The digital interaction environment as a reconfiguration of the fan identity and its symbolic distinctions

The article discusses the construction of the identity of the Brazilian soccer fan in the light of the processes of mediatization and the symbolic performance of digital social networks. From a qualitative approach of essayistic and exploratory character, based on authors such as Bourdieu, Hall, Giddens, Hjarvard and Giulianotti, the study analyzes how digital platforms reconfigure the forms of belonging, symbolic distinction and classification between the different profiles of fans. It is argued that the soccer field, traditionally structured by categories based on physical presence and affective bonding, is today tensioned by mediatized practices that establish new criteria of legitimacy and engagement. Social networks emerge as discursive arenas of visibility and dispute, in which multiple, fluid and sometimes antagonistic fan identities are constructed and performed, in a scenario of constant symbolic negotiation.