LEWISTON – If the Red Sox win the World Series again, fans may have a kind of identity crisis, Bates College American culture and history professor Margaret Creighton said Wednesday.

So much of who the fans are – virtuous, stubborn loyalists even when their allegiance went unrewarded – is defined by decades of not winning.

“It’s really quite jarring for Red Sox fans now to have to deal with success, and it might be repeated,” said Creighton. “Once could be a fluke, getting rid of the curse … But twice? This is very challenging and, to a degree, upsetting.”

A fan herself, the Bates professor taught “Red Sox Nation” in 2005, a course examining the culture and history of the team and fans. She plans to offer it again next year.

Decades of losing forged Boston fans to regard themselves as the underdog. Fans think, “We may be scruffy, we may look like ruffians, but we’re scrappy and we fight and work hard,” Creighton said.

Even with 2004’s win, Red Sox Nation citizens are still fundamentally pessimistic, she said. “When the Red Sox were down 3-1 against Cleveland, it felt very familiar, almost a little comfortable, because this is where we’ve been.”

Success would bring accusations that Red Sox fans are arrogant, haughty, “that the Red Sox are the Yankees,” Creighton said. She questions whether fans will be able to handle a second win “with a degree of humility.”

According to Creighton, the fan base known as Red Sox Nation is a phenomenon only a few decades old. It evolved with the help of sportswriters who noticed in every ballpark across the country there were rabid, adamant, Boston fans who often drowned out hometown fans. The Red Sox Nation has become an emblem of pride for followers, increasingly annoying to others.

Red Sox fans “believe they’re special,” Creighton said. “There’s something distinctive about Boston, New England and its past.”

Emerging technology has also helped grow Red Sox Nation, she said. Blackberries and cell phones allow people “to know who’s batting and who’s hitting.” High-definition televisions bring vivid games into homes. People recognize baseball as a big business, “and they’re turning it into a bigger business.”

Red Sox Nation’s population has also grown through the multitude of colleges in Boston and New England. Students become and stay fans – citizens -after they graduate and move away. “They have a lot of nostalgia for their college days,” Creighton said.

The Bates professor got the idea to teach a Red Sox Nation class “out of the angst” from the 2003 season. She called baseball “a great social mirror” into the dynamics of society. More than other sports, baseball is reflected in pop culture.

In class, her students studied Red Sox history, rituals, as well as the gender, race and class of fans and baseball franchises. Students also examined how baseball replicates society.

One conclusion was that baseball’s a sport where when one player gets to the plate, “an individual can change the way things look entirely.” That reflects a predominant American ideal, Creighton said.

Students also examined racial prejudice in the Red Sox, how it was among the last major league team to integrate.

Some students argued there’s still elitism. They said Fenway should be dismantled and replaced with a larger park so ticket prices could be lowered, allowing more fans to go to games.

Others argued back that Fenway is historic, sacred and cannot be replaced. “There was even shouting,” Creighton said.

Students dissected Yankees-Red Sox rivalry and came up with several analogies, comparing it to ancient states of Sparta vs. Athens. There’s also more recent history. In the 1800s, Boston and New York competed to be the intellectual, cultural and economic superior. By the end of the century New York emerged as the economic powerhouse, “but Boston continues to fight that battle,” Creighton said.

Teaching the class had an impact on her.

It’s harder for her to watch a game without dissecting all aspects of it. “It’s a little less relaxing,” she said. “But I still love it.”