Cultural Imperialism and Sport: The Americanization of Israeli Basketball

Abstract

There is much debate in the literature about the relationship between Americanization and globalization. It is not our intention here to get embroiled in that debate. Rather, we intend to use the example of Israeli basketball to suggest that, in this instance, the term Americanization is more suitable for explaining developments in that sport than the more general term ‘globalization’. Israel and America enjoy a very close and interdependent relationship. This is expressed at a variety of levels: economic, military, social and cultural, as well as in close ties and identifications between Jews in Israel and those in America. Although our approach is influenced by the figurational sociology of Norbert Elias and, whilst acknowledging and accepting the particular contribution of Elias to the study of globalization and Maguire’s elaboration of that position, we would argue that Israel represents a society where, despite the importance of ‘the Jewish vote’ in American politics, the influence of the one society, America, over the other, Israel, is predominantly one-way. The ‘Americanization’ of Israeli basketball, we feel, provides a particularly strong example of this one-way influence. Like so much in Israel, sport has historically been intertwined with both religion and politics. Israel represents a unique case of an immigrant society formed on the basis of an ideological movement. 1 This has had a profound impact on the development and organization of sport and has led to the institutionalization of sport within a highly politicized framework. The Hapoel organization, involved in all sports, is associated with the Labour party and the Histadrut Federation of Labour. Beitar sports clubs are associated with the right-wing Herut faction of the Likud Party, while Elitzur, the religious sports movement, is associated with the National Religious Party. 2 The largest sports organization in Israel is the nonaffiliated Maccabi movement. The development of Israeli basketball in its early years, and its ongoing Americanization, has to be seen as interdependent with the broader political economy of Israel and in conjunction with the close relationship between the developing sports organizations, religion and the Israeli state.