On the Limits of the New and the Lasting Power of the Mediasport Interpellation

Abstract

This essay comments on the limits of new and social media to change the contemporary landscape of mediated sport in meaningful ways. The first part of the essay speaks to the “limits of the new.” Here, the forces of “monetization” and the transition of new media into mainstream are considered. Arguments are presented that the “game” of new and social media will likely draft of media logics of legacy media rather than structurally change them. The second part of the essay speaks to the “lasting power of the mediasport interpellation.” Here, theoretical strains from the work of Althusser concerning ideological state apparatuses and the nature of “hailing” are melded, on one hand, with the work of Bauman on “consumer sociality,” and on the other, with that of Wenner on the communicative powers of sports dirt in a commodified environment. Consideration is given to the constancy of sport-anchored mediated hailing to establish (1) gender identities, (2) fan identities, and (3) consumer identities in ways that anchor subject position. It is argued that, given the cultural hold and embrace of these identities, new and social media will be more likely to engage them rather than mount structural resistance in ways that will facilitate meaningful changes in “lived experience” relations with contemporary sport.