Social Issues in Modern Sport Politics and Nationalism

The topics of this paper are timely since the 2008 Summer Olympic Games have just recently been concluded in spectacular fashion in Beijing. Congratulations to the government of China,the Sports offi cials, spectators and most importantly, to the superb athletes who helped create the most memorable sports event in recent years.     

Sport and Politics in Archaic Greece

Abstract

This paper analyses the relationship between sport and politics in archaic Greece (eighth to sixth centuries BC). Although the issue of this relationship has been widely addressed by the academic literature devoted to the subject of ancient sports, there are no studies describing the relationship between both phenomena in the archaic period per se, as well as the factors which triggered them. This paper primarily draws on the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer, as well as the works of Xenophanes and Pindar. Firstly, the study discusses the place of both sport (agon) and politics in the archaic polis. The second part shows how sport was used in various ways by individuals for political purposes, while the third part presents the role of sport in the politics of the poleis. At every level of this analysis, one can see a strong connection between both phenomena. Social, military, and political changes, caused, in particular, by the second Greek colonization and the new phalanx formation of hoplites, highlight the role of sport as an indicator of political domination – from the perspective of both the individual and the poleis as a whole. Indeed, this entire study shows that from the very first moment of its being shaped into organized events, sport was connected to politics.     

Cultural Evolution and Ideology in Korean Soccer: Sport and Nationalism

Modern Korean sports have been adopted mostly from the West, but now Korea has emerged as a sporting power demanding global attention. The influence of historical and political ideology has been in the cultural background of Korean sports development, and the process of cultural evolution in soccer may be explained in the similar context. What helped the Korean soccer team qualify for the World Cup eight consecutive times – only the sixth country in the world to do so – thus making it the most powerful soccer team in Asia? Soccer initially appeared in Korea during the threat of Japanese invasion, and this backdrop provided the opportunity for soccer to be combined with nationalism and transformed into a cultural product that confronted Japanese imperialism. Since the Korean War, South Korean soccer has become a vehicle for ideological confrontation with North Korea amid the atmosphere of the Cold War, and it thus gave rise to sports nationalism by revealing an ideological superiority and nationalistic disposition. Soccer, which arrived in Korea on a British ship, has become a representative Korean sport and continuously challenges the global stage ahead of Asia's leading economic power. It was against the background of such rapid development that nationalism formed.     

A Theory of Sport and Politics

The study of international relations purports to explain how nation-states and individuals interact around the globe. Yet one major area of such interaction – international sport – remains exceedingly understudied. This in spite of the fact that countries have gone to war over sport, fought for sovereign recognition through sport, and that citizens around the world have it as a daily part of their lives. Indeed it is astounding that a phenomenon that matters so much has been so little studied by a field that purports to explain relations between states and humans around the world. These deficiencies became more apparent in 2008 when we witnessed the world's biggest country hosting the world's biggest sporting event. The Beijing Olympics, though entertaining and exciting, showed how little we have thought about the link between sport and international politics. This article introduces a framework for understanding the link between sport and politics. Its point of entry is to argue that many of the questions about how China portrayed itself during the Olympics and whether the Games marked China's rise as a responsible power cannot be answered without first understanding how sport in general is related to a country's political development, and its sense of nationhood. My arguments do not represent new breakthroughs in political science, rather I attempt merely to offer a systematic way of thinking about how sports and the Olympics matter in world politics through three inter-related causal pathways relating to a country's sense of self, its diplomacy, and its capacity for change.     

当代中国体育文化与体育公关礼仪

从当代中国体育文化角度研究体育公关礼仪,认为体育公关礼仪是一种积极的行为态度,是当代中国体育文化的重要内容。随着2008年北京奥运会的迫近和中国体育事业的不断发展,体育公关礼仪研究越来越重要。     

论现代体育的魅力

现代体育是现代人日常生活的重要组成部分,并与社会的其他因素建立了错综复杂的联系。从需求者和供给者两个角度分析了现代人热衷于体育的原因,即需求者角度的现代社会的可预测性、文明性和安全性三个原因,供给者角度的体育的社会化的教育性、文化规范的强迫性和产业魅力的诱惑性三个原因。     

契合现代体育人文精神的休闲体育

随着时代的发展,休闲体育逐步成为现代生活方式中不可或缺的内容。本文从体育人文精神的视角,探讨了休闲体育的内涵、本质及其体育人文价值。提出休闲体育在文化内涵上与体育人文精神是相契合的,休闲体育的兴起是体育人文精神的1种回归的观点。     

现代城市精神与现代体育精神之契合

在城市学与体育学的比较研究中,现代城市精神与现代体育精神的关系乃是有价值的问题。现代城市精神和现代体育精神共享现代性问题。现代性始于马基雅维利的《君主论》,并在本质上属于韦伯所称的“非正当性支配”,现代城市和现代体育均是后神学时代“非正当性支配”下的典型。故现代城市精神和现代体育精神根源于现代性,并体现为三大契合之处：现代城市的开放精神与现代体育的参与精神相契合;现代城市的团结精神与现代体育的团队精神相契合;现代城市的契约精神与现代体育的规则精神相契合。     

近代中国体育社会功能演变机制的剖析

本文通过对中国近代体育社会功能的源流考察和历史呈现,剖析了中国近代体育的社会功能演变的动力,进而得出随着社会的发展,体育的社会功能逐渐趋向以人为本的当代启示。     

试论社会体育的发展与高校社会体育专业的设立

采用文献法、调查法等研究方法,从社会体育专业发展的动力系统、社会体育的动态需求及增设社会体育专业的现实条件等,对增设社会体育专业的可行性进行研究。主要结论：社会体育发展需要高校设立社会体育专业培养高等专门人才,具备设立社会体育专业的基本条件的高校应尽可能设立社会体育专业,社会体育专业具有可持续发展性。     

体育产业基本理论问题研究

对体育产业、体育市场、体育消费等概念的分类、性质、特点进行阐述、分析、探讨,并在体育产业统计方面阐述国内外分类统计情况。