Page 234 - Sport Culture and the Media

GL O S SARY OF KE Y TERMS

Capitalism: the form of social and economic organization most consistently associated
with the pursuit of private wealth; the defence of private property; the creation and
exchange of commodities for profit; and the direct ‘sale’ by workers (the working
class) of their ‘labour power’ to employers (the ruling class). Over the past two or
three centuries of its existence, capitalism has gone through various stages. The
current ‘late’ or ‘advanced’ phase of capitalism is characterized by marked shifts
in class relations and identities linked to changes in the organization both of paid
work in the ‘public’ world (such as the shift from manual to non-manual labour)
and of unpaid work in the ‘private’ world (like the large-scale movement of women
into the workplace and pressures for gender equality at home and at work).
Code: see text.

Commodification: the process by which people and things acquire value which enables
them to be exchanged for profit. In sport, for example, amateur play and players
have been turned into exchangeable services and products.
Communication: see media.
Culturalization: the process by which culture – the signs, symbols, meanings and values
circulating within and between societies – has become increasingly central to the
operation of all social institutions, including the political apparatus and economic
structures (see mediatization).
Cultural economy: a term used to describe both the cultural industries (such as pub-
lishers, music companies and art galleries) and the manner in which forms of
culture (like films, books, music, and even ideas and values) take on the appearance
of ordinary commodities, with their value rising and falling according to critical
reception, status, scarcity, public demand, and so on.