The Postmodern Olympics: Technology and the Commodification of the Olympic Movement

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Abstract
The classical formulations of Olympic ideology a century ago were founded in the worldview of modernism and its belief in rational, scientific progress. Current postmodern conditions and worldviews conflict with that original ideology and suggest a unity in the otherwise disparate aspects of change and conflict in the Olympic movement. The shift from aristocratic to commercial support, from upper-class to diverse participation, and from male European and American domination to female and global involvement all indicate diversification of the Olympics. Simultaneously, the huge growth of media technology and television rights fees have changed the Olympics. Conceptualizing the Olympics and these changes as postrnodem clarifies the relationship between the Olympics and broader sociocultural change; it also suggests new challenges for Olympic ideology.

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