TY - JOUR
T1 - Responding to globalisation
T2 - The case of elite artistic gymnastics in China
AU - Zheng, Jinming
AU - Tan, Tien Chin
AU - Bairner, Alan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2017.
Copyright:
Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/8/1
Y1 - 2019/8/1
N2 - This article presents an exploration of a non-Western nation’s responses to globalisation through an in-depth analysis of elite artistic gymnastics in China over a lengthy time span. The concept of globalisation and patterns of ‘reach’ and ‘response’ act as the heuristic devices underpinning the analysis. Data were collected from a range of documents and from six semi-structured interviews. The trajectory of Chinese elite artistic gymnastics’ responses to globalisation can be characterised as a passive response in the 1950s, a participative response in the first half of the 1960s, a conflictual response from 1966 to the early 1970s, a participative response from the early 1970s to the 2012 Olympic Games, and a passive response, once again, during the Rio Olympiad (post-London 2012). In this way, a nation’s responses to globalisation are seen as dynamic rather than rigid or static. China’s case also demonstrates that a nation can have a degree of autonomy when responding to globalisation, although in extreme cases, a nation-state can choose to resist this globalising context, largely depending on a government’s attitude towards globalisation and the value the government attaches to it.
AB - This article presents an exploration of a non-Western nation’s responses to globalisation through an in-depth analysis of elite artistic gymnastics in China over a lengthy time span. The concept of globalisation and patterns of ‘reach’ and ‘response’ act as the heuristic devices underpinning the analysis. Data were collected from a range of documents and from six semi-structured interviews. The trajectory of Chinese elite artistic gymnastics’ responses to globalisation can be characterised as a passive response in the 1950s, a participative response in the first half of the 1960s, a conflictual response from 1966 to the early 1970s, a participative response from the early 1970s to the 2012 Olympic Games, and a passive response, once again, during the Rio Olympiad (post-London 2012). In this way, a nation’s responses to globalisation are seen as dynamic rather than rigid or static. China’s case also demonstrates that a nation can have a degree of autonomy when responding to globalisation, although in extreme cases, a nation-state can choose to resist this globalising context, largely depending on a government’s attitude towards globalisation and the value the government attaches to it.
KW - China
KW - artistic gymnastics
KW - globalisation
KW - politics
KW - responses
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U2 - 10.1177/1012690217730679
DO - 10.1177/1012690217730679
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85052978799
VL - 54
SP - 536
EP - 556
JO - International Review for the Sociology of Sport
JF - International Review for the Sociology of Sport
SN - 1012-6902
IS - 5
ER -