How Soccer Challenges US immunity to Globalization

     In the book How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization by Franklin Foer, he offers a non-technical analysis of the effects of globalization by examining soccer in different countries. The United States upholds a position of global dominance, which involves great influence over other states; however, it has been unable to exert that degree of influence in the sporting world. Nonetheless, foreign sports such as soccer have found a place in American culture. While soccer is becoming a part of American culture, there is some resistance toward it. In the world of sports, the United States is not the global hegemon it has become in other aspects of the global sphere. I believe that the United States’ dislike of soccer is a clear indication of a cultural war in which the US attempts to separate itself from European culture while preserving its global dominance in other areas of social life. 

      As a result of globalization and events such as, the FIFA World Cup, Soccer has gained some popularity in the United States. In contrast, sports native to the United States, such as baseball have failed to appeal to global audiences. The lack of appeal to American sports like baseball has not only failed abroad, but also began to decline domestically as soccer’s popularity increased. Foer indicates “the number of teens playing baseball fell 47 percent between 1987 and 2000.” Additionally, during that same time involvement in soccer among youth increased, so much so that “by 2002, 1.3 million more kids played soccer than Little League.” Although soccer is beginning to become more prevalent among young children and adolescents, there is a general dislike toward the sport in the United States. Soccer is strongly associated with European culture. This association explains Americans prolonged resistance toward the sport, as Jack Kemp stated on the floor of Congress in the late 80s, “ a distinction should be made that football is democratic, capitalism, whereas soccer is a European socialist [sport].” (Foer, 241) Nonetheless soccer, like all other sports, incites passion, competitiveness, and camaraderie. However, in relation to global dominance of sports, the US is losing the battle in this cultural war and is not happy about it.

       In the chapter “How Soccer Explains the American Culture Wars” of Foer’s book, he draws similarities between the divide over soccer and the divide over globalization in the United States. The meaning of globalization varies among different people. For those in favor of it, globalization represents the opportunity for international interaction and integration, economically and culturally, which can limit reasons for armed conflict among states. On the other hand, those who oppose globalization might assert that it implicates the elimination of regional cultures and the fortifying of Multinational Corporation that ruin local economies. Foer presents similar dichotomies that include individuals that form “part of a cosmopolitan culture that transcends national boundaries” or the believers in  “American execptionalism.”  Those who believe in “American exceptionalism” are more likely to dislike soccer. As Foer point out, to them soccer is a representation of foreign culture devaluing national traditions in order to keep up with the global community.

Although the US is trying to maintain its global individuality, it is clearly not immune to globalization. While the US may believe itself an exception to global influence, it is mistaken. Although globalization, may have not affected the US to the same degree as westernization in other states, it has occurred. Soccer is a small, but pivotal representation of that.