Introduction
Sport and nationalism are often tangled, as sport appears as a place for the symbolic competition between different nations. Moreover, the sports competition often represents national conflicts, appearing as the political and diplomatic tool. In terms of globalization, sport plays even a more important role, joining people together, exchanging of the athletes, and using the economic benefits of the globalization.
A crucial question is whether the sport should be considered as a tool of the national identity and strength against the globalization, or instead as an ideal institution that promotes an unifying and multicultural globalization process. In this context, it is worth mentioning the idea about the dual nature of sport,
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With the purpose of better understanding these links, it is worth defining the category that is directly related to the nationalism. What it is known about the national identity is that it is a sense of belonging to one state or nation. This appearance can refer to the subjective feeling one demonstrates to the group of people, regardless of one’s citizenship status. As a result, it is often viewed as an awareness of differences, so that one is able to distinguish between “they” and “we”. Moreover, the demonstration of one’s national identity often positively interpreted as a patriotism, which could be defined by using such terms as a national pride.
It is a well-known fact that most sports are competed between national teams, which promote using the sporting events for political and nationalist purposes. The encouragement of the national solidarity through sport is one of the major type of the banal nationalism (Xypolia 2012). This concept, in turn, is appropriate in terms of everyday representations of the nation to build a sense of the national belonging among
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Consequently, sport possesses cultural, social, and political meaning in reproducing identities on various levels, including global, regional, national, and local. In this context, it is worth mentioning that the sports teams, such as the national football team, become the symbols of the nations, and the representative athlete is a “physical embodiment of the nation” (Fox cited in Brentin & Cooley 2016). Moreover, many scholars consider sport as the vehicle of identity that gives people a sense of the differences between them and other nations (MacClancy cited in Brentin & Cooley 2016). Nevertheless, the majority of investigators highlights sport as the political tool for the ideological reproduction. Undoubtedly, the social field of sport is one of the main arenas where the expressions of the national identity can be used without being automatically marked as the expressions of nationalist sentiments.
As a result, the role of the sport could be described in terms of its important contribution as an expression of the national identity. For instance, it is an undoubted fact that such sports events as the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia serve for the enhancement of the Italian and French national identities. These examples, like many similar ones, prove the idea that
Soccer is not seen like merely a game around the globe. People from all around the world seem to virtually integrate with the passion towards soccer. There is no denying that this sport is linked to the emotional, social and political aspects of life of a person. In his book, “How Soccer Explains the World”, Franklin Foer sheds light on all these facets by linking it with the concept of globalization. Soccer and globalization are both linked together by an American in this book for the Americans who are passionate about this game. Throughout his book, Foer has focused upon two theories: firstly, that world could be explained through soccer and secondly,
As an example, the author discusses whether if you should cheer on your nation’s team or your ethnic regions national team, saying,“About the only things fans can look forward on either side to is to see which player has enough huevos to kick Putin
In Europe, Football has been compared to a ritual- a must do or have an aspect of social life (King, par 1). Soccer in this part of the world is idolized and makes up a big part of income generating fields. According to King (par 5), sports, specifically soccer in Europe forms a landmark that shapes the politics and sociology of a people, which then translates into the development of
Nationalism at its core is the support of a country. The goal of a country is to have some sort of resonance within the individuals that reside there that call themselves citizens. If the citizens don’t feel any connection with their country, they may move to find one that they feel closer too. Once found, they may support the country over others, defend it within conversations of politics or just find groups that have the same ideals they do about the country. This papers purpose is to illustrate the pros of nationalism as well as its cons.
"Politics has come to be considered not only inappropriate in the arena of sports, but actually antithetical to it," Zirin says. "We want so much to see sports solely as an arena of play, not seriousness. But here's the thing, this can cheapen not only the greatness and relevance of sports to us as a society, but also the courage of the athletes" (The Nation). The pursuit of fame, wealth and status can blind the human conscious, which is why it is important for us to encourage athletes to speak their minds. As a nation, we should not silence the athletes, because it is the truly courageous athletes who have the audacity to stand up when it’s not popular. Sports should be used as a platform for a certain kind of politics: militarism, nationalism. There is a rich tradition of resistance to politics in sports, but their actions have been integral to country’s struggle for racial and gender equality; sports are a safe place to discuss these difficult topics.
Sports may have impacted our culture much more then we thought it would, and keeps impacting. Sports have affected some of the most important aspects of life, such as jobs and money. It has also affected things as little as who we look up to and how we dress. Culture means “the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively.” The definition of sports is “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” So when we put two and two together we get a a nation or world that has changed due to sports. Back in the mid and late 1900’s sports were used to see whose way of life was better. As time went on and keeps going on, we
Research guided by conflict theory generally falls into the following categories: 1) studies of how athletes become alienated from their own bodies; 2) studies of how sports can be used to coerce and control people; 3) studies of sports and the development of commercialism in society; 4) studies of sports and various forms of nationalism and militarism; and 5) studies of sports and racism and sexism. (Coakley, 1998) In the book, Meggyesy provided examples of each of these categories which occurred during his footba...
Sport and identity together have a unique relationship in which any regional or national place can use sport as a means to create a sense of identity. The relationship is complex and varied. Identity can be explained as understanding what or who a person or a thing is. Sport is capable of creating a feeling of nationhood and this is an important factor. It is important too for a nation to create a sense of identity but it is especially important for a regional area. For a small country to host a major sporting event is a significant achievement especially with having rivalry with bigger neighbouring countries. Nationalism can be expressed in a less aggressive manner through sport because there is a clear winner and loser; it is a clear cut way of asserting superiority of your notion over others. In this essay, one regional and one national example will be looked upon to see how they use sport to assert their sense of identity. Cricket in Yorkshire County Cricket Club will be used as a source of a regional example and rugby in South Africa will be used as a national example. We will look at the factors they used to inflict sport as a means to promote their identity and also if these identities are sustainable.
Sports can help many at- risk youths. In order to participate in sports you need to be committed and willing to work hard. You also have to learn to respect others and accept that winning isn’t the only measure of success. Losing can build character as well. When youth participate in a sports they enjoy, they are less likely to engage in behaviors that are harmful or dangerous to themselves and others. It is for these reasons schools should strive to maintain athletic programs for their students.
Dealing with the issue of sport and ethnology, three major factors come to mind; prejudice, racism, and discrimination. These factors span across gender, ethnic, racial, religious, and cultural groups. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss how these factors have played a part in the evolution of sport in our society. The first issue tackled in this paper will be racism in sports, followed by prejudice and discrimination.
Sports are an important aspect in society. They help people to strive to reach certain goals and join people together, but they also can divide people and turn a fun game into the main purpose of someone’s life. Taking sports games too seriously can be harmful for both the athlete and the spectator. The attitude of always winning at any cost in sports and has managed to distract us from other important parts of our lives, such as health and education. This importance of the value of sports can heavily influence the way that we see ourselves as both the spectator and the athlete by creating a positive self image and distilling confidence and discipline within the player, or by embedding self doubt and invertedness.
Looking back in history to the 19th century Europe, colonization and global expansion created a sense of competition amongst European nations. This sparked global rivalries over territories and was a catalyst to the age of nationalism in Europe. The competition between countries venture of manifest destiny was the leading catalyst in the rise of nationalism. It is no surprise that the nationalism and competitive nature of 19th century expansionism, created a platform for the rivalry and competition in modern sports (Bottenburg). Global rivalries in sports are played out in, major events such as the world cup and the Olympics. These events bring out the die-hard and the casual fan together in a global celebration of sporting and national pride. The World Cup of soccer is a great place to begin looking at the impact modern sports have on nationalism and national identity. Every four years 32 teams from across the globe come together in celebration of the worlds most popular game, in hopes their country wins the worlds most coveted trophy. Nationalism in this tournament comes in an array of positivity and negativity. The atmosphere, colors, flags, fans cheering and chanting songs shows the role of symbolism. On the other hand, hooliganism and violence amongst fans show us the negative aspect of attaching such strong nationalistic ties to a
Referring to slide two Nelson Mandela once said that “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers.” Sport is one of the biggest and strongest unifiers in the world. Although there may be certain issues within a country or the world such as political affiliations, gender, race and ideologies, sport always seems to bring people closer regardless of the current issues at hand.
Sports have been around for thousands of years. The history of sports in United States began back in the 1840s. United States is a very unique country when we look at its sports, just like every country has a different structure of sports so does US. This paper will be taking about the Sports Organizations and Governance, the sports industry, sports organizations, and Structure of sports in the United States. It will also cover the Sport in the United States vs. Other Western Democracies by taking a look at the State Political, historical context, team objectives, and sports organizations. It will also cover the uniqueness of American sport as well as cover the mass participation and give recommendations on how to increase participation and success.
In conclusion, it is explicit that sports is a positive influence on athletes, spectators and the world as a whole as it teaches imperative life lessons as well as allows its participants to experience enjoyment, fulfilment and gratification. As mentioned previously sports enables its players to bring out the best in others and create unity amongst groups as team work is so essential. This highlights the views I have in conjunction with the views of Joe Humphrey.