The production of leisure: understanding the social function of football development in China

Hesketh, Chris; Sullivan, Jonathan

Abstract

In this article, we utilise the social theories of Antonio Gramsci and Henri Lefebvre to explore the role that leisure activities such as football play within contemporary China in relation to issues of class. We argue that the recent promotion of football in China can be viewed as a continuation of broader top-down processes of 'modernization from above' that serves as a microcosm of the wider class contradictions inherent in Chinese approaches to development since the 1980s. The issue of class has been strangely absent from the literature dealing with the development of football in China. However, given the importance of class in 20 th Century Chinese society, the re-emergence of inequality and stratification in the reform era and the implicit connections between class and state discourses around the "rejuvenation of the great Chinese nation," it is clear that class is closely implicated in Xi's vision for football. We explore the major role of the middle classes as the target for the promotion of leisure activities and consumerist lifestyles patterns as part of the Party-State's effort to integrate them into a transformed historical bloc.

Citation

Hesketh, C., & Sullivan, J. (2020). The production of leisure: understanding the social function of football development in China. Globalizations, 17(6), 1061-1079. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2020.1737408

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 20, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Mar 19, 2020
• Publication Date: Aug 17, 2020
• Deposit Date: Feb 24, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 20, 2021
• Journal: Globalizations
• Print ISSN: 1474-7731
• Electronic ISSN: 1474-774X
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 1061-1079
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2020.1737408
• Keywords: Geography, Planning and Development; General Economics, Econometrics and Finance; Sociology and Political Science; Public Administration; Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4027465
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14747731.2020.1737408?journalCode=rglo20
• Additional Information: Peer Review Statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope.; Aim & Scope: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=rglo20; Published: 2020-03-19