Social construction of the impact of Euro 2012: a Wroclaw case study

Abstract

Our case study aimed to analyse the social construction of the impact of the 2012 European Football Championship on the Polish city of Wroclaw. To realise this aim, we conducted an analysis of 35 semi-structured interviews with select residents of Wroclaw; we also analysed the local press. Before presenting our findings, we briefly discuss the organisation of Euro 2012 and official discourse on this event in Poland to introduce a broader context. Referring to the Stuart Hall model of encoding/decoding, we argue that informants constructed the meaning of Euro 2012 in a negotiated manner. For example, they seemed to accept the thesis that Euro 2012 helped to modernise Wroclaw. However, they were suspicious of how and why modernisation projects were realised. Many argued that it was only because of external pressure that officials were able to act efficiently and honestly. It seems as though the respondents had rather low opinions of the competence of local authorities and did not trust in their ability to govern the city rationally and honesty. This observation is in accordance with a macro-social analysis of post-communist societies that speaks about a ‘culture of distrust’ or a ‘culture of cynicism’. We demonstrate that, in contrast to official discourse, residents of the city did not see any far-reaching and revolutionary social changes in Wroclaw.