Mega-events and Social Change : Spectacle, Legacy and Public Culture

The spectacle of major cultural and sporting events can preoccupy modern societies. This book is concerned with contemporary mega-events, like the Olympics and Expos. Contemporary twenty-first-century macro-social changes are different from these first-phase modernisation processes, and thus they pose different problems of interpretation in relation to the mega-events they contextualise. The contemporary changes include the digital revolution, the global ecological crisis and qualitatively new and more complex forms of globalisation. Media related aspects of contemporary mega-events, particularly sports mega-events, in the context of the wider social impacts of the digital revolution are discussed in the first part of the book. The second part talks about urban and environmental aspects of mega-events, in a period of rapid urbanisation in many parts of the world and also of ecological crisis. It outlines how mega-events can be understood as being material as well as performative spectacles which are physically 'embedded' in cities as legacies Looking into mega-events' simultaneous record of creating new public spaces in modern cities. The second part also highlights the association of contemporary mega-events with urban impacts and legacies which are both green and space-making. The final part reflects on the contemporary global shift in mega-event locations and the wider context of this in complex globalisation and the changing geopolitical relations between the West and non-Western world regions. The focus is on main non-Western region of East Asia, and specifically on its core, the People's Republic of China. Cover; Series Page; Title Page; Copyright Page; Dedication; Contents; Tables; Globalizing Sport Studies Series Editor's Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1 Mega-events And Macro-social Change; I Mega-events And Media Change; 2 Mega-events And Mediatisation: Between Old And New Media; 3 The Digital Age, Media Sport And Mega-events: Piracy And Symbiosis In The Cultural Industries; Ii Mega-events, Legacy And Urban Change; 4 Embedding Mega-events: Staging Spectacles In Changing Cities; 5 Mega-events And Urban Development: Olympics And Legacies. 6 Mega-events, Urban Space And Social Change: Expos, Parks And Citiesiii Mega-events And Global Change In East And West; 7 Mega-events, Globalisation And Urban Legacy: Events In China In The Early Twenty-first Century; 8 Mega-events, Glocalisation And Urban Legacy: London As An Event City And The 2012 Olympics; References; Index. Maurice Roche. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Electronic Reproduction. Baltimore, Md Available Via World Wide Web. Mode Of Access: World Wide Web. The spectacle of major cultural and sporting events can preoccupy modern societies. This book is concerned with contemporary mega-events, like the Olympics and Expos. Using a sociological perspective Roche argues that mega-events reflect the major social changes which now influence our societies, particularly in the West, and that these amount to a new ‘second phase'of the modernization process. Changes are particularly visible in the media, urban and global locational aspects of mega-events. Thus he suggests that contemporary mega-events, both in their achievements and their vulnerabilities, reflect, in the media sphere, the rise of the internet; in the urban sphere, de-industrialisation and the growing ecological crisis; and in the global sphere, the relative decline of the West and the rise of China and other ‘emerging'countries. Front matter Dedication Contents List of tables Globalizing Sport Studies series editor’s preface Acknowledgements Introduction Mega-events and macro-social change Part I Mega-events and media change Mega-events and mediatisation: between old and new media The digital age, media sport and mega-events: piracy and symbiosis in the cultural industries Part II Mega-events, legacy and urban change Embedding mega-events: staging spectacles in changing cities Mega-events and urban development: Olympics and legacies Mega-events, urban space and social change: Expos, parks and cities Part III Mega-events and global change in East and West Mega-events, globalisation and urban legacy: events in China in the early twenty-first century Mega-events, glocalisation and urban legacy: London as an event city and the 2012 Olympics References Index Contemporary mega-events like Olympics and Expos, together with the organisations which control them, can be risky and controversial projects. This book interprets how they reflect, but also mark and influence, deeper social changes in each of the three social spheres of the media, cities and global geopolitics Contemporary mega-events like Olympics and Expos, together with the organisations which control them, can be risky and controversial projects. This book interprets how they reflect, mark and influence, deeper social changes in the media, cities and global geopolitics. -- .