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Sport Is Neither Solely a Vehicle for Cultural Homogeneity nor a Medium for National Resistance; It Is Both. Discuss Giving Examples of Sports Role in Both Globalisation Processes and the Reproduction of National Identities.

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Sport Is Neither Solely a Vehicle for Cultural Homogeneity nor a Medium for National Resistance; It Is Both. Discuss Giving Examples of Sports Role in Both Globalisation Processes and the Reproduction of National Identities.
The essay title alludes to the fact that sport has been used as a vehicle for both cultural homogeneity and national resistance. Cultural homogeneity is when people/nations embrace the same culture (‘the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively’) (Allen, 1990, p.282) throughout the nation/world. National resistance is when people within a nation (‘an imagined community based on ...race, ethnicity, language, religion (etc)’ (Jarry and Jarry, 2000, p. 403) oppose the majority or authority ideology. Globalisation in the essay will be defined as ‘the key idea of one single world or human society, in which all regional, national and local elements are tied together in the interdependent whole’’ (Holton, 1998, cited in Bairner, 2001, pp. 6) and will follow the ‘transformationalist theory’ that globalisation is caused by multiple factors (Hargreaves in Sugden and Tomlinson, 2002; Brookes, 2002). National identity is the way in which a nation wants to be recognised by its own members and others. The essay will discuss how sport is used to demonstrate these in particular reference to cultural imperialism, cultural change, politics, national identity and international relations, and finally commercialism.

During British cultural imperialism, sports were taught as a method of educating colonies to reproduce British values and national identities and thus sport was used as a vehicle for cultural homogeneity (Stoddart, 2006). For example, to encourage Nigerian Unity to the British Crown, ‘Empire Days’ were held which had a sporting focus (Bairner, 2001). However, even though sports were accepted and played, the rules were changed so that countries could put their own national twist on these sports and avoid hegemony and the British hopes of cultural homogenisation throughout the empire (Barnier, 2001).

From a Marxist perspective, the colonising British (bourgeoisie) used sport to establish social and political unity because it



References: Allen, R.E. (1990) Concise oxford dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press Bairner, A Brookes, R. (2002). Representing sport. New York: Oxford University Press. Cashmore, E. (2000). Making sense of sport. London: Routledge. Coakley, J. (2001). Sport in society: Issues and controversies. (7th ed.) New York: McGraw Hill. Fitzpatrick, F. (2003) Texas Western 's 1966 title left lasting legacy [online]. Available: http://espn.go.com/classic/s/013101_texas_western_fitzpatrick.html [accessed on 7th January 2009] Hargreaves, J Hargreaves, J. (1986). The state and sport: Programmed and non programmed intervention in Britain. In L. Allison (Ed.) The politics of sport. (pp 242-261). Manchester: Manchester University Press. Harris, O Houlihan, B. (1994) Sport and international politics. Hertfordshire: Harvester Weatsheaf. Hughson, J. (2009) The middle class, colonialism and the making of sport, Sport in Society, 12(1), 69-84. International Olympic Committee, (2007). Olympic Charter. Available: http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_122.pdf [30th November 2009] Jarry, D Jörn-Carsten, G. and Niall, D. (2008) China 's Economic Development and the Beijing Olympics, International Journal of the History of Sport, 25(3), 339-354. Jinxia, D.& Mangan, J. A.(2008) Beijing Olympics Legacies: Certain Intentions and Certain and Uncertain Outcomes, International Journal of the History of Sport, 25(14), 2019-2040. Kruger, A. (1999). Strength through joy: The culture of consent under facism, nazism and francoism. In J. Riordan & A. Kruger (Eds.), The International Politics of Sport in the Twentieth Century. (pp. 48-66) London: Routledge. Nugent, H. & Hajibagheri, S. (2009) World Cup fans could boost the British economy 'by 10 per cent ' [online]. Available: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/international/article6945377.ece [accessed 19th December 2009] Riordan, J Riordan, J. (1986). Elite sport policy in east and west. In L. Allison (Ed) The politics of sport (pg 66-89). Manchester: Manchester University Press. Stoddart, B. (2006) Sport, Cultural Imperialism and Colonial Response in the British Empire, Sport in Society, 9(5), 809-835. Sugden, J & Bairner, A Taylor, T. (1986) Politics and the Olympic spirit. In L. Allison (Eds.) The politics of sport. (pp. 216-235). Manchester: Manchester University Press. The World Bank Group. (2009). Population, total [online]. Available: [http://datafinder.worldbank.org/population-total] accessed on 30th December 2009 The World Bank Group The World Bank Group. (2009). GDP growth (annual %) [online].Available: http://datafinder.worldbank.org/gdp-growth-annual [accessed on 30th December 2009]. Whitson, D. (1998). Circuits of promotion: Media, marketing and the globalization of sport. In L, A. Wenner (Ed.) Media sport (pp.57-72) London: Routledge.

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