Category Archives: FIFA World Cup

PCQ 7 Gabriel Maletta

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Rowe’s article ‘Stages of the global’ shows both the positive and negative effects that media has upon football. On one side the media is capable of broadcasting football to the world. Just as our classroom shows, people from across the world cheer for teams thousands of miles away. Cable television and the internet have allowed fans unprecedented access to their teams and even spread the fan bases. Media forms take a large portion of the credit in making soccer the world beloved sport that it is today. Continue reading →

Stages of the global: Media sport, racialization and the last temptation of Zinedine Zidan

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Stages of the global: Media sport, racialization and the last temptation of Zinedine Zidane

 The institution of the media is an enormously powerful force in shaping knowledge and understanding of increasingly dynamic, complex societies. This is not to argue, of course, that the media are all-powerful, creating new ideologies and values out of thin air.

Reaction: This statement is so true because from an early age one can learn their alphabet, numbers along with other vital things which are important to human development. Media also shapes our understanding of what is going on around the world and helps us to broaden our knowledge.

Without media I don’t think that sports would be as big as it is today. Media helps people to follow teams from all over the world in real time. However, if you missed the game you will get all the important highlights that shaped the final outcome. Media brings people who share a certain commonality together.

A Short not on ‘race’

The meanings of ‘race’ generated through such processes both draw on and re-draw those located at their points of origin, and are diffused through global commodification into new zones of cultural interpretation.

 In the case of Zidane you can see that race causes you to do things that you will end up regretting for the rest of you life. His actions showed that you have to be strong willed and put your pride away in cases like he was in.

 Global boys: Exploring experiences of acculturation amongst migrant youth footballers in Premier League academies

 The rule of recruiting youths from abroad has been around for centuries. European countries realized that they needed new talent back in the late nineteen hundreds so they started looking at countries they once occupied. These academic schools are very rigorous for these youths but it is molding them into players the club will hopefully use.

Players are not the only people who migrate to these school also coaches and future majors.

Acculturation as an experiential facet of globalization

‘acculturating strategies’ through which migrants make decisions as to what extent they wish to maintain their indigenous cultural heritage and/or embrace their culture of settlement. These strategies include: assimilation, in which the migrant actively interacts with the host culture whilst showing little or no desire for indigenous cultural maintenance; separation, where indigenous cultural norms are maintained with no desire to embrace the host culture; marginalization, when neither cultural maintenance nor interaction with the host culture are desired; and integration, when both the maintenance of one’s cultural behaviors and involvement in the host society are sought (Berry, 1997).

Acculturation is the movement from a norm that you know to the adaption of new customs and traditions.

The four things that these individuals might encounter in the new environment are transformation, relativization, accommodation and hybridization.

 

Cole PCQ 1/15/2014 European Nationalism and Football since the 1970s

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European Nationalism and Football since the 1970s

The rebirth that the Dutch football team went through for the 2006 World Cup is interesting because instead of looking to the outside to help fix the team, the Dutch federation selected in-house talent.  They decided that their team was going to become the best by being entirely Dutch instead of the now traditional model of having players and coaches from different countries form a national team.  The joint commitment the team expressed about their “way of playing is more important than the result is” is an interesting philosophy in sports, especially for a team who was trying to return to their global dominance in the World Cup.  The Netherlands wanted to be able to have a sense of nationalism and feeling of true Dutch unity.  By using only in-house players and coaching, they sought to bring back a Dutch identity and answer the “who are we?” question.

After their loss in the finals of the 1974 World Cup to Germany, the Dutch team did not return home as losers but were welcomed home as champions.  By defeating traditional powerhouse teams like Argentina and Brazil and making it to the finals with Germany showed the people of the Netherlands that their tiny country could compete on the world stage with the best of them.  The 1974 team became a symbol of what the Netherlands could really do.   Continue reading →

The US Exception (Seth Browner PCQ 1/14/14)

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US Ambivalence Toward the World Cup and American Nationalism

Soccer has popularly been heralded as the world’s favorite sport. However, that iconic phrase ought to be amended to to exempt the United States. Football enraptures the hearts and zeals of the most of the world, yet that same passion has not taken root in America. This phenomenon is not unexplainable; explanations can be reasoned.

Firstly, one must point to the fact that the US and the rest of the world differ in more than one way than in the world’s countries’ preferences for sports. The United States has a unique system for spelling certain English words. The language written in United Kingdom, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa, adhere to the British spelling. Additionally, the US has a distinct system of weights and measures. I believe I am correct in saying that we solely use miles over kilometers and Fahrenheit over Celsius. It is unsurprising that Americans’ athletic appetites differ from that of Europeans, Africans, and South Americans.

Of course, this is very general. One must acknowledge the steps soccer has taken towards popularity in the US. The sport is becoming more watched, particularly by young people in the young adult and adolescent age group. Many individuals in this bracket follow soccer more closely than they do any other sport. This rise is partly due to easier access through widespread television usage. More importantly, the smartphone and internet craze accelerates football’s ascension into sports pandemonium. The iPhone allows for connections to sports non-stop. Worthy of note, this germinal craze is among young adults. As this generation matures, soccer will be carried through to older age groups; the probability of its adoption among another generation of Americans is high with this discussed trend. I predict that this phenomenon will occur.

Sports are emotionally riveting for their tendency to arouse two human attributes: solidarity and attachment. The enormous level of expressionism in sports in public spaces leads many to form collectivist associations. These associations are based on shared feelings and common zeals. Media plays a role in forming these bonds of “interpersonal interaction.” This sociological observation is keen. Within human nature, there is an inherent instinct to cluster. I argue that this drive is rooted in a need to be secure and a desire for affirmation of one’s convictions. The desire for affirmation builds confidence in oneself and one’s judgment.

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Marta’s Masterful Talents in Germany (Seth Browner TIFO 1/15/14)

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Marta Skillfully Maneuvers towards Brazilian victory in Women’s World Cup

In the Women’s World Cup in Germany, the Brazilian women’s national team was set against the Norwegian women’s team in Wolfsburg. Although Norway has typically been a backwater European football power, the women’s game has enjoyed some success in international tournaments. Brazil, naturally, enjoys much prestige and respect at the very mention of soccer. However, the South American country’s athletic celebrity is a result of the efforts of the individual footballers that compete in canary yellow and vibrant blue. Marta reaffirms this pivotal truth through her talented display of competence over her Norwegian opposition. Her performances not only propelled Brazil to victory in this World Cup game, but caught the attention of the transnational soccer community as a adroit female athlete.

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The reforms that were made to the soccer program did not benefit the small clubs. This caused the smaller clubs to reject ideas that would benefit the larger clubs when things were voted upon. This made the larger clubs form other confederations. The issues that the small clubs faced were that they could not acquire the best players because the larger clubs got them all. This also forced the small clubs to drop into leagues where they could compete and make money. Large clubs were able to build up a following by paying fans to go to away games. Acquiring the best athletes was a vital part to the clubs success but we also see that fan support was a major factor in the outcome of games. While the game was developing so was the officiating aspect. We see from the article that the referees were conscientious about where they were when making calls and how the call would be received by the fans and later the committee.

The protracted season also only highlighted the stark division between the wealthy and poor clubs. A rich minority capable of winning the title had emerged but the demands placed upon them had also become more exacting as supporters demanded stronger squads, which required more money to attract the best players. Many games had also become unattractive mismatches between the rich and poor, the real business of the season commencing only once the play-off positions had been decided. Unable to break into the league’s elite due to their financial limitations, the poorer teams were left with little to fight for other than survival (Martin 56). Continue reading →

TIFO: “Neuer Named World’s Best Goalkeeper” – by Cole Sylvester

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This article shows how German players are reaching the pinnacle of their careers just as the World Cup is coming around again. Neurer’s upsetting of Spanish icon Iker Casillas’s five year reign over the award demonstrates how Spain’s aging national team is losing its grip on the world stage.

Race and Science, Nationalism and Globalization – by MS

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Unequal Development:

In the eighteenth century was the first attempt to utilize race as a scientific concept. A French anatomist Cuvier started this in 1817 and he divided the races into three subspecies Caucasians, Mongolians and Ethiopians.  All this make different races start being more superior to others. Cuvier states “ whites had gained dominion over the world and made the most rapid progress in science. ‘Yellows’ were less advanced, and blacks degraded”. So race was used as a taxon. To spread the ideology they used novels and people who were notable.

Early Social Science:

The ecological theory developed by Robert E. Park in Chicago maintained that migration brought distinctive people into contact; competition made them conscious of what distinguished them, and those in a superior status developed prejudice as a defensive reaction.

Reaction: Competition creates racial tension and this is why we see migrant people face difficulties when they migrate to a new country. How can science be the way Continue reading →