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SPORT AND GLOBALISATION<br />

ENTRY FOR:<br />

SPORT AND DEVELOPMENT WEB-BASED PLATFORM,<br />

SWISS ACADEMY FOR DEVELOPMENT,<br />

SWITZERLAND<br />

Professor Joseph Maguire, Ph.D<br />

Co-Director, Centre for Olympic Studies <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> Research<br />

Past-President, RC27/ISA, <str<strong>on</strong>g>Internati<strong>on</strong>al</str<strong>on</strong>g> Sociology of <str<strong>on</strong>g>Sport</str<strong>on</strong>g> Associati<strong>on</strong><br />

School of <str<strong>on</strong>g>Sport</str<strong>on</strong>g> & Exercise Sciences<br />

Loughborough University<br />

Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK<br />

P: +44 (0) 1509 223328<br />

F: +44 (0) 1509 226301<br />

E: J.A.Maguire@lboro.ac.uk<br />

W: www.lboro.ac.uk.uk/departments/sses/<br />

1


SPORT AND GLOBALISATION<br />

Modern sport is bound up in a global network of interdependency chains that<br />

are marked by global flows <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> uneven power relati<strong>on</strong>s. C<strong>on</strong>sider the c<strong>on</strong>sumpti<strong>on</strong> of<br />

sports events. People across the globe regularly view satellite broadcasts of English<br />

Premier League <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> European Champi<strong>on</strong>s League matches. In these games the best<br />

players drawn from Europe, South America <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> Africa perform. The players use<br />

equipment – boots, balls, uniforms etc - that are designed in the West, financed by<br />

multinati<strong>on</strong>al corporati<strong>on</strong>s such as Adidas <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> Nike <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> h<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g>-stitched, in the case of<br />

soccer balls, in Asia using child labour. This equipment is then sold, at significant<br />

profit, to a mass market in the towns <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> cities of North America <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> Europe. Several<br />

transnati<strong>on</strong>al corporati<strong>on</strong>s are involved in the producti<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> c<strong>on</strong>sumpti<strong>on</strong> phases of<br />

global soccer – some of whom both own the media companies <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> have, as in the case<br />

of Sky TV, shareholdings in the soccer clubs they screen as part of what sociologists<br />

term the ‘global media sport complex’.<br />

The global flows that pattern world sport have several dimensi<strong>on</strong>s. These<br />

include: the internati<strong>on</strong>al movement of people such as tourists, migrants, exiles <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

guest workers; the technology dimensi<strong>on</strong> is created by the flow between countries of<br />

the machinery <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> equipment produced by corporati<strong>on</strong>s <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> government agencies; the<br />

ec<strong>on</strong>omic dimensi<strong>on</strong> centres <strong>on</strong> the rapid flow of m<strong>on</strong>ey <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> its equivalents around<br />

the world; the media dimensi<strong>on</strong> entails the flow of images <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> informati<strong>on</strong> between<br />

countries that is produced <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> distributed by newspapers, magazines, radio, film,<br />

televisi<strong>on</strong>, video, satellite, cable <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> the world wide web; <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> finally, the ideological<br />

dimensi<strong>on</strong> is linked to the flow of values centrally associated with state or counter-<br />

state ideologies <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> movements. All five dimensi<strong>on</strong>s can be detected in late twentieth<br />

century sports development. Thus the global migrati<strong>on</strong> of sports pers<strong>on</strong>nel has been a<br />

2


pr<strong>on</strong>ounced feature of recent decades. This appears likely to c<strong>on</strong>tinue in the future.<br />

The flow across the globe of goods, equipment <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> 'l<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g>scapes' such as sports<br />

complexes <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> golf courses has developed into a multi-billi<strong>on</strong> dollar business in<br />

recent years <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> represents a transnati<strong>on</strong>al development in the sports sphere.<br />

Regarding ec<strong>on</strong>omic issues, clearly the flow of finance in the global sports arena has<br />

come to centre not <strong>on</strong>ly <strong>on</strong> the internati<strong>on</strong>al trade in pers<strong>on</strong>nel, prize m<strong>on</strong>ey <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

endorsements, but <strong>on</strong> the marketing of sport al<strong>on</strong>g specific lines. The transformati<strong>on</strong><br />

of sports such as American football, basketball, golf <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> soccer into global sports is<br />

part of this process.<br />

Closely c<strong>on</strong>nected to these flows have been media-led developments. The<br />

media-sport producti<strong>on</strong> complex projects images of individual sports labour migrants,<br />

leisure forms <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> specific cultural messages to large global audiences – c<strong>on</strong>sider the<br />

world-wide audience for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. The power of this media<br />

sport complex has forced a range of sports to align themselves to this global model<br />

that emphasises spectacle, pers<strong>on</strong>ality <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> excitement. At the level of ideology, global<br />

sports festivals such as the Olympics have come to serve as vehicles for the<br />

expressi<strong>on</strong> of ideologies that are transnati<strong>on</strong>al in character. Note, for example, how<br />

the opening <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> closing cerem<strong>on</strong>ies of the Athens Games were designed to project<br />

images <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> messages about Greece to both its own people <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> to a global audience.<br />

How can we make sense of these global sport processes?<br />

Three points need to be grasped. First, studies of sport that are not studies of<br />

the societies in which sports are located are studies out of c<strong>on</strong>text. Here, emphasis is<br />

being placed <strong>on</strong> the need to examine the interc<strong>on</strong>nected political, ec<strong>on</strong>omic, cultural<br />

<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> social patterns that c<strong>on</strong>tour <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> shape modern sport. Attenti<strong>on</strong> has also to be<br />

given to how these patterns c<strong>on</strong>tain both enabling <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> c<strong>on</strong>straining dimensi<strong>on</strong>s <strong>on</strong><br />

3


people's acti<strong>on</strong>s – there are ‘winners’ <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> ‘losers’ in this global game. Societies are no<br />

l<strong>on</strong>ger - <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> except in very rare cases - were never sealed off from other societies.<br />

Ties of trade, warfare, migrati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> culture are of l<strong>on</strong>g st<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g>ing in human history.<br />

Witness, for instance the c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong>s made throughout Renaissance Europe. More<br />

recent globalisati<strong>on</strong> processes have unleashed new sets of ‘interdependency chains’,<br />

the networks that have (inter) c<strong>on</strong>nected people from distant parts of the globe. It is in<br />

this c<strong>on</strong>text of global power networks, that the practice <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> c<strong>on</strong>sumpti<strong>on</strong> of elite<br />

modern sport can be best understood. Sec<strong>on</strong>dly, in order to trace, describe <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> analyse<br />

the global sports process it is wise to adopt a l<strong>on</strong>g-term perspective. An historical <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

comparative approach can help us explain how the present pattern of global sport has<br />

emerged out of the past <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> is c<strong>on</strong>nected with a range of ‘civilisati<strong>on</strong>al struggles’.<br />

The third point of significance c<strong>on</strong>cerns the c<strong>on</strong>cept of globalisati<strong>on</strong> itself.<br />

The c<strong>on</strong>cept refers to the growing network of interdependencies, political, ec<strong>on</strong>omic,<br />

cultural <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> social, which bind human beings together - for better <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> for worse. We<br />

can also note that globalisati<strong>on</strong> processes are not of recent origin <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> nor do they<br />

occur evenly across all areas of the globe. These processes involving an increasing<br />

intensificati<strong>on</strong> of global interc<strong>on</strong>nectedness are very l<strong>on</strong>g-term in nature but during<br />

the twentieth century the rate of change gathered momentum. Despite the 'unevenness'<br />

of these processes, it is more difficult to underst<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> local or nati<strong>on</strong>al experiences<br />

without reference to these global flows. In fact, our living c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s, beliefs,<br />

knowledge <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> acti<strong>on</strong>s are intertwined with unfolding globalisati<strong>on</strong> processes. These<br />

processes include the emergence of a global ec<strong>on</strong>omy, a transnati<strong>on</strong>al cosmopolitan<br />

culture <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> a range of internati<strong>on</strong>al social movements. A multitude of transnati<strong>on</strong>al or<br />

global ec<strong>on</strong>omic <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> technological exchanges, communicati<strong>on</strong> networks <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

migratory patterns characterise this interc<strong>on</strong>nected world pattern. As a result people<br />

4


experience spatial <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> temporal dimensi<strong>on</strong>s differently. There is a ‘speeding up’ of<br />

time <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> a 'shrinking' of space. Modern technologies enable people, images, ideas <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

m<strong>on</strong>ey to cross the globe with great rapidity. These processes lead to a greater degree<br />

of interdependence, but also to an increased awareness of a sense of the world as a<br />

whole. People become more attuned to the noti<strong>on</strong> that their lives <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> place of living<br />

are part of a single social space - the globe.<br />

<str<strong>on</strong>g>Globalisati<strong>on</strong></str<strong>on</strong>g> processes, then, involve multi-directi<strong>on</strong>al movements of people,<br />

practices, customs <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> ideas that involve a series of power balances, yet have neither<br />

the hidden h<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> of progress nor some all-pervasive, over-arching c<strong>on</strong>spiracy guiding<br />

them. Although the globe can be understood as an interdependent whole, in different<br />

areas of social life established <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> outsider groups <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> nati<strong>on</strong> states are c<strong>on</strong>stantly<br />

vying with each other for dominant positi<strong>on</strong>s. Given this growth in the multiplicity of<br />

linkages <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> networks that transcend nati<strong>on</strong>-states, it is not surprising that we may be<br />

at the earliest stages of the development of a 'transnati<strong>on</strong>al culture' or 'global culture',<br />

of which sport is a part. This process entails a shift from ethnic or nati<strong>on</strong>al cultures to<br />

'supranati<strong>on</strong>al' forms based up<strong>on</strong> either the culture of a 'superpower' or of<br />

'cosmopolitan' communicati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> migrant networks. In this c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong> there is<br />

c<strong>on</strong>siderable debate as to whether global sport is leading to a form of homogenised<br />

body culture – specifically al<strong>on</strong>g Western, or American lines. There is some evidence<br />

to support this.<br />

Yet global flows are simultaneously increasing the varieties of body cultures<br />

<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> identities available to people in local cultures. Global sport, then, seems to be<br />

leading to the reducti<strong>on</strong> in c<strong>on</strong>trasts between societies but also to the emergence of<br />

new varieties of body cultures <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> identities. Several of the more recent features of<br />

globalisati<strong>on</strong> can also be identified. These include: an increase in the number of<br />

5


internati<strong>on</strong>al agencies; the growth of increasing global forms of communicati<strong>on</strong>; the<br />

development of global competiti<strong>on</strong>s <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> prizes; <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> the development of st<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g>ard<br />

noti<strong>on</strong>s of 'rights' <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> citizenship that are increasingly st<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g>ardised internati<strong>on</strong>ally.<br />

The emergence <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> diffusi<strong>on</strong> of sport in the 19 th century is clearly interwoven with<br />

this overall process. The development of nati<strong>on</strong>al <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> internati<strong>on</strong>al sports<br />

organisati<strong>on</strong>s, the growth of competiti<strong>on</strong> between nati<strong>on</strong>al teams, the world-wide<br />

acceptance of rules governing specific, that is 'Western', 'sport' forms, <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> the<br />

establishment of global competiti<strong>on</strong>s such as the Olympic Games <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> the men’s <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

women’s soccer World Cup’s, are all indicative of the occurrence of globalisati<strong>on</strong> in<br />

the sports world.<br />

If c<strong>on</strong>siderati<strong>on</strong> is given to the issue of internati<strong>on</strong>al sport success in the late<br />

twentieth century <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> in the early part of this new century it is clear that this involves<br />

a c<strong>on</strong>test between systems located within a global c<strong>on</strong>text. <str<strong>on</strong>g>Sport</str<strong>on</strong>g> success depends <strong>on</strong><br />

several elements: the availability <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> identificati<strong>on</strong> of human resources; methods of<br />

coaching <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> training; the efficiency of the sport organisati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> the depth of<br />

knowledge of sports medicine <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> sport sciences. These nati<strong>on</strong>al sport system<br />

mechanisms are a necessary but not sufficient explanati<strong>on</strong> of internati<strong>on</strong>al sport<br />

success. In additi<strong>on</strong> to these elements sport development within a particular society<br />

also depends <strong>on</strong> the status of that nati<strong>on</strong> in the sports internati<strong>on</strong>al rank order. Less<br />

developed nati<strong>on</strong>s tend to under-utilise their talent <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> performers <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g>/or lose them to<br />

more powerful nati<strong>on</strong>s in the global sports process. Global sport processes can thus<br />

lead to the under- or dependent development of a nati<strong>on</strong>'s talent.<br />

The migrati<strong>on</strong> of performers, coaches, administrators <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> sport scientists<br />

within <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> between nati<strong>on</strong>s <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> within <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> between c<strong>on</strong>tinents <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> hemispheres is<br />

also a pr<strong>on</strong>ounced feature of late twentieth century sport. Migrati<strong>on</strong> of this elite talent<br />

6


has become a decisive feature that structures the experience of sport in different<br />

societies. The movement of technology <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> the manufacture of clothing, footwear <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

equipment is a world-wide industry that wealthier nati<strong>on</strong>s are able to access to a far<br />

greater degree than their poorer counterparts. The global sports industry needs to be<br />

examined in terms of the implicati<strong>on</strong>s for sustainable sport systems. In additi<strong>on</strong> to<br />

these global flows, the images of sport stars <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> tournaments flow round the globe via<br />

the media sport complex. The interc<strong>on</strong>nected web of media <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> corporate interests<br />

structures, though it does not completely determine, the sports experience for<br />

performers <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> c<strong>on</strong>sumers alike.<br />

Global sporting success not <strong>on</strong>ly reflects nati<strong>on</strong>al sport systems but also<br />

reinforces nati<strong>on</strong>al esteem. Global sport involves a form of patriot games in which<br />

images <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> stories are told to us, about ourselves <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> about others. Elite level<br />

achievement sport also tells us something about what it is to be 'human'. With its<br />

emphasis <strong>on</strong> rati<strong>on</strong>al <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> efficient performance, specialisati<strong>on</strong>, scientisati<strong>on</strong>,<br />

competiti<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> professi<strong>on</strong>alisati<strong>on</strong>, achievement sport reinforces the myth of the<br />

'superman'. This myth is sustained by the ideology <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> findings of the sports sciences<br />

that tends to be c<strong>on</strong>cerned with identifying the c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s necessary to produce the<br />

ultimate performance.<br />

The global sports system accordingly involves the mechanisms of producti<strong>on</strong>,<br />

experience <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> c<strong>on</strong>sumpti<strong>on</strong>. Achievement sport involves the identificati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

development of talent; its producti<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> a global stage, in a single or multi-sport event<br />

<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> its c<strong>on</strong>sumpti<strong>on</strong> by direct spectators or, through the media complex, a global mass<br />

audience. Traced over time there is a tendency towards the emergence of a global<br />

achievement sport m<strong>on</strong>oculture - a culture where administrators, coaches <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> teachers<br />

promote <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> foster achievement sport values <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> ideologies <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> where competiti<strong>on</strong>s<br />

7


<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> tournaments are structured al<strong>on</strong>g highly commodified <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> rati<strong>on</strong>alised lines.<br />

Within the global sports system there is not <strong>on</strong>ly an internati<strong>on</strong>al rank order of<br />

nati<strong>on</strong>s, but these nati<strong>on</strong>s can be grouped, more or less, al<strong>on</strong>g political, ec<strong>on</strong>omic <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

cultural lines, into core, semi-peripheral <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> peripheral blocs. At the core of most<br />

team <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> individual based sports lie the countries of Western Europe, North America<br />

- excluding Mexico - <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> former 'White' Comm<strong>on</strong>wealth countries such as Australia.<br />

Semi-peripheral countries tend to involve former socialist countries <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> some<br />

emerging nati<strong>on</strong>s such as South Korea. Peripheral countries include most Islamic<br />

nati<strong>on</strong>s, the majority of African countries <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> those from South - Asia. Whereas the<br />

West may be challenged <strong>on</strong> the field of play by n<strong>on</strong>-core countries, the c<strong>on</strong>trol over<br />

the c<strong>on</strong>tent, ideology <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> ec<strong>on</strong>omic resources associated with sport still tends to lie<br />

within the West. Yet, through state policy, n<strong>on</strong>-core countries can use major sport<br />

festivals to solidify internal nati<strong>on</strong>al identificati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> enhance internati<strong>on</strong>al<br />

recogniti<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> prestige.<br />

Either in terms of hosting events or when the relevant decisi<strong>on</strong>s are taken,<br />

however, it is the West that dominates in internati<strong>on</strong>al recogniti<strong>on</strong>, respectability,<br />

status <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> prestige. The more high tech <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> commodified the sport, the more<br />

dependent success is <strong>on</strong> the elements of the global sport process identified earlier. As<br />

a result, the West tends to win out. Indeed the last decade has seen the recruitment by<br />

Western nati<strong>on</strong>s not <strong>on</strong>ly of sport scientists <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> coaches from the former Soviet bloc,<br />

but also the drain of athletic talent from Africa <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> South America in sports such as<br />

soccer to the ec<strong>on</strong>omically more powerful clubs of Europe. N<strong>on</strong>-core leagues remain<br />

in a dependent relati<strong>on</strong>ship with the dominant European core. In other sports such as<br />

track <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> field <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> baseball this drain of talent flows to the USA. The West also<br />

remains dominant in terms of the design, producti<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> marketing of sports<br />

8


equipment; new innovati<strong>on</strong>s emerge within the West. <str<strong>on</strong>g>Sport</str<strong>on</strong>g> federati<strong>on</strong>s tend to be<br />

c<strong>on</strong>trolled by Western officials <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> global sport tournaments are usually located<br />

within the West.<br />

In the past decade or so there have, however, been challenges to the<br />

achievement sport ideology <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> to Western dominati<strong>on</strong>. Though no l<strong>on</strong>ger in<br />

existence, the Soviet bloc mounted a sustained challenge to the West for some forty<br />

years, though it too became incorporated into the ideology of achievement sport.<br />

Despite the ideological differences between Castro’s Cuba <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> the capitalist West,<br />

Cubans participate in, <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> by some measures, outperform the core capitalist countries<br />

at the Olympics. The rise of Chinese success in the Olympics will <strong>on</strong>ly accelerate<br />

with the holding of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. N<strong>on</strong>-Western success <strong>on</strong> the<br />

field of play, in specific sports such as badmint<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> middle <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> l<strong>on</strong>g distance<br />

athletics, is beginning to be matched by the involvement of n<strong>on</strong>-Western pers<strong>on</strong>nel as<br />

coaches, officials, administrators <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> producers of sports goods, media outlets <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> the<br />

hosting of major tournaments. Though Engl<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> was the 'cradle of modern sport', the<br />

relative decline of Great Britain <strong>on</strong> the sports field – despite the improved, if over-<br />

hyped success in the Sydney Olympic Games - is also matched by its fading influence<br />

in the corridors of power of global sport politics. This may be indicative of how things<br />

might develop in this century for Europeans <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> perhaps Westerners more generally.<br />

One main source of potential dispute may well be the Olympic Games. As yet,<br />

however, the West are the winners in the global sport c<strong>on</strong>test – hegem<strong>on</strong>ic c<strong>on</strong>trol<br />

remains with Westerners.<br />

Global sport has not, however, led to complete homogenisati<strong>on</strong>: the<br />

c<strong>on</strong>sumpti<strong>on</strong> of n<strong>on</strong>-indigenous cultural wares by different nati<strong>on</strong>al groups has both<br />

active <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> heterogeneous. Resistance to global sportisati<strong>on</strong> processes has also been<br />

9


evident. Yet, there is a political ec<strong>on</strong>omy at work in the producti<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> c<strong>on</strong>sumpti<strong>on</strong><br />

of global sport/ leisure products that can lead to the relative ascendancy of a narrow<br />

selecti<strong>on</strong> of capitalist <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> Western sport cultures. Global sport processes can therefore<br />

be understood in terms of the attempts by more established white, male groups to<br />

c<strong>on</strong>trol <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> regulate access to global flows <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> also in terms of how indigenous<br />

peoples both resist these processes <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> recycle their own cultural products. We are<br />

currently witnessing the homogenisati<strong>on</strong> of specific body cultures – through<br />

achievement sports, the Olympic movement <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> sports science programmes - <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

simultaneously the increase in the diversity of ‘sports’/body cultures.<br />

It is possible, however, to overstate the extent to which the West has<br />

triumphed in terms of global sports structures, organisati<strong>on</strong>s, ideologies <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

performances. N<strong>on</strong>- Western cultures, as noted, resist <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> reinterpret Western sports<br />

<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> maintain, foster <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> promote, <strong>on</strong> a global scale, their own indigenous recreati<strong>on</strong>al<br />

pursuits (eg., Kabbadi). Clearly, the speed, scale <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> volume of sports development is<br />

interwoven with the broader global flows of people, technology, finance, images <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

ideologies that are c<strong>on</strong>trolled by the West, <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> by Western men. In the l<strong>on</strong>ger term,<br />

however, it is possible to detect signs that the disjunctures, <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> n<strong>on</strong>–isomorphic<br />

patterns, that characterise global processes are also leading to the diminuti<strong>on</strong> of<br />

Western power in a variety of c<strong>on</strong>texts. <str<strong>on</strong>g>Sport</str<strong>on</strong>g> may be no excepti<strong>on</strong>.<br />

Professor Joseph Maguire, Ph.D<br />

Co-Director, Centre for Olympic Studies <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> Research<br />

Past-President, RC27/ISA, <str<strong>on</strong>g>Internati<strong>on</strong>al</str<strong>on</strong>g> Sociology of <str<strong>on</strong>g>Sport</str<strong>on</strong>g> Associati<strong>on</strong><br />

School of <str<strong>on</strong>g>Sport</str<strong>on</strong>g> & Exercise Sciences<br />

Loughborough University<br />

10


References<br />

Maguire, J. (1999). Global sport. Identities, societies, civilizati<strong>on</strong>s Polity Press:<br />

Cambridge.<br />

Maguire, J. (2005). Power <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> Global <str<strong>on</strong>g>Sport</str<strong>on</strong>g>: Z<strong>on</strong>es of Prestige, Emulati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

Resistance. Routledge: L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong><br />

Maguire, J., Jarvie, G., Mansfield, L., & Bradley, J. (2002). <str<strong>on</strong>g>Sport</str<strong>on</strong>g> Worlds: A<br />

Sociological Perspective. Champaign: Human Kinetics.<br />

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