Power and Politics in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Teams
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UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN Department of Administration and Organization Theory AORG350 Master's Thesis in Administration and Organizational Science SPRING 2016 Power and Politics in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Teams Barbara Victoria Ruiken II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The process with this paper has been very rewarding in several ways, both personally and academically. I have of course learnt much about research methods and the academic process, much that I wish I knew before starting. I have also learnt new things about the sport that I love and sacrifice blood, sweat, and tears for. The thesis and the sport have been great supplements to each other, when one was hard and I was not making progress, the other was a sanctuary and provided success. There have been many people involved in the process that I am very grateful to. All respondents to the survey; this paper would not have been possible without you. Every single answer was appreciated and valuable. Thank you also to those who distributed the invitation to the survey. I am very grateful to my supervisor Professor Marit Skivenes (she supervised me in the semesters spring and fall 2015, and spring 2016), who allowed me to write about this unusual empirical field, and was with me every step of the way; encouraging me, giving good advice and protecting me from unwarranted criticism. Big thanks to the members of the research group PGI, for their valuable feedback in the past 10 months. Thank you, Eivind Windsrygg, for many fruitful discussions on the topic. Thank you; Daniel Bertina, Brad Wolfson, Miao Joris Gao, Dennis Brötzmann, Johannes Mella, and Kjetil Kausland for testing the survey, and Aslaug Drotningsvik and Simen Raudstein for proofreading the thesis. You made sure all my i’s were dotted and all t’s crossed. Thank you, Dennis, for loving me and believing in me every step of the way (and proof reading). A big hug to my family and to the members of Bergen Grappling for allowing me to take daily breaks from my studies for training. You are awesome. And thank you, Mephisto, for reminding me that no work is so important that a cat cannot sit on it. III CONTENTS Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................................................................................................III Glossary .......................................................................................................................................................................................... VI Table of figures .............................................................................................................................................................................. VII Table of tables ............................................................................................................................................................................... VIII 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Research question ................................................................................................................................................................ 2 1.2. Actualisation ........................................................................................................................................................................ 2 1.3. Research and study plan ....................................................................................................................................................... 3 2. Context 5 2.1. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 2.1.1. Hierarchy in BJJ .......................................................................................................................................................... 5 2.1.2. “Aliveness” ................................................................................................................................................................. 6 2.1.3. On gyms, teams, and affiliation................................................................................................................................... 7 2.1.4. More than a sport ........................................................................................................................................................ 7 2.2. “Politics” in BJJ ................................................................................................................................................................... 8 2.2.1. Sanctions ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8 2.2.2. The pro-politics side .................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.2.3. The anti-politics-side ..................................................................................................................................................10 2.3. BJJ Globetrotters .................................................................................................................................................................10 2.4. Traditional teams ................................................................................................................................................................11 3. Theory 13 3.1. Power from the control of resources ...................................................................................................................................14 3.2. Legitimizing processes ........................................................................................................................................................14 3.3. Three dimensions of power .................................................................................................................................................15 3.3.1. One-dimensional power: Robert Dahl ........................................................................................................................16 3.3.2. Two-dimensional power: Bachrach and Baratz .........................................................................................................17 3.3.3. Three-dimensional power: Lukes ...............................................................................................................................19 3.4. A framework to measure power ..........................................................................................................................................20 4. Research methods 22 4.1. Introduction .........................................................................................................................................................................22 4.1.1. Team categories .........................................................................................................................................................22 4.2. Survey .................................................................................................................................................................................23 4.2.1. Distribution and recruitment ......................................................................................................................................23 4.2.2. Development and composition of the survey .............................................................................................................25 4.2.3. Respondent protection ................................................................................................................................................27 4.2.4. Analytical strategy .....................................................................................................................................................27 4.3. Document analysis ..............................................................................................................................................................28 4.3.1. Selected documents ....................................................................................................................................................28 4.3.2. Analytical strategy .....................................................................................................................................................29 4.4. Data quality, respondents, and limitations ..........................................................................................................................29 4.4.1. Selection considerations and representativeness ........................................................................................................29 4.4.2. Survey errors ..............................................................................................................................................................34 4.4.3. Reliability ...................................................................................................................................................................36 4.4.4. Validity .......................................................................................................................................................................36 4.4.5. My own involvement in the community ....................................................................................................................37 4.5. Operationalisation