Lecture given by Martha Newson, St Cross College, University of Oxford DPhil, Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology

The human propensity to sacrifice oneself for non-kin is not easily accounted for by evolutionary theories, yet throughout human history people have fought and died for non-kin across a wide array of contexts.

Here, in the context of football fandom, I reveal the psychology that glues individuals to one another and the collective, motivating self-sacrifice.

About Martha:
Martha's fieldwork in Brazil used traditional anthropological techniques, as well as both psychological and physiological methods to investigate extreme social bonding, ‘identity fusion’, among football fans. With further research being conducted in the UK, Spain and Brazil, a cross-cultural approach forms the backbone of Martha's thesis. Her other areas of interest include sex differences, reproduction, religion and ritual, sociolinguistics, and social insects.

Tickets from Ryde School Reception

ENTRANCE FREE