Factors and social pressures attached to the constitution of a crowd figuration during the “match of the century” in 1972 – some notes and sociological tours - doi: 10.4025/reveducfis.v22i1.8815

Abstract

Our goal in this article is to identify and discuss some of the sociologically possible factors and social pressures inherent in the establishment of a social representation of fans in the city of Reykjavik – Iceland's capital – to monitor objectively the end of the world chess championship in 1972 starred between the Soviet chess player Boris Spassky and American chess player Robert James Fischer in full context of the Cold War. In order to support the discussion fostered here, we sought, first, to rescue some images of spectators during the "match of the century" and then perform a sociological reading of the social scene depicted therein in light of some theoretical contributions by renowned sociology authors whom have reserved a meaningful space for discussion of the sport in their works.