History: the Global Sport and the Making of Globalization

Giulianotto-3852-Ch-01:Giulianotto-3852-Ch-01.qxp.qxp 2/5/2009 1:00 PM Page 1 1 History: The Global Sport and the Making of Globalization Introduction The historical interpretation of the world in general, and of global football in particular, raises specific problems regarding method and perspective. The writing of ‘world history’ became particularly prominent in the late nine - teenth and early twentieth centuries, but inclined strongly towards a rather Western-centric perspective. From the 1970s onwards, as ‘global history’ developed as a counterpoint, greater attention was directed towards hitherto marginalized voices and non-Western societies (Robertson 1992: 29–30, 1997; Schafer 2006). Similar trends have arisen within football studies, wherein relatively national or Eurocentric histories have been displaced by studies that chronicle and indeed celebrate the historical diversity and socio- cultural complexity of the ‘global game’ (cf. Walvin 1994; Armstrong and Giulianotti 1997, 1998a, 2001, 2004; Goldblatt 2004, 2006; Lanfranchi et al. 2004). The distinction between world and global history has noteworthy par - allels in the way in which ‘globalization’ has been understood by particu - lar analysts. Paralleling the ‘world history’ model, some analysts tie globalization historically to the emergence and international diffusion of Western modernization – notably capitalism, industrialism and bureau - cratization – from the nineteenth century onwards (cf. Giddens 1990; Scholte 2005). We might call this the ‘world globalization model’. Conversely, and mirroring a ‘global history’ standpoint, other analysts view globalization as a longer-term, diverse and multidimensional phe - nomenon. In this latter perspective, which we might term the ‘global globalization model’, the modern West figures prominently but not exclusively, for crucially we find also an appreciation of how ancient civ - ilizations, Islam, south and east Asia, and Africa, for example, have con - structed distinctive forms of globality and have contributed to particular kinds of transcultural interdependence (cf. Hopkins 2002; Robertson 1998a; Robertson and Inglis 2007; Therborn 1995, 2000). For example, Pollock (2000) encourages reflection on ancient kinds of globalization, arguing that outward looking, ‘cosmopolitan’ literary cultures predomi - nated through much of the first millennium, followed by more inward- looking, ‘vernacular’ thinking through much of the second. Giulianotto-3852-Ch-01:Giulianotto-3852-Ch-01.qxp.qxp 2/5/2009 1:00 PM Page 2 Globalization & Football This is not, of course, to argue that the ‘global globalization’ model is at odds with the analysis of modernity per se. Indeed, we should note the apparent affinities that arise between the global globalization model and theories of ‘multiple modernity’. This latter perspective posits in part that non-Western societies modernize in distinctive and selective ways relative to the West (cf. Arnason 2001; Eisenstadt 2003; Rostow 1960). For exam - ple, as we also note in Chapter 3, many East Asian societies have germi - nated particular kinds of capitalism or religiosity that are distinct from those dominant models within ‘Anglo-Saxon’ societies (cf. P. Berger 1986; S. Berger and Dore 1999; Beyer 1994; Dore 2000). In line with these ‘global’ models, our discussion of football’s history seeks to highlight the varied, complex and reversible ways in which different soci - eties have engaged with and interpreted the game. In clarifying this point, we should make three initial remarks. First, we need to bear in mind the categor - ical distinctions between the terms global history, global change and global - ization. Global history refers to a particular way of imagining and telling the past of the world. Global change designates specific modifications or transfor - mations in the world that possess some kind of empirical or material referent. And, to reaffirm our statement in the introduction, we understand globaliza - tion as referring to the increased concrete interdependencies of societies and to the greater consciousness of the world as a whole (cf. Robertson 1992: 8). Second, we are not advancing the view that globalization, whether in regard to football or to other socio-cultural forms, constitutes some kind of ‘triumph of the West’ over the rest. Rather, the game displays many histori - cal instances in which the West itself is either socio-culturally divided or ‘left behind’ by other nations and regions. An analogous dispute has recently sur - rounded the ontological presumptions of the sociology of globalization per se: specifically, that the dominance of a so-called ‘northern’ theory of glob - alization serves to silence voices and to occlude competing interpretative frameworks from the Global South (Connell 2007). This critique itself builds upon a rather narrower, northern-focused position than that of our own, in defining globalization as ‘the current pattern of world integration via global markets, transnational corporations, and electronic media under the political hegemony of the United States’ (Connell 2005: 72). Nevertheless, and in accordance with our earlier separate works on globalization and foot - ball, 1 our focus here is quite clearly on both northern and southern hemi - spheres, on the fully ‘global’ aspects of the global game. Third, we are advancing the view that football has been a highly impor - tant aspect of globalization processes; indeed, the sport’s significance in this regard is arguably intensifying. To put this in another way, and as we shall see in this chapter and later, football has been a motor, as well as a mirror, of globalization processes in a variety of ways. 1For example, our books tend to have a global focus; see, for example, Robertson (1992), Nettl and Robertson (1968), Giulianotti (1999a), and Armstrong and Giulianotti (2004). Our works more generally have been translated into at least twenty languages. 2 Giulianotto-3852-Ch-01:Giulianotto-3852-Ch-01.qxp.qxp 2/5/2009 1:00 PM Page 3 History: The Global Sport and the Making 0f Globalization Five Historical Phases of Globalization In the following discussion, we examine in detail the football–globalization nexus across the longue durée . Our analysis is structured by Robertson’s six-phase schema of globalization, which spans the fifteenth century to the early twenty-first century (1992: 58–60; 2007a, 2007b). Our main focus is on setting out briefly the initial five phases that Robertson had extended, before applying these in detail to facilitate a succinct ‘global history’ of football. We then provide an outline, followed by a football application, of the current sixth, ‘millennial’ phase of globalization, as recently advanced by Robertson. Many of the football–globalization processes identified in this discussion are elaborated upon in later chapters. Robertson’s five general phases of globalization may be summarized as follows. The first, germinal phase of globalization is focused on Europe, and spans the early fifteenth century through to the mid-18th century. Through this period, voyages of ‘discovery’ occur and are the crucial precondition for early forms of transoceanic connectivity and colonial subjugation. National communities emerge (underpinned particularly by the Peace of Westphalia, 1648) and Catholicism expands internationally. Different kinds of mercan - tilist economic principles and political strategies come to prevail in Western Europe – for example, through the Colbertist system in France – and are manifested in part through struggles and wars between protectionist nations over available international markets. Contemporary time–space thinking is concretized through the Gregorian calendar, heliocentric think - ing and the proliferation of different geographic projections; ideas of the individual and humanity are accentuated. The second, incipient phase remains largely European, and spans the mid- eighteenth century to the 1870s. The French Revolution has a near-global and long-lasting impact in terms of concretizing themes of revolutionary transformation and human emancipation for industrializing societies. It also presages an embryonic world conflict, in the form of the Napoleonic wars, and the subsequent crystallization of the international system through the post-war settlement. The Lisbon earthquake of 1755, which effectively destroyed the city and killed up to 100,000 people, was a global ‘moment’ that undermined Portugal’s colonial aspirations while impacting strongly upon Enlightenment thought. A near-global model of homogenous nation- states is established, alongside advances in international relations, legal frameworks, and communication systems (for instance the telegraph sys - tem). Conceptions of citizenship and humanity are concretized (notably through the Enlightenment), non-European societies are established, and early international exhibitions are staged. The third, take-off phase marks the electrification of globalization, span - ning the 1870s to the mid-1920s. The four ‘elemental reference points’ of 3 Giulianotto-3852-Ch-01:Giulianotto-3852-Ch-01.qxp.qxp 2/5/2009 1:00 PM Page 4 Globalization & Football globalization are crystallized: individual selves, national (male) societies (nation-states ), the world system of societies ( international relations ), and humankind (Robertson 1992: 104). Thus, personal and national identities become more sharply thematized and defined. Modern national societies become more isomorphic in terms of their juridical, political

Load more