SOC 210- Sports and Politics

Politics Definition

processes of organizing social power and making decisions that affect the lives of people in a social world

Governments Definition

Formal organizations with the power to make and enforce rules in a particular territory or collection of people

Power definition

the ability to influence people and acheive goals even in the face of opposition from others

Authority definition

a form of power that comes with a recognized and legitimate status or office in a government, an organization, or an established set of relationships

Reasons for connections between government and sports

1. safeguard the public order

2. insure fairness and protect human rights

3. maintain health and fitness

4. promote the presteige and power of a group, community, or nation

5. promote a sense of identity, belonging, and unity among citizens

6. reproduce values consistent with dominant ideologies in society

7. increase support for political leaders and government

8. promote economic development

How do governments safeguard public order?

make rules about:

• what sports are legal or illegal

• how sports should be organized to protect rights and well-being

• who has the right to play sports

• where sports can be played

• who can use public facilities and when they can use them

Examples of government safeguarding public order

• skateboarding is banned from public areas

• no biking in certain parks

How do governments ensure fairness and protect human rights

• governments may intervene when citizens are systematically excluded or subjected to discrimination in sports

Examples of governments ensuring fairness and protecting human rights

• title IX law in the US made gender discrimination in any activity sponsored by schools recieving financial aidfrom the federal government

• the US department of education warned schools that they were not providing equal sport participation opportunities for students with a disability, and provided administrators guidelines for how to do so

How do governments maintain health and fitness

• past government support was based on beliefs that:

  • playing sports improves fitness

  • fitness improves health

  • good health reduces medical costs

• recent government support often takes into account research showing that:

  • illness is related to environmental factors more than fitness

  • competitive sports have few benefits for productivity

  • concerns about sport performance may increase athletes’ demands for healthcare

How do governments promote prestige and power

• government support is based on the belief that success in sports provides recognition and status for the sponsoring government unit/agency

  • national teams bring international recognition

  • local teams bring recognition and publicity to communities

  • national governments often pay athletes a bonus for winning an olympic medal

Common example of government using sports to promote prestige and power

hosting the olympics

schools promoting their teams

How do governments promote identity, belonging, and unity

• often use sport to promote these ideas when constituents are diverse or when change is rapid and widespread

• sport-based unity is temporary and superficial

• sports do not change the realities of divisive everyday differences and inequalities

how do governments emphasize values consistent with dominant ideology?

• sports promote the idea that success is based on discipline, loyalty, and fortitude

• sports in nations with market economies are linked to competition and individualism

• using sports to promote values does not work when governments lack legitimacy

How are sports used to increase support for political leaders and government

• leaders use sport to boost their legitimacy in the eyes of citizens

  • likely to be photographed with top athletes

  • “see through this” when leaders lack legitimacy

• sponsor and fund sports to gain citizen support

How are sports used to promote economic development

• cities can use public resources to bid on and host major sport events

  • goal is to benefit the entire city by bringing in new revenues and creating jobs

• state or local governments may use a sport venue as the ceterpiece for new housign or business projects

• government officials may use a sport event to host developers or others who may invest in projects that would benefit constituents

Critical issues and questions regarding politics and sport

• when governments support sports, priority often goes to elite sports- possess resources for effective lobbying

ideas underlying international sports

1. open communication lines between people and leaders from many nations

2. highlight shared interests among people in different cultures and nations

3. demonstrate that international friendships are possible

4. foster cultural understanding and eliminate national stereotypes

5. create a model for international relationships

6. establish working relationships that would close gaps between wealthy and poor nations

Realities of international sports

1. sports have no influence when it comes to serious diplomacy

2. sports may be useful at the level of public diplomacy

3. nation states often use international sports to foster self interests over international peace and understanding

4. ethnocentris and nationalism often have been promoted in international sports

5. self-interests have influences bid processes, media coverage, and boycotts

international sports are generally used to foster ___ interests

nationalistic interests, rather than international unity

The Olympic Games: how to control nationalism and commercialism:

1. add to each games “demonstration sports” that are native to the regions where they are held

2. use multiple sites for olympic games

3. emphasize global responsibility in media coverage

4. integrate the olympics and the paralympics

5. promote a fair method of calculating medals- taking into account population wealth and size

6. replace “faster-higher-stronger” with “health-unity-peace”

Overall goal of controlling nationalism and commercialism with the olympics

• take olympics seriously

• make them more than a global marketing opportunity to promote political and economic ideologies

Political realities in the era of transnational corporations

• nation-states and transnational corporations are joined in global power relations

• nationalism exists in international sports, but consumerism may replace patriotism when identifying with athletes and teams

• corporations use sports to “fuse” their interests with national and local symbols with which people identify

Corporations pay billions to sponsor global sports so they can

develop “global outposts” in people’s heads

globalization definition

a process through which financial capital, products, knowledge, worldviews, and cultural practices flow through political borders worldwide and influence people’s lives

Athletes as global migrant workers

• raises issues of personal adjustment, labour rights, national impact of talent migration and national identity

Production of sport equipment and apparel

• children making soccer balls that say “child-free” labour

where does the most helpful research on political realities come from?

data from both global and local levels

What issues do political processes in sport revolve around?

1. what qualifies as a sport?

2. what are the rules of sport?

3. who makes and enforces rules?

4. who organizes and controls events?

5. where will events take place?

6. who can participate

7. how are rewards distributed

Overall goal with political processes in sport

they are inherent, we want to make them fair and just