Towards a Critical Theory of Sport: From Tradition to the Present Time
Keywords:
sport, critical theory of society, Theodor W. Adorno, body, culture industryAbstract
Sport is one of the most emblematic phenomena of the contemporary, both materially and symbolically embodying many of the expectations of capitalist society: competition, performance, maximization, progress, control, planning, spectacle, etc. Its development process began in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the criticism directed at it emerged relatively late, inspired by Critical Theory of Society and driven by the New Left. The latter focused mainly on the replication of the dynamics of alienated labor in leisure-time practices. Theodor W. Adorno also dedicated himself to the topic, which suggests the presence of this social phenomenon within the destructiveness that shapes the body, its domination, and its corresponding transformation into spectacle. This article explores that trajectory and seeks to introduce new elements and analyses, in an attempt to update the critique of sport. It concludes by searching for a moment of self-deformation within sport that, for this very reason, might open up new possibilities for experience.
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