Ethnographic Study of Barcelona City (Research Paper Sample)

An Ethnographic Study of Barcelona City Regarding Its Sporting Activities and their Implications on the Social, Economic, Cultural and Political Contexts
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An Ethnographic Study of Barcelona City Regarding Its Sporting Activities and their Implications on the Social, Economic, Cultural and Political Contexts
Introduction
Sports provision involves the interaction of resources, people and culture from local and international regions. Successful provision of sporting facilities and opportunities both to local and international worlds requires coordination between private, public and voluntary sectors. Sporting activities across the globe have undergone significant changes resulting from changes in political, social, economic, technological and cultural contexts. The transformations usually present varying challenges to the cities, countries, organizations and clubs providing sporting facilities and opportunities for all stakeholders. However, it experiences the effects of expansion costs with minimal economic benefits of becoming a political capital. Its expansion are associated with the driving forces that sprouted during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. More specifically, the second part of the twentienth century saw Barcelona undergo a new stage of urbanization and economic growth (Lawson, 2005). However, the growth brought about difficulties caused by the transfer of industries to parts outside the city, and decreased political activity, stagnated growth. One of the efforts to revive the city has been through granting it the opportunity to become a sports provision city. Since 1986, the city has hosted major gaming events including Olympic games. Although the step helped address the challenges it was facing, hosting games for the city still proves difficult due to the associated economic and social challenges. The need to construct new infrastructure, mobilize locals to embrace the events, plan for the games and ensure they are successful at the end has in the past placed great pressure on its administration every time it has to host an international or local gaming event (Pujadas, 2012). Addressing the challenges forms the first step to helping sports providing entities reduce the economic, cultural and social burdens that come with the appointment to host a certain event.
Methodology
The current research employed an ethnographic study design to examine the social and economic challenges that Barcelona faces when hosting gaming events. The researcher collected a wide range of data from the locals who opened up on the difficulties they face whenever an event occurs. The study also utilized the observation methods to study a gaming event in the country to determine how the city manages to address the stress brought by accommodation, tourism, cultural diversity and the overall cost of planning for the events. The ethnographic study resulted in the collection of wide range of data regarding the research problem.
During the ethnographic study, the researcher attended four sports events over the period of 6 months that they stayed there. The events include the Color run Barcelona which was held on 6th October, the Barcelona marathon, the Ironman Barcelona which occurred in 3rd October, and the Barcelona Triathlon that occurred on 7th November 2021. The research employed a convenience sampling method to select the study participants. A total of five individuals were selected to carry out the ethnographic study in Barcelona. The researcher stayed and lived within the society in Barcelona for a period of two months staring son 1st October and ending on 15th of November.
Major Observations from the Sporting Events
The researcher made the observation that sporting events in Barcelona affect every aspect of human life among residents of the city. As the city prepares for any event, it tries to create themes that are appealing to all the visiting people from different ethnic backgrounds and nationalities. The various transformations cause the residents to adopt to the new culture which has a long term impact on their social beliefs. Further, the researcher also observed that the sporting events in the city affect the political activities (Malfas, Theodoraki and Houlihan, 2004). In most cases, political activities in the city and the country must cease whenever the administration is planning for a sports event. The researcher also noted the great increase in price of commodities during international or major sporting events. As the city management aims to reap from the events in terms of infrastructural development, businesses also use the opportunity to increase their prices and increase their returns.
Global Context of Sports, Leisure and Business and the Implication of the Economic, Social, Cultural and Political Dimensions of Globalization for Sport
Modern sport is entwined in a worldwide web of interdependency chains defined by global flows and unequal power dynamics. Consider how many people watch sporting activities. Satellite broadcasts of English Premier League and European Champions League matches are often seen by people all over the world. The top players from Europe, South America, and Africa compete in these games. The players wear boots, balls, and uniforms that were created in the West, funded by international businesses like Adidas and Nike, and hand-stitched in Asia employing child labor in the case of soccer balls. This equipment is then marketed at a considerable profit to a mass market in North American and European towns and cities. Several transnational firms are involved in the production and consumption stages of global soccer, some of which control media companies and have shareholdings in the soccer clubs they broadcast as part of the 'global media sport complex,' as sociologists refer to it.
Globalization of sports has multiple implications on the hosting city. The organizing city has to adopt to the high economic demands of developing infrastructure that matches the needs of different nationalities, influence its population to embrace the diverse cultures of those visiting the city, stall its political activities and embrace all visitors as part of the society. From the study, the city administration of Barcelona acknowledged the heavy economic burden that sporting provision places on its resources whenever an event is coming up. One of the main contributors towards the burden is the need to construct and expand the existing infrastructure to be able to accommodate the increased population during the sporting events (Margaryan & Fredman, 2017). In one of the Olympics games hosted by the city, the planners had to organize for the construction of the Olympic ring. The other constructions included several kilometers of roads and the Olympic village. The entire construction of the infrastructure cost the administration millions of dollars. The findings confirm the research results produced by Brunet (1995) as he tried to examine the economy situation of Barcelona during the 1992 Olympic games. According to him, the model of the Olympics games required the city to reduce the period of constructing infrastructure to just a few months. However, the administration took the challenge positively since they knew that many other projects would be completed within the period thus enhancing the economic development of the country. The idea was also accepted as economic growth and infrastructural development were part of the Olympic goals for Barcelona and Spain at large (McCartney et al, 2010). Brunet (1995) estimates the that total investments related to the Olympics games and which were contributed by the City of Barcelona, the Ministry of Economy and Treasury, the Generalitat de Catalunya and all other agents of the games amounted to about 956,630 million between the years 1986 and 1993. Of this amount about 588,625 million pesetas were set aside for civil projects, where Olympic related projects received about 3.5 million while the remaining amount went to the other projects. The findings therefore reveal the heavy economic burden that cities, countries and organizations hosting events incur to ensure that all activities occur as planned (Fletcher & Arnold, 2012). Among the most important infrastructures that call for construction, expansion and renovation during gaming events are roads and transportation lines, housing, commercial venues, hotel facilities, telecommunication services, sports facilities and environmental infrastructures.
Alongside infrastructural development costs, sports provision also requires a wide range of resources to be used during the planning period, games period and after the games are over. The host city bears the responsibility of hosting a large number of people from across the country and the globe. The coming of sports personnel, fans, sports tourists, administrators, couches and club managers. There accommodation therefore varies from specialized rooms for the players and administrators to normal rooms for fans and tourists. The people must also have a sufficient supply of water and other necessities including, transportation services, security and food (Malfas, Theodoraki & Houlihan, 2004). While the organization or agencies organizing for the games contribute some funds towards the same, the hosting city must incur huge costs to ensure everything goes as planned. Additionally, Barcelona sometimes engages in ambitious plans to ensure the event surpasses other previous events (Brunet, 1995). They also do so to set new standards and create a legacy for the specific event.
Furthermore, the games require the hosting cities, countries or organizations to seek tech...