Hegemonic struggle, the state and popular culture the case of football in Turkey

It is generally acknowledged that the 1980s, which was marked by the rise of the New Right, was a turning point in the history of Turkey. Turkish football fans and supporters also witnessed the beginning of a process of radical transformation in football within the same period. This article seeks to shed light on the new hegemonic politics of the New Right via a critical analysis of the mechanisms through which the New Right's politics and football were articulated in Turkey in the 1980s. Having been inspired by Grossberg's theory of politics of popular culture, the article argues that the success of the New Right includes not only its ideological ability to mobilize the masses around its hegemonic project, but also its capacity to reconstruct popular practices and popular formations such as football. Copyright ©2005 SAGE Publications.