Topic 1: Sport and Politics Politics refers to the structures, - - PDF document

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• “Sport and the Neoliberal Political

Order”

• Adam S. Beissel

Physical Cultural Studies Program Department of Kinesiology

KNES 287 Sport and American Society: Module 1 Topic B

This week’s focus: POLITICS and the POLITICAL ORDER

Economy Culture Politics Technology Sport

• What is the inter-relationship between sport and politics?

Topic 1: Sport and Politics

England team, Berlin 1938

What is Politics?

Politics refers to the structures, processes, and practices of governance; the mechanisms whereby people's lives are controlled, shaped, and regulated by external forces (forces external to the individual).

• Political power refers to the ability to shape/

control/regulate people's lives.

• We need to fully understand

the variations and complexities of the:

• sport

politics relation

Sport and Politics 2008

TV ad with former Olympians supporting Mitt Romney

• Lebron James

Presidential Campaign Donations

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Sport or Politics?

Barak Obama at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2008

• Video Clip 1

Sport or Politics?

Sarah Palin being introduced as the Republican vice-presidential candidate for the 2008 general election

• “Starting Point Guard”

and

• “Hockey Mom”

Sport and Politics 2012

"One of the promises he made was he was going to create more jobs, and today, there are 23 million people out of work or have stopped looking for work or underemployed…Let me tell you: If you have a coach that's zero and 23 million, you say it's time to get a new coach… It's time for America to see a winning season again, and we are going to bring it to them."”

• (Mitt Romney speech, Union Terminal, Cincinnati, September 1, 2012)

These would seem to be examples of the sportization of politics.

• For our purposes, it is more appropriate

to discuss the politicization of sport.

• What is Politics?

Politics refers to the structures, processes, and practices of governance; the mechanisms whereby people's lives are controlled, shaped, and regulated by external forces (forces external to the individual).

• Political power refers to the ability to shape/

control/regulate people's lives.

• Macro-Politics: The ability to GOVERN

(control/shape/regulate) lives on a societal level

Elected Government

• Monarchy

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Micro-Politics: The ability to GOVERN (control/shape/regulate) lives on a personal level

Office Politics

However, in this module, we will focus on

• macro politics and SPORT…

Team Politics

Within any power structure, certain individuals/groups hold more power than others.

• This is dependent upon the way the

society is organised; what are the factors determining the social (power) hierarchy)?

The Olympic Games are highly politicized global sporting spectacles through which various political systems have been showcased.

Berlin 1936 – [Aryan] National Socialism/ Authoritarianism Moscow 1980– State Communism Los Angeles 1984 – Democratic Republicanism

Type and structures of governance and rule Values, beliefs, and ideas related to the political system

Reproduction of the Political System

Even for an authoritarian POLITICAL SYSTEM to function effectively, there has to be a degree of IDEOLOGICAL CONSENSUS:

• A common agreement in the IDEAS, VALUES,

and BELIEFS [IDEOLOGY] underpinning the SYSTEM OF RULE [POLITICAL FORMATION].

• HEGEMONY ALERT!

This is a classic example of

• Antonio Gramsci’s notion
• f HEGEMONY, which

speaks to the subtly coercive operations/ workings of ideology and political power.

Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

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HEGEMONY refers to the situation in which a DOMINANT GROUP (that holding political power), is able to WIN the SUPPORT of the MASSES [NORMALIZE: render normal and taken for granted] for its position of POWER/AUTHORITY

• Hegemony is a process of MANIPULATING

PUBLIC OPINION in order that the people ACTIVELY CONSENT (agree) to the IDEOLOGY underpinning the:

• POLITICAL ORDER: SYSTEM OF RULE

Type and structures of governance and rule Values, beliefs, and ideas related to the political system

Reproduction of the Political System

Winning of the masses consent to/support of [NORMALIZING] the political system

Comparing and Contrasting Sport and

• Political Formations/Ideologies
• Chinese

“State Capitalism” (2008) Rollerball “Corporate Autocracy” (c. 2018) “U.S. Neoliberal Capitalism” (2012)

Topic 2: China, State Capitalism, and the sport politics relation

Clearly, the system of governance within contemporary China is very different from that within Western “democratic” societies. Authoritarian State Privatizing Economy Chinese “State Capitalism”

The Chinese state, in the guise of the Communist Party, closely control all aspects of society but have

• allowed a degree of economic reform leading to

increased levels of private ownership.

“Two Chinas”

(1) Authoritarian Politics (2) Consumerist Culture

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The Coercive and Authoritarian Dimensions of Chinese State Capitalism and the Beijing Olympics Wielding Political Power I: Suppressing Dissent Wielding Political Power II: Coercing the Masses The Demolished “Hutong” of central Beijing Wielding Political Power III: Controlling Information

The Olympic Games as Propaganda Exercise

Confirming China’s status as a “21st century superpower”, and legitimating the Chines State socialist political system INTERNALLY and EXTERNALLY through:

• 1. Spectacular and Monumental

Staging of the Games

• 2. Athletic Success

Beijing 2008: A Two Week ($22 billion plus) Broadcast on Behalf of the Chinese Communist Party?

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Video Clip 2

Beijing 2008 and HEGEMONY of Chinese State Capitalism

Sport as INTERNAL Politics?

Wielding Political Power: Manufacturing the Spectacle/

• Manufacturing Consent

Winning the hearts and minds

• f the Chinese populace, to

the State Capitalist political system.

Beijing 2008 and the Hegemony of Chinese State Capitalism

“[The Communist Party] Using the Games to demonstrate its earned the right to stay in power”

Type and structures of governance and rule Winning of the masses consent to/support of [NORMALIZING] the political system Values, beliefs, and ideas related to the political system

Reproduction of the Political System

Topic 3: Rollerball, Corporate Autocracy, and the Suppression of Individualism

• Of course, there are

different types of society, with very different systems of government (forms of politics).

• In order to begin to

understand the

• sport

politics relation in early 21st

• century U.S., we will

compare it with:

• World Society c. 2018
• (“Rollerball” society)

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Sport in 2018  Politics in 2018

Video Clip 4

“Rollerball” society is governed by a group of global corporate monopolies. The polity and economy are indivisible. All aspects of society controlled by the Majors.

Global “Corporate Autocracy” The Majors: Transport/Food/Communication/ Housing/Luxury/Energy

Corporate “command” polity/economy Individual needs and wants supplied by corporate structures in return for absolute compliance/ obedience.

Rollerball is a political tool of corporate society, allowing it to govern effectively.

• But what are its “SOCIAL” (read

POLITICAL) PURPOSES?

• In other words, how is ROLLERBALL

politicized?

• 1. Cathartic Release and Narcotic Conformity
• 2. Advancement of Group Ethic and

Suppression of Individualism

“Ladies and gentlemen, our corporate anthem”

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“You know how the game serves us, it has a definite social purpose. Nation’s are bankrupt, gone; none of that tribal warfare any more. Even the corporate wars are a thing of the past…So now we have the Majors and their executives: transport; food; communication; housing; luxury; energy. A few of us making decisions on a global basis, for the common good…Now everyone has all the comforts, you know that, no poverty, no sickness, no needs and many luxuries which you enjoy just as if you were in the executive class. Corporate society takes care of everything. All it asks of anyone, all it has ever asked of anyone, ever, is not to interfere with management decisions.”

• 3. Legitimates the Authority of the Majors/

The Political Order

Depoliticized Masses/Citizenry: Every aspect of their lives is efficiently and effectively governed by the Majors. There is no resistance as they are provided with their needs and wants (“bread and circuses). They are powerless/disempowered from the ability to control their lives. They are simply not part of the political process.

Wielding Political Power I: Manufacturing Spectacle/

• Manufacturing Consent

HEGEMONY ALERT!

Rollerball’s CORPORATE SOCIETY as an example whereby public opinion/ sentiments are manipulated in

• rder to that people ACTIVELY

CONSENT (agree) to the IDEOLOGY underpinning the:

• POLITICAL ORDER:

SYSTEM OF RULE

• Gramsci

Type and structures of governance and rule Winning of the masses consent to/support of the political system Values, beliefs, and ideas related to the political system

Reproduction of the Political System

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However, there were also more:

• COERCIVE, REPRESSIVE

and AUTHORITARIAN forms of POLITICAL POWER, many linked to the need for the ruling CORPORATE “MAJORS” to suppress INDIVIDUALISM

Wielding Political Power II: Suppressing Individualism

The individualism of the Rollerball celebrity (Jonathan E.) counter to the collective ethos and conformity demanded by the Majors.

Wielding Political Power III: Intensifying the Spectacle

Changing the rules of the game with the aim of securing the desired effect: the demise of Jonathan E/suppression of individualism

Rollerball created by, and advances the interests of, the power elite within 2018 society:

The Corporate “Majors"

First and foremost, it is a tool of the political establishment…

“Game. This was never meant to be a

• game. Never!”

HEGEMONY ALERT!

Rollerball’s CORPORATE SOCIETY as an example whereby public opinion/ sentiments are manipulated in order to create popular support for the:

• POLITICAL ORDER:
• SYSTEM OF RULE
• Gramsci

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Topic 4: The U.S.A. and

• Neoliberal Capitalism
• What is the prevailing

political order and ideology in contemporary America?

NEOLIBERAL CAPITALISM

Neoliberalism represents a political order and ideology, linked to a definite type of economic formation.

For much of the twentieth century, politics was concerned with protecting the populace from the exploitative and unequal aspects of industrial capitalism.

FDR’s “social welfare agenda”

Post-War Social Welfare Consensus

John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter 1962 1980

Increased involvement of the STATE in addressing SOCIAL PROBLEMS and INEQUITIES.

“Great Society” Reforms

Increased levels of public funding to support various forms of public service (including sport and physical activity)

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Federal/State/Municipally Funded Sport and Physical Activity Facilities and Programming

The “booming” 1950s

Emergent Neoliberal Hegemony

Bill Clinton Ronald Reagan George H.W. Bush Barack Obama 1980 2012

RETRENCHMENT of STATE involvement in SOCIAL LIFE: Focus on INDIVIDUAL/PRIVATE and CORPORATE/CONSUMERIST “FREEDOMS”

George W. Bush Mitt Romney

London 2012 and the Hegemony of

• British Social Democracy
• Video Clip 3

Friedrich Hayek Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan Milton Friedman and

• George Stigler
• (with Theodore Schultz)
• Architects/Agents of the Neoliberal Order

Contemporary US is dominated by the inter-relationship between political and economic interests. Democratic State Free Market Economy American “Neoliberal Democracy” A Neoliberal Democracy is a political

• rder one in which primacy is given to

corporate/business interests, based on the philosophy that a free market encourages economic growth and development through all levels of society.

• It is a CORPORATE/BUSINESS ORIENTED

and INDIVIDUALIZING POLITICAL ORDER.

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This has lead to the DEMISE of the role of the STATE in SERVING the American public, and its replacement by the FORCES and INSTITUTIONS of the COMMERCIAL MARKETPLACE. Hospitals/ Healthcare Physical Activity Education Housing Police Public Services The Privatization of the Public Sector Neoliberal Ideology (Belief System)

Small Government/

• Free Market
• Competitive

Individualism

• Corporate Structures

and Rationalities

• Private Capital and the

Trickle Down Effect

• NEOLIBERAL

IDEOLOGY

Neoliberalism’s Ideology

• f Small Government/Free Market

Reduced/minimal governmental interference in/regulation of the economy (the free market), and

• ther aspects of society

(government retrenchment).

• Creating a competitive and self-

regulating economic marketplace in which only the strongest/most productive/most profitable businesses and workers survive.

• Adam Smith (1776)

Neoliberalism’s Ideology of Business/ Corporate Structures and Rationalities

Private and for profit institutions (corporations) are the engines of the capitalist economy.

• The role of government is to

create a business/friendly climate for the growth of private capital.

• Economic profit and growth

“trickles down” from corporations to rest of society.

Neoliberalism’s Ideology of Competitive Individualism

“there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first.” Margaret Thatcher (1987)

• “rational selfishness”
• The central preoccupation being the

well-being and cultivation of the self, and individual self-interest.

• Viewed as a necessity for a productive

society.

• Ayn Rand (1957)
• Reduced individual taxes (afforded by government retrenchment), and pro-

business climate, means individual self-interest and competitive drive becomes the determinant of social and economic advancement. Increased individual freedom and opportunity.

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The Core Tenets of Neoliberalism

• 1. Don’t waste public money on social welfare/“social

engineering” programs: government retrenchment

• 2. Provide more money to individuals through lessening

the tax burden

• 3. Develop corporate/business-friendly (anti-union/

deregulated) climate to stimulate economic growth through “trickle down economics”

• 4. Encourage the commercial privatization of all aspects
• f society
• 5. Let the “free market” become the regulator of

economic and social development

• 6. Provide productive individuals with increased freedom

and opportunity to cultivate their own lives

Topic 5: Neoliberal Capitalism and Sport

(see Module 2 for Neoliberal Physical Activity)

The sport politics relation in the US may not be as self-evident as in the Chinese and Rollerball examples.

• Certainly, the American political order is

less AUTHORITARIAN and REPRESSIVE, but nonetheless:


• Yet, AMERICAN SPORT IS HIGHLY

POLITICIZED, in that it is closely linked to the prevailing political order. That is not to say, in conspiracy theory terms, that a group of leaders sit round to plot the politicization of contemporary sport.

G8 Ministers

Other groups/individuals in society are relatively powerless/disempowered; often they have little, or no, control over their

• wn lives.

Rather, sport–as dialectically related to wide political culture–often becomes framed by, expressed through, and experienced in relation to the dominant political system and ideology.

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Neoliberal Ideology and Sport

Small Government/

• Free Market
• Competitive

Individualism

• Corporate Structures

and Rationalities

• Private Capital and the

Trickle Down Effect

• SPORTING

NEOLIBERALISM

• 1. The Privatized (Non-Governmental) Neoliberal

Olympic Sport Sector

• I don’t like the phrase, but this is really

“comparing apples, with oranges”…with lemons.

The State Capitalist Olympians State-funded athletes The Social Democratic Olympians

• Largely

State and publically funded athletes The Neoliberal Olympians

• Private and

Corporate Funded Athletes (no direct State funding)

Source: Friedman, J.M. (2007, September 1). U.S. Funding of Olympic athletes a private and community affair. America.gov

The Neoliberal Olympic Team I

The Team Behind the Team

Video Clip 5

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The Neoliberal Olympic Team II

“Raise Our Flag”

Video Clip 6

Home Depot “Olympic Job Opportunities Program”

• 1992-2009 Involved 570 Olympic

and paralympic athletes

• Allowed athletes to earn full-time

salary for part-time work, so could train and compete.

• Earned 194 medals (88 gold).
• Economic downturn cause the

cancellation of the program.

• Replaced by Team USA career

program (employment with one of 20 USOC sponsors).

• London 2012: Final Paralympic Medal Table
• 2. Sport as Competitive Neoliberalism Corporatism

Sport has become a reflection and celebration of the profit-driven and competitive corporate structures that dominate all aspects of neoliberal society. The belief in TRICKLE DOWN SPORT ECONOMICS often leads to PUBLIC MONIES subsidizing PRIVATE SPORTING ENTERPRISES (i.e. stadium developments).

• 3. Individualism versus Collectivism

The Cult of the Individual Within Contemporary US (Team) Sport

• 4. Idealized Embodiments of Neoliberal MERITOCRACY

Sport Celebrities and Rugged Individualism: Demonstrating the hardwork and perseverance needed to realise the opportunities afforded within neoliberal American society.

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The Epitome of Neoliberal Rugged Individualism?

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/sep/04/united-states-ryder-cup- michael-jordan

The neoliberalization of US sport has helped further NORMALIZE neoliberalism as a HEGEMONIC political formation and ideology.

Sport is [somewhat] subtly, yet effectively, POLITICIZED. It becomes an agent communicating NEOLIBERAL values and assumptions.

HEGEMONY ALERT!

Neoliberal [Sporting] deregulation, privatization, marketization, and individualization are viewed as the taken-for-granted, normal way of (sporting) life in a capitalist society.

• NEOLIBERAL [SPORTING]
• HEGEMONY
• Gramsci

Type and structures of governance and rule Winning of the masses consent to/support of [NORMALIZING] the political system Values, beliefs, and ideas related to the political system

Sport and the Reproduction of the NEOLIBERAL Political System

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ In the most basic terms, neoliberalism is a political ideology which speaks to the nature (small) and role (reduced involvement) of government within contemporary society.

• This neoliberal approach to government is underpinned by the need to

secure increased levels of corporate (through deregulation and lessening corporate tax burdens) and individual (through reducing individual taxation) freedoms.

• According to this neoliberal ideology, the objective of government is to

create a free market system within which the strongest corporations thrive (and create wealth for the rest of society through the trickle down effect) and the most committed and hard working competitive individuals succeed.

• ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
• +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
• So, clearly neoliberalism is a political ideology (value/belief system) with

particular assumptions about government, corporate capitalism, and

• individuals. However, given this focus, it is also a form of economic policy

(the stress placed on creating a corporate-led, free market economy), thus showing how the political and economic are closely tied.

• I would argue that neoliberalism has become HEGEMONIC, because it has

become the taken for granted/normalized belief system (ideology) shaping not only politics, but many aspects of American life including sport and physical culture. Put another way, neoliberalism and its various components are such an ingrained part of our lives that, unless we think about it, we simply carry on largely unaware of the neoliberal nature of our lives and our society. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

• I hope this helps clarifies matters a little. Don't worry if you don't get this

immediately, you need to let it percolate in your minds for a while. If you do, you will soon be seeing the neoliberal elements of sport and society. Also, please bring this up in lecture and/or discussion sections if you need further clarification.

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See course website for related lectures slides, video clips, topic readings, discussion tasks, key concepts, and essay question.