Ruud Stokvis

How to Influence National Pride? The Olympic Medal Index as a Unifying Narrative

Elite sport is often regarded as one of the main vehicles for articulating national pride and stimulating national cohesion. In this article, we explore a variety of different notions of pride and nationality as related to success in elite sport. We present the results of a public survey, which measured some of the effects on national pride in the Netherlands, related to the men’s European Football Championships, the Tour de France, Wimbledon and the Olympic Games in Beijing (all in the summer of 2008). The results suggest that a sense of belonging is a necessary condition that precedes rather than results from sport-related pride. This supports the notion of national pride being a rather stable characteristic of countries, notwithstanding specific situations (such as sport success) that may lead to minor and temporary fluctuations. There seems to be no empirical evidence for the — primarily quantitatively understood — concept of pride (as a ‘bucket-notion’), which is often implicit to the political rhetoric used to increase sport funding with the aim of winning more medals to generate an increase in national pride.

Globalization, commercializtion and individualization: conflicts and changes in elite athletics.

An understanding of the concept of a world sport system is useful to explain how world-wide changes in society and the meaning of sports affect the relations between local, national and international sports organizations and between individual athletes, coaches and officials. The term system is used to accentuate the interconnectedness of different aspects of sport. In Holland, as in many other western countries, the organization of elite sport is in transition from amateurism to commercialism and each sport is changing at a different rate. The many conflicts and problems that at present arise between top athletes, coaches, officials and sports organizations can be explained by an understanding of the changes taking place world-wide in sport. I shall demonstrate that, since the 1970s, it has been necessary for topclass athletes to make more conscious choices in the construction of their sporting careers. In this new situation they have to become more selfconscious and more self-centred. Coaches and officials usually represent only one of the alternative routes to success for the athletes. This leads to conflicts and allegations of disloyalty are common. From September 1997 to September 1998, I had the opportunity to participate in and observe some of these conflicts and problems. During that period I was part of a small team of three, and later (after a disagreement) of two, amateur coaches, which supervised a group of ten women rowers in Amsterdam, who were trying to obtain a place in the Dutch national rowing squad. One of the women got into the squad and won a bronze medal at the World Championships. Two of the others reached the national under-22 squad and another two, who rowed together, would almost certainly have been selected if one of them had not sustained serious injury a few weeks before the final selection. The other five rowers failed in last phases of selections. But all of them were trying again in 1998/99 to get into the national squad. I myself preferred not to be involved again. My aim in this article is to describe some of my experiences and observations, compare them with descriptions of similar events in other sports and to attempt an explanation of them. The explanation will

The Emancipation of Bodybuilding

The main aim of this article is to explain why the history of bodybuilding is so strongly segregated from the histories of sport and physical education. Indeed, this is surprising since bodybuilding has been practised for as long as sport and physical education. Moreover, it shares common roots with weightlifting and gymnastics. This paper describes the development of bodybuilding as a hidden tradition in the field of physical exercise from which modern bodybuilding as a form of fitness descends. It shall also explain why this kind of exercise has been concealed for so long and how its popularity evolved during the last decades of the twentieth century.

Social stratification and sports in Amsterdam in the 20th century

Participation in organized sports is considered as a lifestyle characteristic that is dependent on social class and status considerations. It has been argued that each sport, to a certain extent, can be considered as a representative of certain status categories. These social status categories are dynamic and their size, exclusiveness, and even existence are related to the class structures that arise with the development of economic structure. In this article these ideas are given further critical elaboration through the study of the contemporary demographic distribution of participation in different branches of sports in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Social functions of high school athletics in the United States: a historical and comparative analysis

In the United States competitive sport is part of the extra-curricular program of high schools. In the Netherlands, on the other hand, competitive sport is practiced in private clubs which are completely independent of the high schools. The consolidation and continuity of this difference can be explained by the importance of the integrative function athletics acquired in the US high schools. These schools have a much more heterogenic body of pupils in terms of talents and social class than most Dutch schools. The prevalence of ceremonies, rituals and symbols surrounding high school games in the US enhances this integrative function. In Europe these ceremonies are nearly absent in games and matches between private clubs for boys and girls of high school age. The integrative function of athletics in American high schools contributes to the motivation of students to participate in the school system and to the prevention of students dropping out.

Ajax isn't Ajax anymore: on power, rhetoric and identity

The rhetoric of identity refers to the arguments used when supporters perceive a discrepancy between what they consider the true nature (= identity) of their club and the policy measures of its board. Based on newspaper reports, this essay analyses three cases that sparked this rhetoric. These are: the influx of foreign players, the move to a new stadium and the introduction of a new general manager. It concludes that, in the first two cases, the rhetoric of identity simply served the self‐gratification of the rhetoricians. In the last case, as the essay demonstrates, the rhetoric of identity affects a social unit if powerful actors unite behind the policies, which the rhetoric implies.

Debate the Civilizing Process Applied to Sports A Response to Dominic Malcolm — Cricket and Civilizing Processes

Authors, such as Guttmann, and Dunning and Sheard, have tried to identify fundamental characteristics of modern sports. Guttmann enumerates seven characteristics: secularism, equality, specialization, rationalization, bureaucratization, quantification and records (1978: 16). Dunning and Sheard offer a list of 15 characteristics. Part of their list can be considered a less abstract and more explicit variation of Guttmann’s list. The most conspicuous difference between the lists is the emphasis on the level of violence as an important difference between folk games and modern sport. This point is evident in three characteristics from Dunning and Sheard’s list: (6) norms of ‘fairness’, (11) low level of socially tolerated physical violence, and (12) more controlled and sublimated pleasurable ‘battle-excitement’ (Dunning and Sheard, 1979: 33, 34). In 1992 I argued that the desire to change the level of violence in sports was not an important consideration in the transition from folk games to modern sports. I had and have no problems with the civilizing theory in general. However, I criticized the way in which Elias, Dunning and their colleagues applied the theory in the field of sport. More specifically, I had and have problems with their explanation of the origin and development of modern sport. In my view, not far from Guttmann’s, most typical modern aspects of sports are derived from the wish of competitors from different localities, regions and nations to compete with each other. This wish was an aspect of the process of modernization. People from different regions became more connected and met each other more for work and leisure. To have this supra-local competition people had to agree on the rules of their games and to control their common rules through a supra-local level of organization. In the deliberations of the athletes about rules for supra-local competitions, questions about the level of violence often did arise. Yet the most important point was that all participants agreed to some rule. It might be one that tolerated or one that tried to diminish a certain level of violence (Stokvis, 1992). I argued that a number of modern sports were not violent when they were practised as folk games, and enumerated ‘cricket, golf, bowling, tennis, archery, INTERNATIONAL REVIEW FOR THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT 40/1(2005) 111–114 111

Sport, health and the genesis of a physical activity policy in the Netherlands

Sport and physical activity have become prominent tools in governmental health policy in the Netherlands. This paper focuses on developments in dominant understandings of sport and physical activity in relation to notions of health in the field of sport policy since the 1950s. We show that ‘sport is good for health’ arguments were emphasized and mitigated by different stakeholders with diverging purposes at different moments in time, to stimulate or legitimize interference of the national government in the field of sport. By studying changes in the power balances between the state, the private sport sector and other stakeholders, we explain how, gradually, public health became a, and at times the, major legitimization for this interference. Furthermore, we demonstrate how these developments coincided with a narrowing of the vision of sport, as frequency and intensity became more important than what was actually practised. In this process, sport became blurred with other terms like physical activity and recreation, and new interest groups entered the field of sport and health. However, these developments had real consequences for the sport sector. This paper clearly illustrates the unintended and complex outcomes of a policy process with interdependent power relations and interests. Over the past decades, health-related aims gained dominance in Dutch sport policy, but certainly not in a straightforward way.

‘Pythagoras in boots’: Johan Cruijff and the Construction of Dutch National Identity

Sporting icons perform a key role in the production and reproduction of national identities. In the Netherlands, no one embodies this sentiment more appropriately than Johan Cruijff, regarded by many as one of the finest professional footballers ever to have played the game. Much of the early part of Cruijffs career (during the 1960s and 1970s) mirrored an era of optimism, (liberal) ideology, freedom, hope and, for the Netherlands competing in international sport, unprecedented success across a range of sports including football, ice skating and cycling. Only a very limited number of players (such as Pele, Platini or Beckenbauer) manage to translate their status as sporting icons onto their subsequent activities beyond the playing field. This article focuses on this phenomenon by examining the case of Cruijff, from an icon on the field of play to his status as a national leader capable of commentating on a range of domestic issues. This analysis also considers the manner in which Cruijff deployed his elevated status in the specific confines of a recent power struggle within his former club Ajax of Amsterdam, the most well-known football club in the Netherlands. The article argues that even in the event of perceived failure and, with this, a possible loss of credibility, the icon retains his prestige and notoriety.

Doorbreek het sociaalhistorisch vacuüm rond bewegingsonderzoek

leiding af van de aard van het werk? Een reguliere opleiding kan soms een te grote belasting zijn voor een ervaringsdeskundige. Misschien zijn andere vormen van opleiding nodig. Ook deskundigheidsbevordering kan een optie zijn. Daarnaast was er discussie over de wederzijdse beinvloeding van professionals en ervaringsdeskundigen. Ervaringsdeskundigen zouden ingezet kunnen worden bij de opleiding van professionals en ze kunnen professionals inspireren om ook hun eigen ervaringen in te zetten. Ervaringsdeskundigen en professionals hebben elkaar dus nodig; door samen te werken ontstaat een win-winsituatie. Maar ook de inbreng van de familie van de client mag niet ontbreken. Ten slotte werden allerlei ontwikkelingen in het onderzoek op dit gebied genoemd bijvoorbeeld het onderzoek naar de cursus ‘Herstellen doe je zelf.’ De conclusie is dat we nog aan het begin staan van de inzet van ervaringsdeskundigheid in de zorg, maar dat het veel kan brengen. De samenwerking tussen professionals en ervaringsdeskundigen is complementair en zij kunnen veel van elkaar leren.