prone to affiliate with extremist movements. Study findings provided additional insight into the ideological characteristics of football supporters in Serbia and contributed to the identification of individuals who are particularly susceptible to violent extremism.

KEYWORDS:

• Football supporters
• militant extremist mind-set
• extremist social movements

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Since the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test showed significant deviations from normal distribution for Proviolence (z = 1.99, p < .01), Vile World (z = 2.06, p < .01) and support for extremist social movements (z = 2.96, p < .01), we conducted all of the remaining analyses on normalized measures (variables were normalized using the Blom algorithm).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministarstvo Prosvete, Nauke i Tehnološkog Razvoja.

Notes on contributors

Janko Međedović

Janko Međedović holds a PhD in psychology; he works as a scientific associate at the Institute of Criminological and Sociological Research in Belgrade, Serbia. His research interests involve human behavioral ecology, “dark” personality traits, psychological determinants of large-scale violence and reconciliation after protracted violent conflicts.

Uroš Kovačević

Uroš Kovačević obtained a BA in Psychology from the Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia and is a research executive at the Deep Dive market research company.

Goran Knežević

Goran Knežević, PhD, is a Professor at the Department of Psychology, University of Belgrade, Serbia where he teaches individual differences and various topics in statistics. His current research focus is a reconceptualization of the proneness to psychotic-like experiences as a personality trait separate from the Big Five or HEXACO models.