Neoliberalism’s Last Lap? NASCAR Nation and the Cultural Politics of Sport

Abstract

This article examines the ways in which cultural and political intermediaries have endeavored to systematically reorganize the spectacles of North American stock car racing to reinscribe and re-present the hegemonic order of free-market capitalism. To this end, the authors draw from a complex synthesis of economic, social, and cultural theory to interrogate the political and corporate dimensions of "NASCAR Nation." More specifically, they offer a critical investigation of the dialectic relationship between the expanding regimes of capital accumulation brought forth by neoliberal economic policy, its political imperatives and operatives, and the cultural politics that actively shape consumer experiences within the sport. They likewise interpret how corporate capitalism acts as a prevailing fixture within these spectacular spaces and fan-spectator praxis. In sum, they argue that the commercial precepts of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) present a twisted contradiction, whereby NASCAR fans laud the same neoliberal market forces that both mesmerize their consumer sensibilities and simultaneously decimate their own postindustrial labor conditions.

Selling out (in) sport management: practically evaluating the state of the American (Sporting) Union

“…For the hardened individual Amber's narrative of a student's journey through a sport management program should come as no surprise, since free market philosophies that focus on profit above all have become dogma in late modern America*despite the fact that it is easy to see how the market fails to provide for the many (George, 1999;Harvey, 2005;Giroux, 2009;Newman & Giardina, 2010;King-White, forthcoming). Moreover, the American public, under the influence of neoliberalism, are presented with the illusion that the system promotes social equality, integrity and justice for the individual.…”

“…Many have pointed out that these dire circumstances are due largely to the American economy's failure to stimulate any actual growth in the United States over the past 30 years (Bordieu, 1998;George, 1999;Grossberg, 2005;Harvey, 2005;Giroux, 2006;Newman & Giardina, 2010). Unfortunately then, much of what we have been taught to teach as business-based 'truth', or accepted as general (sport) business practice in the United States has failed.…”

“…Newman & Giardina, 2010). More to the point, throughout recent history sport managers and public officials have worked hard to convince Americans that it is in their best interest to provide public and private funds to the owners of sporting constituencies because it helped (re)image cities and was beneficial to urban regeneration.…”

Sport Without Management

“…More critically, some scholars have suggested that the marketization and commercialization of sport is symptomatic of a broader transformation brought about by the rise of global "neoliberalism" (see Coakley, 2011;Hall, 2006;Horne, 2006;Newman & Beissel, 2009;Newman & Giardina, 2010;Silk & Andrews, 2012;Wilson & Hayhurst, 2009). In political economic theory, the term neoliberalism refers to a global economic movement founded upon the notion that only through the freeing of markets and market-based relations can the individual-indeed society itself-achieve freedom.…”

“…Looking beyond the "Big Four," and as my colleagues and I (Newman & Beissel, 2009;Newman & Giardina, 2010; rightly predicted approximately five years ago, this has brought about a number of problems for what was once a stable sport-market synergy. Writing around the context of "America's fastest growing sport," NASCAR, we looked at the relationship between the expanding regimes of accumulation brought forth by neoliberal economic policy, its political imperatives and global operatives, and the cultural politics that actively shape consumer experiences within the sport.…”