I know you know, dear readers, unless you live on Oberon (the moon of Uranus), you cannot avoid this magnificent event, in which case you hardly read Bilgi.
More than half a million citizens took to the streets of Madrid on Sunday, ecstatic at the sporting success. But this phenomenon isn’t just from Madrid: On Saturday night, without going any further, the Plaza de los Luceros in Alicante celebrated the white victory until three in the morning. That’s what happened in many Spanish cities, including Barcelona.
Why is this happening? Why do some people who have nothing to do with wealthy football professionals daydream, suffer or enjoy their sporting/professional failures or successes, even though they have nothing to do with their lives or well-being? How is this sharing possible between a sports team and its followers?
The answer is the title of this article: sense of belonging.
Feeling like a family member, a follower of a football team, a band, an urban movement, or having the same faith makes us feel like a member of something. This sense of belonging, although clearly influenced by the social changes of time, is essential to our evolutionary development. Without going any further, social psychology and sociology arose out of the decline of society as a result of the very processes of industrialization and urbanization. It is clear that the sense of belonging that a person can experience in prehistoric times will be far from the Western urbanites of the 21st century.
Identity is a highly subjective phenomenon with a strong emotional component. The formation of identity implies the process of recognizing and appreciating one’s own individuality, so It is closely related to self-esteem.
Perhaps football has “civilized” this sense of belonging. In the Middle Ages individuals felt belonging to a clan and their differences were resolved by duels and bloody wars, they fought under the flags of feudal lords and painted the fields red. At least today, battles are fought between individuals in shorts and televised on manicured lawns. Sometimes though, this violence unfortunately spills over to the outskirts of the pitch.
The sense of belonging has always and everywhere been tried to be politically exploited: I still remember the “politics” classes of the Marists: “Family, municipality, and union” They were and reflected natural channels of political representation, better than any organizational apparatus – they told us – the indisputable sense of belonging of the individual. .
Or consider the American National Rifle Association, which stands as a mark of identity in a society like the United States. Or the self-proclaimed FC Barcelona “More than a club” and naturally only crowned with pro-independence whims for what matters.
It’s another story where politicians later tried to capitalize on this tsunami of emotion: Look at the receptions at Town Hall and at the Community centre. Yes… millions of citizens… millions of votes…