Cricket, Capitalism and Class

This ambitious new study argues that not only is the story of cricket inescapably entwined with that of capitalism, but that the game provides a unique lens with which to understand the history, development, exigencies and contradictions of capitalist political economy. From the aristocratic capture of the artisan's game to the commodified entertainment of private T20 leagues, the story of cricket has been told against the background of capitalism. Cricket was the gentlemanly vanguard of the English-led British empire which forged the first iteration of international capitalism that was reliant upon a political and commercial partnership between rulers and the ruled, and today it speaks to the productive tension between the emergence of the Asian century and the power of American cultural imperialism. Reading capitalism as a cultural, economic and political system, this book explores the relationship between cricket and capitalism and illuminates many of the most important themes in contemporary sport studies, such as class, race, gender, globalisation, nationalism, neoliberalism, commodification and migration. This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport history, the sociology of sport, global political economy, political theory or cultural studies.

Chris McMillan is a Professional Teaching Fellow in the School of Cultures, Languages and Linguistics at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is a sociologist with a particular interest in the intersections of cultures of capitalism, sport, cities and public policy. Chris is an active, if ineffective, cricketer and has played recreationally for East Coast Bays Cricket Club in New Zealand as well as Kew Cricket Club in London.

Introduction, Part I: Origins, 1. Class: Cricket's Original Sin, 2. Cricket and Ideology: The Fantasmatic Logic of the Village Green, 3. Cricket and the Modern Gentleman: Class in Twenty-First Century English Cricket, Part II: Empire, 4. Cricket and the Making of Global Capitalism: Aotearoa, Exploitation and Expropriation, 5. Cricket, Capitalism and Colonial Rule: The Case of India, 6. Cricket, Power and Post-Colonial Resistance: The Case of the West Indies, Part III: Geopolitics, 7. Cricket's Asian Century: The Rise of the IPL, 8. Franchises, Freelancers and Representation: Cricket, Neoliberalism and Nationalism, 9. Cricket and Racial Capitalism: The South African Case, Part IV: Late Capitalism, 10. Consuming Cricket: Cricket and the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, 11. Producing Cricket: The Cricket-Media Complex, 12. Cricket and Patriarchal Capitalism: Recognising Batters, 13. Liberation/Alienation/Exploitation: Global Capitalism and the Women's Premier League, Conclusion: Cricket in the Wreckage of Capitalism