Alan M. Klein

Progressive Ethnocentrism: Ideology and Understanding in Dominican Baseball

This study is an effort to examine the problems associated with interpreting events and practices emanating in one cultural context (the Dominican Republic) by those of another (the United States)—part of the classic definition of ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism has been considered to be a problem linked to close-minded individuals and agencies, but this study attempts to show that progressive thinkers can also fall prey to it. Two case studies are looked at—the case of buscónes (those responsible for finding and developing Dominican ballplayers) and the case of former Little League sensation Danny Almonte (himself a Dominican émigré). The cases involve young men who have been wronged in one way or another. Guilt and innocence has been reported in the United States. However, ethnographic research into these cases shows that one can be right on the particulars while wrong in matters of cultural context and therefore unintentionally furthering ethnocentric bias.

Managing deviance: Hustling, homophobia, and the bodybuilding subculture

The subculture of bodybuilding is the backdrop of an analysis of some contradictions inherent in American masculinity. One of the most unusual, but telling of these has to do with “hustling”: the widespread selling of sexual favors by bodybuilders to gay men. In this, one also finds the incongruent presence of homophobia. Hence, homosexual behavior is juxtaposed by anti‐homosexual behavior. This study shows that this irony is necessary if the hustler is to maintain his alleged heterosexual identity. Hypermasculinity and strategies of economic survival in the highly competitive southern California bodybuilding scene are also examined in relation to hustling and more generally to American masculinity. Contradictions in bodybuilding are shown to be more problematic than studies of other street hustlers and prison populations where homosexual behavior is juggled with heterosexual identity.

American hegemony, Dominican resistance, and baseball

The context for the present study is fieldwork in the Dominican Republic to write a political ethnography of baseball which centers on an assessment of cultural hegemony and resistance through baseball. During 1987-1988 interviews, both formal and informal, were carried out, as were ethnographic observations of baseball teams at a variety of levels1. Interviews and surveys were also conducted among the fans attending professional games during the season. Fan attitudes related to issues of hegemony and resistance make up the present paper. In part, this research is motivated by the widespread acceptance of a cultural imperialist argument in which the cultural exports of the U.S. and the industrialized West to the rest of the world

Chain reaction: neoliberal exceptions to global commodity chains in Dominican baseball.

Global commodity chain research has become an important dimension of sociological research on globalization. Viewed from an anthropological perspective, however, it seems to be missing a critical orientation, one that is rooted in anthropology’s tradition of ‘studying down’. This study of Dominican baseball as a global commodity chain is an excellent pathway to understanding the ways in which neoliberal forces are altered as they articulate with local institutions and events in the developing world. The study also argues for injecting global commodity chain models with a more critical component to gain their full benefits.

The transnational view of sport and social development: the case of Dominican baseball

This essay examines social benefits of Major League Baseballs half century of dealings with the Dominican Republic. While the relationship was built along neo-colonial lines that heavily favoured the North American partner, structural events have unfolded in the past decade that have resulted in a levelling of the political-economic playing field. This is the outcome, not so much of MLBs sense of corporate responsibility, as it is the unforeseen consequences of its actions and the ability of Dominicans to take advantage of opportunities.

Latinizing the ‘national pastime’

The recent surge of baseball players emanating from Latin America is generally viewed as indicative of global currents in the sport. This view represents an overly shallow understanding of global processes. Based on intensive study of the sport –primarily in the Dominican Republic– this study presents new data and paradigms for looking at the relationship between Latin American and North American influences in the game. Understanding the growing labor presence of Latin Americans requires an assessment of the economic health of the game domestically. Despite robust economic figures a crisis exists, and going abroad represents one important solution. In the wake of these developments, there is growing evidence of a shift in political and economic influence: away from American dominance, toward a Latin American impact within the sport. The study builds a political-economic model from which to understand this emerging trend.

Muscle Manor: the Use of Sport Metaphor and History in Sport Sociology

This paper looks at one historical paradigm in the study of sport. Using social traits reflective of feudalism and capitalism, big time bodybuilding developed a set of seemingly contradictory institutions and values. Atavistic social and political relations were fused with a modern capitalist economic base. Two important traits in bodybuildings ideology - dependency and individualism - are examined as reflective of these different epochs. It is shown that feudal ideology and social traits at times function to obscure capitalist relations and vice versa. The consequence of such interplay is to reinforce existing political and economic configurations by preventing competition and retarding cohesion within bodybuildings rank and file.

Globalizing sport: assessing the World Baseball Classic

The ‘globalization of Major League Baseball’ is critically assessed through its most visible effort in that direction. The World Baseball Classic debuted in 2006 to stellar reviews, but in examining how this tournament was structured Major League Baseball reveals its view of what globalization means for the industry. This tournament is further examined against a backdrop of globalization as a continuum. The two ends of that continuum, ‘Testicular Globalization’ and ‘Tough Love Globalization’ represent two poles that differ in terms of how much power is centralized or decentralized. By this standard, Major League Baseball is not only far behind sports such as football (soccer) and the National Basketball Association, but we now have more sophisticated criteria to assess globalization.

BORDERLINE TREASON: NATIONALISMS AND BASEBALL ON THE TEXAS-MEXICAN BORDER

A 3-year ethnographic-historical study of a Mexican League team that straddles the U.S.-Mexican border is shown to illustrate that there exists not a single form of nationalism but rather a range of nationalisms that characterizes life on the border. This study defines and outlines the presence of three nationalisms: autonationalism, binationalism, and transnationalism. Further, the study argues that border relations and tensions are such that the use of multiple methods is preferable. Exclusive use of one method or another may be useful in detecting one nationalist form but may not pick up the presence of others.

The plains truth: The impact of colonialism on Indian women

ConclusionSomewhere between fact and fancy, between competing perspectives and interpretations, lies the truth. No extreme position can totally reflect the data, but neither does interpretation collapse into relativism. In these pages I have noted that as Plains society became increasingly enmeshed in production for the fur trade, a simple yet significant degree of specialization of labor emerged, forged along traditional lines. Women were precluded from contributing to hunting, a situation fostered by the effects of the horse on their foraging economy. Private property relations both resulted from and compounded this situation by assuring men a degree of control over distribution, exchange, and production unknown in the previous century. The result was the relative decline in the position of women.An historical materialist framework succeeds here. In adopting it we avoid outlining the problem in a one-dimensional way by interpreting homeostatic function and conflict diachronically. Most significantly, historical materialism does not present the problem in a simplistic (either functionalism/or conflict theory) framework, but rather seeks to argue from the former to the latter via an examination of the relations of production.In tribal society, unlike class society, relations between the sexes do not lend themselves to overt political expression in the context of massive movements which have revolution or social change as the sole end. The institutions of kinship and family, and their reproductive functions, effectively prohibit this antagonistic splintering of society Patricia C. Albers, \ldExpansion and Flexibility in Dakota Familial Structure,\rd paper delivered to the Family History and Heritage Symposium, Brigham Young University, 1975.. And this is even more the case where we find both family and wider kin groupings looming importantly in economic matters. Contemporary society can readily make for feminist issues, precisely because families are increasingly superfluous; the result being that the exploitative relations between the sexes are more sharply defined and given expression. In tribal society, however, kinship is the fulcrum of social life and is the modality of all institutions. To the degree that Plains Indian women could seek status within, and identify with, the domestic unit or band, the social schisms forming in Plains society could remain smoldering beneath the surface. The very nature of kinship society precludes the kind of class conflict which occurs in centralized or formative state systems. But it is no guarantee against structurally significant discontent.