Sport and Society in Global France

From Zinedine Zidane to Michael Jordan and from Marie-Jose Perec to Lance Armstrong, over the last thirty years, numerous individuals have emerged through the global sports industry to capture the imagination of the French public and become touchstones for the discussion of a host of social issues. This book provides new insights into the evolution of the global sporting spectacle through a study of star athletes, emblematic organisations, key locations, and celebrated moments in French sport from the mid-1980s to the present day. It draws on a wide range of sources, from film, television, advertising, newspapers, and popular music to cover key developments in sports including football, motorsport, basketball, and cycling. Sport here emerges as a privileged site for the discussion of the nature of contemporary nationhood, as well as for the performance of France’s postcolonial heritage. Simultaneously, sport provides a platform for the playing out of concerns over globalisation, and, in a time of post-industrial uncertainty, for nostalgic reminiscences of an apocryphal bygone era of social cohesion. The exploration of these themes leads to new understandings of the ways sport influences and is implicated in broader social and cultural concerns in France today.

Introduction, 11

1. Monuments Men: Among the Afterlives of France ’98, 29

2. Football’s Françafrique, 59

3. Adventure Capitalists: Paris–Dakar Redux, 99

4. American Dreams: Be Like Mine, 158

5. Made in France: Nostalgia and (Re)cycling, 213

6. Plutocrats, Paranoia, Platoche: Qatar Sports Investment in Paris, 271

Conclusion, 317

Bibliography, 325

Index, 351