Sociology and the ethnography of human rights at mega-sport events

Abstract

Sociology and human rights are sometimes perceived as Western liberal constructs. To do sociological studies of human rights in locations where both discipline and topic are contested, therefore, necessitates a sophisticated treatment of the relation between them if trustworthy results are to be generated. In order to do so, this article speculates on the potential of disciplinary development by assessing the conditions for doing sociological ethnography of mega-sport events. More specifically, it explores the ramifications of the International Olympic Committee’s Host City Contract from 2024 onwards. This contract requires the event bidder to actively engage in the protection of human rights. But how can we explore ethnographically the execution of this requirement? Rather than resuming ideas on a ‘syncretised’ sociology as a response to the burdens of methodological nationalism and Eurocentrism, this article uses the IOC contract as an example and lessons from the Fédération de Internationale de Football Association’s (FIFA) work on human rights to argue that there is an unexplored potential in improving sociological ethnographic research by adapting it to the specifics of a topic.

The Stateless Person, the Citizen and Human Rights: A Revised Neo-Hobbesian Theory of Human Rights for Sociology

“…International human rights treaties fall into the latter category; states can choose whether or not to honour them. The above sociological research illustrates an important point made by Turner (2011: 1): that while sovereign states enforce human rights, they ‘are also the main perpetrators of human rights abuses’ (see also Næss, 2020: 978; Shannon, 2016: 800). As explained in the concluding remarks below, a Hobbesian understanding of this enduring problem points to the importance of an empirical approach to human rights rather than the theorisation of a normative basis for rights protection.…”

Revisiting organizational identity and social responsibility in professional football clubs: the case of Bayern Munich and the Qatar sponsorship

“…From a professional football club perspective, the “embeddedness” of social responsibility has been identified as a factor to engage with fans to uphold the “social contract” by delivering transparency of business conduct and strategically manage the social responsibility process with relevant stakeholders (Baggio and Valeri, 2020; Breitbarth and Harris, 2008; Godfrey, 2009). Moreover, social responsibility has been seen as a vehicle to avoid the so-called “exit and voice” strategies (Giulianotti, 2015; Nikolychuk and Sturgess, 2007) from concerned stakeholders that address potentially damaging scenarios for football managers, such as the justification of exploiting and abusing labor involved in the build-up of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar (Brannagan and Giulianotti, 2015; Næss, 2020).…”

The role of advocacy organisations for ethical mega sport events

“…The protection and promotion of human rights have been improved by the actions of influential international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations that have monitored, published and intervened to address abuses across the world (Naess, 2020). In the context of mega sport events (MSEs), these organisations have sought to hold organisers and host governments accountable for the impact of their activities on affected individuals and groups (Horne, 2018).…”