The soccer world cup of 1938: politics, spectacles, and la culture physique in interwar France
The soccer world cup of 1938: politics, spectacles, and la culture physique in interwar France
I argue that a study of the football World Cup held in stadia throughout France in June 1938 adds to our understanding of the purchase of sport and la culture physique in the late 1930s, showing how far sport had become a commodity integrated into the language and economy of the spectacular. It illuminates the mentalité of late 1930s sportifs as well as that of the intellectuals and politicians who had come to take sport and la culture physique seriously as a source of national salvation, and demonstrates how attitudes towards sport and the male sporting body had become entwined with contemporary concerns about “national decline”. Finally, the tournament reminds us how far the sports stadium functioned as contested political space in inter-war France, even if the World Cup ultimately shows the dominance of the allegedly politically neutral values of sportivité over those of engagement.
77-116
Tumblety, Joan
8742e0ca-a9c0-4d16-832f-b3ef643efd7b
January 2008
Tumblety, Joan
8742e0ca-a9c0-4d16-832f-b3ef643efd7b
Tumblety, Joan
(2008)
The soccer world cup of 1938: politics, spectacles, and la culture physique in interwar France.
French Historical Studies, 31 (1), Winter Issue, .
(doi:10.1215/00161071-2007-016).
Abstract
I argue that a study of the football World Cup held in stadia throughout France in June 1938 adds to our understanding of the purchase of sport and la culture physique in the late 1930s, showing how far sport had become a commodity integrated into the language and economy of the spectacular. It illuminates the mentalité of late 1930s sportifs as well as that of the intellectuals and politicians who had come to take sport and la culture physique seriously as a source of national salvation, and demonstrates how attitudes towards sport and the male sporting body had become entwined with contemporary concerns about “national decline”. Finally, the tournament reminds us how far the sports stadium functioned as contested political space in inter-war France, even if the World Cup ultimately shows the dominance of the allegedly politically neutral values of sportivité over those of engagement.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Published date: January 2008
Organisations:
History
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 73412
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/73412
ISSN: 0016-1071
PURE UUID: e387fce5-63f3-4c36-82a1-65307b800d5d
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 15 Mar 2010
Last modified: 13 Mar 2024 22:02
Export record
Altmetrics
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics