Populism in Sport, Leisure, and Popular Culture

PART 1: Themes, Concepts, Theories

1. Populism, Sport, Leisure, and Popular Culture: Setting the Scene

2. Whither "The People?": Populism, Ideology and the Contested Politics of Sport

3. Populist Elements of SINGO Discourse and Practice: Unravelling the Undercurrents of the Popular Cultural Event

4. Neuro-liberalism: Enterprise, Gender, and the Marketing of the Self

5. The Radical Populist Pitch of U2’s (2009-2011) ‘360°’ Tour

6. Blame Games: Sport, Populism and Crisis Politics in Greece

7. From Fascism to Five Stars: Sport, Populism and the Figure of the Leader in Italy

8. Sport, Music, and Populism in Brazil

9. Dilma Rousseff, Brazilian Cultural Politics, and the Rio 2016 Olympics: Left in Lula’s Wake

10. Populism and Sports in Latin America: Old and New Ways of Narrating the Nation

11. Populism and Political Motives for Hosting the FIFA World Cup: Comparing England 1966 and Russia 2018

12. Blue Collar Billionaire: Trumpism, Populism and Uber-Sport

13. A Tale of Two Twitterstorms: The NFL, Donald Trump, and Digital Populism

14. The Gaga and the Global: American Double Articulation at Super Bowl LI

15. Art of the Deal: Donald Trump, the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup, and the Geopolitics of Football Aspiration

16. Afterword: A Sociological Future for Populism?

Biography

Bryan C. Clift is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in the Department for Health at the University of Bath, UK, where he is the Director of the Centre for Qualitative Research.

Alan Tomlinson is Professor of Leisure Studies at the University of Brighton, UK, and has written widely on sport, leisure, and popular culture in their sociological and historical contexts.

"Populism in Sport, Leisure, and Popular Culture’s thorough accounting of past theorizations of populism and sport coupled with its insightful analyses of the ways contemporary populists all across the globe are using sport to engender mass support and sow dehumanizing divisions makes this book vital reading for all those interested in making sense of the dangerous politics facing us today."

Kyle W. Kusz, Department of English, University of Rhode Island, USA

"Sport mega-events are ideal vehicles for politicians’ populist agendas. This volume provides insightful analyses of sport/populism links, male politicians’ personality cults and ‘man of the people’ rhetoric. Trump, Johnson, Lula, and Berlusconi are pertinent examples. If there were any doubts that sport is political, this book should put that myth to rest."

Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, Professor Emerita, University of Toronto, Canada

"Historically uneasy about popular culture, sociology can ill afford to discount its populist uses and abuses. This critically incisive, international collection, influenced by Stuart Hall’s path-breaking analysis, ranges freely across the terrain of popular pleasure. In drawing the sociological eye to Trumpian politics, the book makes a particularly persuasive case for a deeper sociological engagement with populist rhetoric and power."

David Rowe, Emeritus Professor of Cultural Research, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University, Australia

"Offering timely and pertinent engagement with populism and sport, this collection confronts populism’s perils, exposing the power of individuals as both bearers and breakers of democratic decision-making protocols. Questions of human rights and social justice and the potential for populist movements to enact change against inequalities, make this essential reading for anyone seeking sense-making strategies amidst turbulent political landscapes."

Beccy Watson, Reader, Carnegie School of Sport, Leeds Beckett University, UK