What do you call someone who likes controversial things? [duplicate]

Solution 1:

From usage in general writing and esp., management literature, I would think of the term maverick, usually a person who is given to thinking differently from the conventional/ popular. Often, not just differently but radically opposite to the accepted line of thinking.

Though dictionaries define the term rather concisely in scope, you will see it used quite extensively in the media and also in management studies of personality.

"...maverick thinking is necessary to survive especially in times of crisis, when the rules of engagement in business change and when you set big goals to achieve big things. "

Many other references can be found on Google.

Solution 2:

Answers to question #70526, “What do you call a person who does/thinks the opposite of the crowd for just that reason?” include: contrarian, individualist, loner, lone wolf, and lone hand, and Fumblefingers mentioned “nonconformist, renegade, maverick, rebel, radical, individualist, heretic, dissenter, dissident, iconoclast, loner, etc., etc.”

Note, wiktionary defines a contrarian as “a person who expresses a contradicting viewpoint, especially one who denounces the majority persuasion”, and also shows a different sense for contrarian market analysts.

The word controversialist may be relevant; wiktionary defines this as “One who regularly engages in public controversies” and offers the example “Richard Dawkins has become a leading controversialist in a few areas.”