Distance education for professional programs in higher education changes as new technologies emerge. Online courseware offers a different medium for the delivery of distance courses previously offered through live or recorded television. The computer mediated communication features of online courseware provide an effective venue for peer and social learning to take place through collaborative i...

In two studies, the authors examined the circumstances under which discrimination has an identity confirmation function or an instrumental function (instigating collective action). In Study 1, participants (N = 601) described a situation in which they had discriminated and then completed measures of functionality, group identification, and group threat. Both functions were predicted by group id...

In the current article, we extend the literature on fan identification and social identity theory by examining the effects of unscrupulous off-field behaviors of athletes. In doing so, we drew from both social identity theory and Heider’s balance theory to hypothesize a significant interaction between fan identification level and leadership response on fans’ subsequent levels of identification....

This paper explores the relevance of the Elaborated Social Identity Model of Crowd Behaviour and Procedural Justice Theory to an understanding of both the presence and absence of collective conflict during football (soccer) crowd events. It provides an analysis of data gathered during longitudinal ethnographic study of fans of Cardiff City Football Club—a group of supporters with a notorious hi...

Purpose Evidence shows that the least successful clubs have most committed fans – why? Here, we test “shared-dysphoria-pathway-to-fusion” (SDPF) hypothesis of become irrevocably “fused” to their club and each other, as a result sharing self- club-defining memories past defeats.Design To assess SDPF hypothesis, calculated from UK’s top league, Premier League, over 10-year period. We then invited...