How Pele Represents a Globalizing Post WWII World

In Franklin Foer’s book “How Soccer explains the world”, Foer makes discusses the example of the Brazilian soccer star Pele and comments on how he represents the rise of Brazil as a world power in the time period following World War II. In addition to representing the rise of Brazil, I also believe that Pele’s experience also exemplifies globalization in the Post World War II period.  

To begin, an aspect of Pele’s career that exemplifies increasing globalization is that Pele was initially considered “A non-exportable international treasure” early in his career. However, later in his career increasing globalization changed this idea. The state was no longer the focus, but rather Pele was able to expand his possibilities for his future to include the possibility of playing abroad. The state no longer had the control to prevent him from going abroad because the state was not as powerful nor regarded as much as the focal point of his soccer career. Rather, Pele was able to take his talents to a more international focus and play soccer in the United States.  

                Another aspect of Pele’s career that emphasized the increasing effect of globalization was that after Pele’s domestic career in Brazil ended, he came to the U.S. and began playing for the New York Cosmos. This represents the shift that globalization brought about because international borders were no longer as important. In the past, it would not have been as easy for someone to do this, but the lack of emphasis on domestic borders that was brought about by globalization allowed Pele to easily move from one state to another. Pele was able to move across international borders easily and still be successful.

An additional way in which the example of Pele shows an aspect of globalization was how his time spent in America “made him a capitalist” according to Foer. After Pele spent time in the United States playing soccer, he began to illustrate American ideas of capitalism. For example, he played for a much larger salary and began singing endorsement deals with many international corporations. This illustrates the way norms and ideas, as well as economic practices, can be spread across borders with rising globalization, because Pele shifted his norms and values as he was exposed to more capitalist ideas.

                Another way Pele exemplified globalization was his relationship with international corporations. Pele signed many endorsement deals with large corporations toward the end of his career, such as Nokia, Samsung, and Coca-Cola. The amount of money Pele was able to make shows the influence of these transnational corporations that rose with the accelerating globalization during this time period. In a previous era, it would have been unlikely for someone who spent the majority of their time in one country to have such an international presence, but due to increasing globalization, these companies understood that Pele could have a large presence in many other countries as well.  This also represents the increased economic and financial flows across borders that accompanied increasing globalization, as Pele was able to make money across borders and from companies that were based in different states.