Soccer and the failure of East German sports policy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12676288 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sheldon Anderson (Miami University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 652-663 |
| Publication date | 2011-09-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Soccer and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1466-0970 • E-ISSN: 1743-9590 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14660970.2011.599584 |
| OpenAlex | W1995691328 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 4 |
This essay reflects upon how the German Democratic Republic used sport to create a new socialist national identity. Unable to match West German democratic freedom and economic bounty, the East German authorities found it easier to compete in sports. In 1969 the Socialist Unity Party decided to concentrate on individual Olympic disciplines as the most cost-effective way of showcasing its socialist system, especially in comparison to capitalist West Germany. The medals count would be an objective measure of the two systems. Soccer and other team sports lost funding, and East German soccer teams were relegated to second-class status. East Germany’s development of elite Olympic athletes at the expense of soccer – the world’s most popular game – failed to create a loyal citizenry, as the exodus of East Germans after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 revealed
Berlin wall · Communism · Democracy · Eastern Bloc · Economic history · Elite · Fall of man · German · Political science · Politics · European history and politics · German History and Society · History · Law · Sociology and Education Studies
‘The East’ strikes back. Ultras Dynamo , hyper-stylization, and regimes of truth
Germans 25 years after reunification — How much do they know about the German Democratic Republic and what is their value judgment of the socialist regime
The Diplomatic Context of Doping in the Former German Democratic Republic
Projection and Reception
Sport-Related National Pride in East and West Germany, 1992-2008
| Citations per year | 0.36 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2012 - 2018 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |