"Our Gift to This World": An Analysis of Specificities of Violence in Practices of a St. Petersburg Fight Club

Abstract

The article discusses specific ways in which violence is applied in fist fighting by participants of a fight club in St. Petersburg. The author draws on participant observation and interview data. He examines the principles of organization of fist fighting in the club, as well as formal and informal norms controlling the level of permissible violence in the practices. The article focuses on the analysis of significance of physical violence for the construction of masculinity by the fight club participants.