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- Convenors:
-
Mariann Vaczi
(University of Nevada, Reno)
Benjamin Perasović (Institute of social scienses Ivo Pilar)
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- Formats:
- Panel
Short Abstract
How can we explain the staying power of capitalism in sport despite widespread discontent, and growing grassroots activism that rejects it? This panel seeks to identify the intricate interactions and mutual nourishments between sport, the logic of capitalism, and human modes of desiring.
Long Abstract
How can we explain the staying power of capitalism in sport despite widespread discontent, and growing grassroots activism that rejects it? Why is it so hard to resist the neoliberalism of sport despite acknowledged evils and warning signs? This panel was inspired by some recent outgrowths of sport capitalism that have made fans concerned about the transformation of their enchanted, poetic passion into a disenchanting, prosaic business. We will seek to identify the intricate interactions and mutual nourishment between sport, the logic of capitalism, and human modes of desiring. Some point at the overpowering hegemony of capitalist stakeholders, in sport as elsewhere, and the essential powerlessness of fans. Others have variously identified the impacts of capitalism in terms of inequality or repression. Following McGowan (2017), we may add that the power of (sport) capitalism is owing to its ability to engage with human modes of desiring. Just like capitalism, elite sport too rests on the idea of accumulation and the promise of satisfaction: a future championship title, elite league playing opportunity, or the signing of a top player or special coach. How does sport capitalism keep us desiring subjects as consumers, fans, players, coaches, industry actors or corporations (etc.)? It appears that the “sport establishment,” or just “the system” have the ultimate power and ability to turn our desires into profit. But we know that power is not one-dimensional, and some struggles are already won, at micro and macro levels, from self-sustainable clubs within competitive environments to the success of supporters to change the legal frameworks regulating elite sports. This panel will seek to fathom sporting capitalism’s hold of our psychic lives, and it will speculate about the ways one might escape, in sport and beyond, the grasp of its Invisible Hand.
Accepted papers
Session 1Paper short abstract
Against Modern Football is a common denominator for various social actors. This paper, on the basis of ethnographic research, analyses the spectrum of actors and discourses through four main notions: subculture, tribe, social movement and affective alliance.
Paper long abstract
Although football became commercialized long before the 1990s, new waves of
commercialization and commodification produced new meanings of “modern football.” For
many, “modern football” has turned supporters into mere consumers, and threatens to move
them away from community, identity, solidarity, and shared governance. Fans have reacted
intensely against the process in which football clubs have become big corporations, and
media capital has created new forms of spectacle. But power is not one-dimensional, and
some struggles have been successful at both micro to macro levels, from self-sustainable
clubs within highly competitive environments to changing legal framework regulating elite
sport. The “Against Modern Football” movement has emerged in opposition to the rampant
commercialization of sport and the lack of fans’ influence over the governance of the clubs
they support.
Based on ethnographic research in Croatia and Germany, and framed by social movement
and youth subculture theories, this paper will analyze the AMF phenomenon through four
sociological notions: subculture, (neo)tribe, social movement, and affective alliance.
Paper short abstract
This paper analyzes how representations of Arab culture and bodies change in China’s digital spaces in the aftermath of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, marking a rupture from securitized post–War on Terror imaginaries and revealing how “sportswashing” reshapes popular desire and China–Arab relations.
Paper long abstract
Broadcast to millions of households, the 2022 Qatar World Cup marked a turning point in representations of the Arabic-speaking world in China. In the ensuing weeks, the World Cup dominated China’s digital sphere beyond match coverage, generating intense cultural, social, and commercial discourses. These ranged from the viral popularity of a locally designed mascot inspired by Arab male attire, to Arab footballers and "princes" whose appearances sparked female fandoms centered on the rare visibility of Arab masculinities as well as debates over interethnic intimacy, nationalism, and human rights. These resurgent representations of “Arabness” depart from the previous two decades of securitized imaginaries of Arab identities as associated with religious extremism, shaped by China's post-2000s “war on terror.”
Situated within global power rivalries, “sportswashing” practices, and long-standing Orientalist imaginaries of the Arab world, this paper asks what the Qatar World Cup’s mediated celebration of Arab culture, bodies, and masculinities in China reveals about shifting Chinese popular sentiments toward the Arab world, Arab states capital involvement in global sports, the evolving contours of China–Arab relations, and racialization and Orientalism beyond the East-West dichotomy. Drawing on digital ethnographic analysis of Chinese online discourse, this paper argues that the surge of popular enthusiasm for “Arabness”—in commodities and embodied desire—points to an unexpected convergence between the two ancient civilizations with shared decolonial and deimperial strivings in the modern era. As China and Arab states increasingly leverage sports and cultural capital within global networks, these encounters illuminate emerging realignments in global power and affective economies.
Paper short abstract
Kabaddi’s rise from rural pastime to media spectacle fuels heroic narratives among East Asian players. Drawing on interviews and participant observation, this study reveals how mediated myth‑making obscures structural advantages and shapes desire within global sporting capitalism.
Paper long abstract
Kabaddi’s transformation from a rural South Asian pastime into a professional, media-oriented sport – most visibly through the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) – demonstrates how global sport is increasingly shaped by spectacle, commercialization, and the production of desire. PKL’s television friendly format, accelerated pace, and dramatized presentation have recast kabaddi as an entertainment product capable of attracting corporate sponsors, mass audiences, and overseas athletes seeking visibility within an emergent professional arena. For players in East Asia, kabaddi remains a minority sport with limited support. Yet the global visibility of PKL fuels aspirations to participate, often articulated through a “hero’s journey” in which athletes narrate their struggles to cross sporting boundaries.
However, these narratives often embellish the actual conditions behind international participation. The threshold for reaching global competition is not always as high as portrayed; many athletes benefit from institutional support, early exposure, or access to less competitive pathways rather than extraordinary feats of perseverance. Despite this, media accounts frequently elevate these trajectories into heroic tales, aligning neatly with capitalist myth-making that celebrates individual grit while obscuring structural advantages.
This study draws on interviews with kabaddi players in Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, alongside participant observation in regular training sessions and major international tournaments, to examine how these heroic narratives are constructed, circulated, and consumed. By interrogating the gap between mediated heroism and lived experience, the paper reveals how kabaddi’s neoliberal transformation manufactures selective myths of meritocracy while shaping athletes’ desires and self-understandings within global sporting capitalism.
Paper short abstract
The "pleasure principles" of elite sport are that winning is always desirable and losing undesirable; that the more capital a sport club has, the more they win; and the more they win, the more they enjoy sport. This paper questions these truisms by examining losing as a source of enjoyment.
Paper long abstract
In a memorable interview at the height of his career, soccer coach José Mourinho presented his famous omelet metaphor for sport success: ""It is omelets and eggs. No eggs - no omelets! It depends on the quality of the eggs. In the supermarket you have class one, two or class three eggs and some are more expensive than others and some give you better omelets."" Besides the laws of sport capitalism, Mourinho implied the ""pleasure principles"" of elite sport: that winning is always desirable and losing is undesirable; that the more capital a club has, the more they will win; and the more they win, the more they enjoy sport. This paper aims to challenge these truisms by examining losing as a source of enjoyment. The desire to win is fundamentally a capitalist desire: it accumulates sport commodities like victories, championship titles, or celebrity players. This is nourished by the promise that the next new player, championship title, and then the next, will bring greater satisfaction. But will it? This paper proposes that one way to defy the mandate of capitalist accumulation is to acknowledge loss as a source of enjoyment and integrate it in social life. Through examples from the Spanish Liga, it shows that 1. fans misrecognize how they gain satisfaction when they think it's only by winning; 2. satisfaction lies in the act of desiring, not what one obtains; 3. to be a desiring subject and therefore enjoy oneself, one must lack, fail, and acknowledge their obstacles.
Paper short abstract
In this paper, I examine how endurance experiences in ultra-trail running and walking, rather than contesting narratives of escapism from neoliberal and capitalist ideologies, are deeply intertwined with them.
Paper long abstract
Often framed as an escape from ‘modern’ life, ultra-trail running and walking are commonly imagined as authentic activities, free from the logics of commodification. These imaginaries perform important ideological work. Cast as an escape, ultra-endurance practices enable participants to endure rather than contest the demands of capitalist life. This paper challenges the narrative of escapism by examining how ultra-trail running and walking are deeply entangled with neoliberal and capitalist ideologies, particularly through its celebration of individual freedom, self-optimization, and moralized endurance. I suggest that the perceived escape from capitalism in ultra-trail running and walking, and other nature-based sports for that matter, is merely due to a spatial distancing rather than an ideological escape. Based on in-depth ethnographic fieldwork with ultra-trail running and walking communities in Belgium, this paper will show how imaginaries of authenticity, freedom and nature allow ultra-trail practices to appear oppositional to market logics while reproducing capitalist values of resilience, self-optimization, and personal responsibility. By focusing on the lived, embodied and sometimes contradictory experiences of endurance, I examine how ultra-trail runners and walkers become desiring subjects for whom presumed freedom turns into compulsive freedom to pursue pleasure and keep performing.
Paper short abstract
The paper will examine the evolution of skiing in the Alps up to the crisis of the mountain tourism model. In the face of environmental criticism and the advance of global warming, has ski capitalism found artificial snow to be the new infrastructure for perpetuating desire?
Paper long abstract
The paper will study the emergence of Alpine skiing as a sport in the Alps during the 20th century. In countries such as France, the state played a decisive role in developing skiing tourism. The Winter Olympic Games have added a further national dimension to the sport. However, after decades of development, which saw intense real estate pressure on the mountain areas and the evolution of technologies for ascending mountain slopes, the ski model is now in crisis. Beyond the inhabitants of mountain areas, skiing has remained a sport reserved for a privileged niche of the population. The popularisation of sportswear and the advertising of ski resorts have partly contributed to making it less distant from the imagination of sporting desire. However, the stereotypical image of a snow-capped mountain is now being severely challenged by the advance of global warming. Artificial snow has become the only way for many ski resorts to continue operating in the absence of natural snow cover during the winter. The retreat of natural snow and the increase in artificial snow highlights the paradox of the encounter between ski capitalism and the Alpine mountains, putting increasing pressure on water resources. With many voices demanding alternative ways of enjoying the mountains, which desires will prevail in determining the future of the Alps?