Human nature and sport: The sociology of sports fandoms 
UTM professor Andrew Miles shares his insight on why we strongly support sports and teams.

Sociology is defined as the study of human social behavior, social change, and how people interact in society. At its core, sociology analyzes the reasons behind how humans behave socially. When it comes to sports teams, there are evidentially sociological factors at play when you’re drawn to watch and cheer for a specific team. Fans often become strongly connected with their team of choice, viewing it as a massive part of their identity, hence why the success or failure of their team can strongly influence their thoughts, emotions, and even how they interact with other people.

The Medium spoke with Professor Andrew Miles from the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) Department of Sociology. Professor Miles has a research focus on human action and draws on insights from cultural sociology and social psychology to examine how behavior is shaped by values and identities. He is currently teaching the seminar SOC402H5, Understanding Human Action, which seeks to answer the fundamental question: why do people do what they do?

When asked about the sociological factors that make people gravitate towards sports and cheer for teams, Professor Miles explained, “Humans are ‘groupy’ creatures. We tend to gravitate toward groups of like-minded people, or people who are like us in some other way. A sports team can be a way of being part of a group and can evoke strong feelings of ‘we-ness’ that people enjoy.” He also noted that other factors, such as a shared city or heritage, that can influence the experience further by increasing the feelings of “we-ness.”

Aside from local and national teams, we also have community teams on campus. Just as we’re driven to get behind our city or country, students often feel the need to treat their campus teams the same way as we see ourselves: as part of a community. It’s this community that the team represents. 

When asked if there are any differences in the sociology of campus sports compared to professional sports, Professor Miles stated, “My intuition is that the processes are the same—people like to belong, and groups can provide a sense of identity. Other identities might also play a role—e.g., someone who identifies as a college student might try to enact their view of what it means to be a college student—and if that includes being ‘into’ your school and your team, then they will do that.” 

In the case of UTM teams, the Eagles are seen as a representation of our community and thus we feel a sense of belonging by rooting them on and joining fellow UTM students in doing so. 

The sociology of sports also connects to the topic of tribalism—the state of being organized in a tribe or various groups. Naturally, sports fandoms function in a similar way since we unite either as fans of one team, or players to compete against that of another. 

“Tribalism is more of an evolutionary term that suggests one of the reasons humans are drawn to groups—because historically we existed in tribes and hence developed a number of psychological proclivities toward group life, like an ingroup bias (we see our group as more awesome than other groups),” said Professor Miles. “So, tribalism does play a role.”

As UTM students, we’re organized within the group of this particular campus. When we watch the Eagles play a game against the Scarborough campus, we’re driven to cheer on the team representing our group. As such, while the ability to support sports teams on the other side of the world through technology might be a recent development in human history, the search for a collective identity has been with us from the beginning.