Japan Journal of Sport Sociology
Online ISSN : 2185-8691
Print ISSN : 0919-2751
ISSN-L : 0919-2751
Volume 26, Issue 1
FIFA World Cup
Displaying 1-5 of 5 articles from this issue
Introduction
  • Takeshi ARIMOTO
    2018 Volume 26 Issue 1 Pages 3-4
    Published: March 30, 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2019
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • Tracing 20 Years of France National Football Team
    Toshifumi JINNO
    2018 Volume 26 Issue 1 Pages 15-28
    Published: March 30, 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2019
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     Football today can be seen as a cultural phenomenon ruled by the power of sponsors in every domain such as game schedules and activities players. However, it also reflects and highlights social problems of each time. This essay traces French representative teams for the past 20 years considering how they reflect issues of French society, and proposes the possibility of interpreting FIFA World Cup in some affirmative ways. In 1998, while regulation of immigration was increasing in France, the French team, an ensemble of players from different social and racial backgrounds, winning chanpionship produced social moods of ‘unification’. The World Cup then could be seen as generating a dream of social unification, however transitory it was. French teams after 2000, however, highlight division of French society. The commonality of the process of aiming to be a national player from relatively poor environment in the time of Zinedine Zidan dissapeared in the time of Vikash Dhorasoo. The crack between players from ‘Cité’, a particularly unsafe area in the suburbs, and players from upper class was a symbol of the social division. This problem was awfully manifested in South Africa in 2010, the World Cup being an event that disclose such social problems. Apart from the issues of inclusion/exclusion of races and devision of social classes, World Cup for France can be a site in which colonial/post colonial issues are to be negotiated. A game of France and Algeria might be realized in Brazil in 2014. The World Cup exposes complicated histories between ex-colonizer and ex-colonized. However, it is also the World Cup that can realize the football match without considering such all.
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  • ―World Cup, National Team, Celebrity―
    HyunSuk OH
    2018 Volume 26 Issue 1 Pages 29-41
    Published: March 30, 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: March 30, 2019
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     This study examines what kind of national discourse has been constructed through soccer in post-war Korean society. The characteristic of the national discourse in post-war Korean society is anti-nationalism, which is a manifestation of hostility to North Korea, and anti-Japanese nationalism, which comes from hostility toward Japan due to colonial experience. This form of nationalism has been reflected in soccer, and nationalism has been built through soccer relay viewing. However, after the 2002 World Cup, the national discourse changed through soccer. This is not a simple ideological function of establishing nationalism through the existing soccer, but a new type of national discourse based on the arrival of consumer society and diversity has emerged. Along with these changes in the times, a new form of national discourse was formed through soccer. It is going to be a trend of globalization, and the individuality of soccer players will become a reality. In other words, discourse on celebrity led to the construction of nationalism.
     The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between soccer player’s celebrity and nationalism, focusing on soccer player Park Ji-sung and Son Hung-min. The relationship between soccer player’s celebrity and nationalism arises from the production of a new type of national discourse, the articulation of soccer fandom culture, and the stalemate with capitalism. In other words, the soccer player’s celebrity has more diversified and complex discourse production, and the transformation of nationalism in it is being done.
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  • Subjecthood of Sport Participants
    Hidehiro KASANO
    2018 Volume 26 Issue 1 Pages 43-58
    Published: March 30, 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: April 06, 2018
    Advance online publication: November 30, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     This paper reveals the theoretical framework of a theory of sport organizations as subjects and highlights its significance. This theory is intended to overcome the limitations of the theories of sport as an institution.
     In the theories of sport as an institution, even if one accepts that sport participants’ social character is influenced by sport institutions, this does not necessarily explain the perspective from which reform takes place. In other words, who initiates a change? In addition, a framework that grasps sport participants’ actions on subjecthood in the theories of sport as an institution is also absent.
     In the theory of sport organizations as subjects, sport organizations are positioned as subjects that shape the social character of sport participants through the formation and reformation of sport institutions. By integrating the active theory of sport socialization into the theories of sport as an institution enables us to grasp sport participants’ actions on subjecthood in the theory of sport organizations as subjects.
     This contributes significantly towards the creation of the theoretical framework of the theory of sport organizations as subjects. Moreover, the theory integrates micro as well as macro viewpoints.
     In the theory of sport organizations as subjects, sport participants’ actions on subjecthood is necessary for organizing them and sport organizations need to meet their demand.
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  • Reproduction of “Japaneseness” through Yomiuri Shimbun Newspaper Articles
    Takeshi MIYAZAWA
    2018 Volume 26 Issue 1 Pages 59-74
    Published: March 30, 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: April 06, 2018
    Advance online publication: January 30, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     In sports, where competition is the fundamental principle, the outcome is everything. While victory is associated with numerous values, “defeat” is only identified as negative. However, sports media, including newspapers, often present defeat as positive. In order to clarify this contradictory sentiment, this paper analyzes how defeat is portrayed by the media, and aims to identify why Japanese newspapers attach positive values to losing.

     The newspaper articles referenced in this paper tell stories of defeat in athletics from the post-war period to the present (1946-2016). Articles were collected from the Yomiuri Shimbun morning edition; the newspaper index database, “Yomidas Rekishikan,” from the National Diet Library; and the “Nikkei Terekon21.” To find the articles, a search was conducted using the keyword “defeat.” In total, 4,407 articles were collected and studied using document analysis.

      According to the results, in situations where “idealism,” such as fighting spirit and grit, was associated with losing, defeat was both criticized and praised. Furthermore, articles that lauded defeat as positive focused on praising teams and individuals for hard work, extensive practice, sincere effort, and discipline. The values that were praised by the articles are widely recognized as honorable in the real world. What lies in the background of these values was discussed in relation to the characteristics of Japanese sports ideology. It is thought that discussing those values has two functions, namely recreating the traditional Japanese identity and consoling the losers in a competitive society.

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