International Events: Olympics
•
Summer games are the second most watched sporting event in the
world
•
Based on ancient Greek games held every four years, whose site had
been uncovered in 1890’s
•
First modern games held in 1896 in Athens, organized by Pierre de
Coubertin
–
Wanted to promote international unity through friendly, amateur
competition
–
80% of attendees were Greek, Americans won medal count
International Events: Olympics
•
First Winter Olympics held in 1924 in France
•
Mexico City in 1968 first non-Euro dominated country to host
Olympics,
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Sapporo, Japan, hosted 1972 Winter Games
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Major events avoided developing countries (boxing is exception)
•
Although Greece shows problems
•
Los Angeles Olympics seen as first hyper-commercialized games
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Questions of bribery by Coca-Cola, in Salt Lake City
•
China used 2008 Olympics as a “coming out party”
–
Forced cars off roads to clean air; removed bad English
translations from signs; trained thousands for opening and closing ceremonies
Olympics and Nationalism
Because of the large
international attention, Olympics became a proxy for many national struggles,
way for marginal groups to be recognized
•
1936 Berlin – Hitler tries to use Olympics as platform for fascist
propaganda
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Jesse Owens wins 4 medals
•
1968 Mexico – Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos give black
power salute while receiving medals
–
Follows deaths of MLK, RFK
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IOC condemns them, world sympathetic
•
1972 Munich – Palestinian group kidnaps Israeli athletes, both
groups die in raid by German special forces
Olympics and Cold War
One of the few places where
Communists and US met face to face, to prove superiority
•
Huge institutions in Soviet Union, Cuba, Romania, East Germany for
training athletes from very young age, with great success
–
None of their athletes ever turned pro, so their “amateur” hockey,
basketball teams were infinitely better
–
East Germany widely accused of doping women’s swim team, coaches
went to China after collapse of the Wall
•
1980 Moscow Olympics boycotted b/c of Afghanistan invasion, 1984
LA Olympics boycotted in retaliation
Sport and Nationalism: Kenya
No country was so associated with
dominance in one sport like Kenya is with distance running
•
The majority of the 200 fastest times for men’s marathon are
Kenyans; about 20% of women
•
Most of the runners from the 3 million member Kalenjin
tribe
–
They live in high altitudes where the climate is cool, ideal running
conditions
–
People living in similar conditions in Ethiopia have had recent
success.
•
First break through was in Mexico, where Kip Keino,
who won two medals with a bladder infection
•
While earlier in the program, government provided money, now Fila,
Puma, Adidas own camps
–
Lornah Kiplagat has opened training camp for women runners in her
home country, changing gender relations
International Sports: World Cup
•
The most popular sporting event, if not event, in the world (also
most played sport)
–
Most countries average 20% of all televisions tuned to it, 90% in
Brazil
•
Latin America always well represented
–
Uruguay hosted first cup in 1930
•
Had won Olympics in 1924, 1928
•
Was having extravagant 100 years of independence celebrations
–
Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil all hosted
•
Africa, Asia until recently under-represented in terms of hosting,
number of places in competition
–
2010 World Cup was in South Africa; even more amazingly 2022 in
Qatar
World Cup: Brazil
•
Like in most countries, football was first introduced by British
expatriates (citizens living abroad) or perhaps by British sailors in 1880’s or
1890’s.
•
Caught on among local population very quickly
–
Only real equipment needed is a ball, so very inexpensive
–
Simple to understand, unlike cricket, baseball
•
Got head start on basketball, which is growing in popularity
–
Every tiny mountain village in Oaxaca has a local basketball team
(and a Los Angeles team)
Brazil: Pele
•
Born Edson Arantes
do Nascimento in a shantytown in Brazil
–
Declared “national treasure” in 1960’s
•
Began playing professionally at 16 for the Brazilian club Santos
–
Toured world, like Harlem Globetrotters
•
Won World Cup in 1958 at age 17, again in ’62, ’70
–
‘58 was first one broadcast on TV
•
Along with Muhammad Ali, became first global sports superstar
–
He was a black man, playing with flare, making Europeans look
silly
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$150,000 in 60’s, was highest paid athlete
•
Played final years for New York Cosmos
Sports and Social Relations
Sports have often been place
where barriers of race and class (although not gender) break
down a little ahead of the curve
–
Because the rich in the end want to win, if not be welcoming
•
In Britain, certain clubs are associated with ethnic groups
–
In London, Tottenham Hotspur
traditionally a Jewish team, Milwall has significant
skin-head support (which is very anti-immigrant)
–
In Glasgow, there is a protestant team (Rangers) and a Catholic/Irish
team (Celtic)
–
Becomes center for hooliganism, where gangs of fans battle each
other
•
Hooligans have been known to abuse players, especially those of
African or South Asian descent
Sports and Social Relations
•
Gender
–
From sport’s roots in
Victorian Britain, it was put forth as activity that helped shape young men
•
Disciplined, strong, competitive
–
Very different from values being taught to women as passive,
restrained
•
When women’s sports emerged, were segregated and toned down from
men’s versions (thus potentially alienating)
–
Communist, Scandinavian countries first to push women athletes as
hard as men
•
First to do strength training for women skaters, gymnasts,
swimmers
•
Many countries under fund women’s teams
–
Income gap is very large, even in tennis, track and field, where
there are as many women pros as men
Development: It Ain’t Just Something
Done By Kodak
Development Introduction
•
Theories of development often depend on the location of the
thinker (giver or receiver)
•
Did not think about development until post-1945
–
Colonialists thought non-Westerners would have no capacity for it
•
Ideas at Core of Western led development:
–
Diffusionist view of
development – ie eventually western technology would
copied by everyone so they could “catch up”
–
Identification of development’s problem as poverty (how much money
people had); thus solution is economic growth
•
Aid could have targeted other things
–
Practiced, competed over by both 1st and 2nd
worlds; something done to the 3rd world
Views of How Europeans could develop their economies
•
Mercantilism – export more than you import, strong state backed by
a treasury of precious metals brings wealth
–
Physiocrats argued
that wealth came from exploiting land through agriculture
•
Capitalism – Organizing human labor to produce an economic
surplus, much of which to be reinvested in creating more surplus
–
Often this is done by expanding geographically into new frontiers
Views on Europe (cont.)
People
–
Adam Smith: Wrote against
mercantilism in Wealth of Nations, argued against government
interference in the pricing of items, that the “invisible hand” guided by self
interest would keep prices low and punish people for making mistakes eventually
•
Self interest for Smith included sympathy for others and desire
for a better society
–
Thomas Malthus: Early
theorizer of population, thought people would outbreed resources
–
David Ricardo: Devised
theory that nations should specialize in what they produced with the least
labor, and then trade the surplus to maximize production overall (comparative
advantage)
–
Marx: Thought capitalism was just one
(albeit beneficial) joining of production and social relations, and that there
had been and would be others because of contradictions
•
Also had labor theory of value, that profit is made by the
capitalist by the value of labor done by workers beyond their wages
•
All could be diffusionist, telological (ie every one follows
the same path in the same order) in their outlook
So how did this development thing get started?
•
First applied to Europe
–
The Marshall Plan
•
Euros forced to work together, including West Germans
•
Loans from U.S. to buy U.S.
goods
•
Helped U.S..
Helped Europe
–
Worked partially because Europe was already industrialized, needed
help getting back on its feet (instead of industrializing for the first time)
–
Keep Countries from turning
to communism
–
Similar aid for Japan to fight communism
•
Then offered to former colonies
–
It was one of President
Truman’s top priorities; “only moral course of action”
–
Focus of his inaugural
address (1949)
–
The Idea: Become more
like first world in every way: politically, culturally, and especially,
economically
Rostow’s 5 Stages
of Development
•
Rostow was an economic historian/optimist
–
Wrote “Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto”
–
All countries thought to move thru same stages
–
Whole world eventually become “modern,” leaving “non-modern”
behind
–
Stages based on European Experience
–
Speed depends on resources and labor efficiency
•
Moving between stages requires getting “comparative advantage” to
maximize surplus
•
Traditional Societies
-- Agriculture-based
-- Little Savings
-- Society is static, rigidly
hierarchical
•
Pre-Conditions for Take-off
–
Internal desires or external forces change attitudes
–
A nation state forms
–
Get infrastructure, export ag
and mining
–
National Elite and more people saving
Rostow’s 5 Stages
(continued)
•
Takeoff
–
Manufacturing makes up 10% GDP
–
Savings now re-invested
–
More people migrate to cities
–
Modern political and social
institutions
•
Drive to Maturity
–
Becomes specialist in several types of manufacturing goods
–
Now has resources to produce what it chooses
–
Rural areas: Few farmers producing more
–
Services become more
important
•
Maturity
–
No longer worry about getting basic goods
–
High mass consumption for everyone
•
Eventually move beyond this not worrying about $
Rostow (cont.)
How was Rostow put into
practice?
–
Loans for heavy equipment or large-scale projects to help realize
comparative advantage
•
ports,
processing plants, highways, airplanes, dams, fertilizers, mining equipment
(Marshall plan stuff)
•
Focus on the highly visible and large scale
•
UN works on health, children’s issues
–
Opening spots in prestigious Western and Soviet universities for
elites from throughout the world, the create the class that would manage their
economies back home
–
Optimism things would get rolling on their own after that, that
everyone could win
Talcott Parsons
Structural
Functional Theory of Society
•
Was sociological basis for much development thought
•
Society in equilibrium until change comes
•
New equilibrium by creating new roles and institutions, or
adapting old ones, so to create a climate in which people come to willingly
make choices which leads to stability of society
•
Leads to greater complexity, which leads to communication,
participation, competition, sophisticated division of labor & modernity
–
This makes you modern
Parsons and Problems
Problems with Rostow’s Model
•
No single country has actually gone thru all stages
•
All stages, happen at once, in same country
•
Heavy industry no longer gives high salaries
•
In absence of surplus income to begin “take-off”, governments get
money in loans, leading to debt
Problems with
Modernization Models in General
•
Under theorizes how changes (or even stability) occur within societies
–
Only say they will happen, not how they will or why they did
•
Generalizes from examples which occurred under specific
circumstances (post-plague, imperial Europe)
•
Assumes “the natural” progression will always be towards more
complexity and harmony with the “environment’ (applying biological theory as
metaphor for society)
Theoretical Backing
•
Marginalist/Neo-Classical
–
Idea that worth of good is equal to marginality
–
Assumed
•
Production function (capability) depended on factors of labor,
capital, technical knowledge
•
If there is an oversupply in any of these factors, the factor in
excess supply will not be as sucessful as they good
if things were more in balance
•
Everything from labor to land is being used to its fullest
•
Price of factor of production equals marginal productivity (price
= value added)
•
More available a factor, the lower it will be priced
Neo-classical (cont.)
Argued that through trade, a
relative abundance of certain factor could be made into an advantage
•
Best growth rate assumed by balancing the factors
•
Under free competition in a country, this balancing will occur
automatically
•
If free trade is allowed between countries, growth rates will even
out over time as capital chases cheap labor
•
Under trade, it makes sense to specialize in what a country can
produce most efficiently, and trade for the rest – thus everybody theoretically
gets more
Problem:
•
Specializing in certain products allows higher growth than others
•
Assumptions C, D, and E are merely assumptions, and rarely reflect
real world conditions
Neo-liberalism
•
An updating of the market-centric Neo-classical approach
–
Recognizes imperfect competition, that local culture (for example
Islam) can play at least a limited role in determining development path, and
that the state has some (though still limited) role, mostly in facilitating
public, private partnerships
–
Still believes free markets can have unlimited potential for
growth everywhere, that mostly same economic laws apply everywhere
–
Informs IMF/World Bank policy
Sustainable development
•
Reaction to 1970’s increased environmental awareness
–
Now includes aiding both the environment and people
•
Developed measures like Human Development Index, which included
education and health in measures of how well a country is doing
–
However, in 1970’s it was about “limits to growth” (things we
should not do); by the 1980’s it meant “growth of limits” (how can we continue
to grow while doing less harm)
•
Recently idea that if all environmental factors are “priced” and
including in accounting, the market will learn to profit from protecting the
environment
–
Belief that growth of wealth is the best way to ensure environment
gets protected
Development from the Periphery
•
From the periphery development has been experienced as:
–
Colonialism, cold war proxy battles, external control over
domestic affairs, dissolution of their traditions, environmental destruction
•
“Underdevelopment” as an active condition, not a natural state of
affairs
–
Development also as insult that culture, tradition is wrong
•
Critics fall into
–
Dependency Theory – The world system produces economic inequality
–
Postmodern/Post-colonial Theory – There are other multiple
approaches to increase well-being available from the diversity of the world
that cannot necessarily be measured as economic prosperity
Dual Theories
•
Acknowledged that instead of evening out differences, differences
continued to persist both between and within countries between
traditional/peripheral areas and “modern”/core areas
–
Thought it could be overcome by investing in peripheral areas, hiring away
agricultural labor, etc.