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This chapter analyzes the development of the relationship between the social sciences and sport in Argentina – from its first steps, to the present, and to possible future issues. The description of Arbena (1999) from the last part of twentieth century about the situation of the social sciences and sport in Latin America in general and Argentina in particular could not be more precise:

Latin America has produced little scholarly analysis of sport and society, though information and insights are found in other types of writings, journalistic accounts such as club histories and popular biographies. What has been focused on soccer normally treats only the author’s own country, and is rarely available in English. Nowhere does a single author or academic group dominate. (Arbena, 2000, p. 548)

Latin America has produced little scholarly analysis of sport and society, though information and insights are found in other types of writings, journalistic accounts such as club histories and popular biographies. What has been focused on soccer normally treats only the author’s own country, and is rarely available in English. Nowhere does a single author or academic group dominate. (Arbena, 2000, p. 548)

We also make reference to how the anthropologist Eduardo Archetti breaks that mold described by Arbena and how he becomes the undisputed referent in the study of the social sciences and sport in Argentina, and how his immense contribution is recognized in the region. We analyze the present status of this topic, its major changes, the development that the area has undergone so far, and the issues that are being studied today. Moreover, we mention the importance of sociology of sport in the academic field and its formalization. Finally, this chapter also considers possible future trends in the sociology of sport in Argentina.

Although the first known sociological writings on sport in the English-speaking Caribbean (ESC) date from 1953, the sociology of sport is very much a nascent subdiscipline that occupies a very marginal and almost nonexistent position in the region’s educational, research, and development agenda. This is evident in the number of sport sociologists, courses of study, professional organizations, conferences/seminars, and publications on the subject. While this chapter examines the historical, social, cultural, institutional, and economic factors that have contributed to this situation, it also profiles the limited publications in the field, the theoretical and methodological characteristics, its authors, and their location, as well as some of the recent positive developments that make for change. However, while noting the positive signs of change, it is suggested that the future for the sociology of sport in the ESC is rather mixed for its growth will continue to be constrained if traditional thinking towards the study of sport and its funding persist or remain dominant.

This paper discusses the evolving nature of the symbolic meaning of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Exploring the kratophanous power of soccer in Brazil, we seek to explain how the relationship that Brazilians had with the 2014 FIFA World Cup reflects profound changes in a mutating society that has deep emotional connections with soccer but at the same time has started to reject the misuse of public resources and struggles to see corruption as a fact of life.

The authors conducted a netnography on Facebook communities and on Instagram, reviewed documentaries and short films, as well as press articles on the subject. Data was collected both retrospectively and concurrently. Analysis used open coding, moving up from the emic meanings extracted from the texts to an etic account of the phenomena (Cherrier & Murray, 2007; Thompson, 1997; Thompson & Haytko, 1997).

We argue that the duality of the Brazilian culture and the kratophanous power of soccer help understand the evolving nature of the relationship Brazilians had with the 2014 FIFA World Cup. We sustain that soccer in Brazil is viewed both as a sport – representing democracy and the hope of social mobility – and as an industry – echoing dissatisfaction with the status quo. Even if ideologically opposed to what the event represented, consumers were bound by very strong cultural connections built around soccer as a sport, a national passion. This changing nature of feelings and attitudes echoes marketplace tensions of a country passing through a democratization maturity process and of a culture in which its citizens find it easier to attempt to be many things at the same time than to take a stand.

This research analyzes the role of social tensions and national passions in relation to a global industry (soccer) and a mega event (the FIFA World Cup). We have looked at the influence of macro cultural forces and tension forces in a sporting event as our findings cannot be understood outside the context of network-based power (Labrecque, vor dem Esche, Mathwick, Novak, & Hofacker, 2013) with Brazilians mobilizing the structure of social networks in favor of their contextual interests. The tense and dynamic political environment in which this research was conducted shed some light on why the #naovaitercopa changed its meaning overtime.

The context of this research contributes to the literature on boycotting (Kozinets & Handelman, 2004; Lee, Motion, & Conroy, 2009), considering that most previous studies had not extensively explored situations where protests arise, obtain significant engagement, yet end up being unsuccessful. We answers the call made by Izberk-Bilgin (2010) for understanding how and why consumer attitudes toward certain types of consumption may change overtime and we demonstrate how the FIFA World Cup possesses kratophanous power in Brazil, and how this characteristic, which is strongly rooted in local culture, contributed to the failure of the boycott.

Despite the privatization of its various components, the bidding process and the preparations for the Olympics are still initiated and tightly managed by central governments. Moreover, intentionally and unintentionally, governments use mega sports events such as the Olympics as a soft power medium in which to pursue their goals such as economic development and social integration and a lot of literature has already reviewed the economic and sociocultural impact of hosting the event. This chapter argues that the Olympics have been used as the medium to assist in the formation of legitimacy for a weakened authoritarian leader in the early phase of democratization in Korea. In addition, the chapter tries to explain how the bureaucracy contributed to the success of the national event and how it eventually impacted political modernization and the attitude of bureaucrats. To these ends, first, this chapter explores the influence of soft power on international competition by providing an empirical statistical analysis. Specifically, the chapter analyzes the process by which countries compete with one another for the privilege of hosting the Olympic Games as an important field of global interaction between political actors Further, the chapter discusses which components of soft power can affect international competition. To investigate the explanatory power and concrete applicability of soft power theory, the chapter looks at the influence of democratic and government dimensions of soft power on the selection of Olympic host cities and the role of bureaucracy during that process.