Glocalization, consumption, and cricket: The Indian Premier League

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Journal of Consumer Culture

Publication Date

5-1-2018

Abstract

© 2018, © The Author(s) 2018. With India’s robust, neo-liberal economic growth and the growing buying power of the Indian consumers, cricket, a popular sport in India, too, has been transformed. Indian Premier League is a short-format, high-value cricket league that features major international cricket stars who come to India to join one of the eight franchised teams that take part in this competitive tournament. Using the sociological framework of glocalization, this article argues that the intersection of the global economic forces and the local culture that celebrates cricket has created a glocal space for its performance, and with the mediation of communication technology, it has widened the viewership globally. Infused with Indian money, motifs, and meanings, a new spectacle of consumption is on offer. The emergent consumer culture has transformed the game itself, adding a showbiz quality to it. Through the analysis of Indian Premier League cricket, this article sheds light on the consequences of cultural globalization, at once homogenizing and heterogenizing, an essential characteristic of glocalization.

ISSN

1469-5405

Publisher

SAGE Publications Ltd

Volume

18

Issue

2

First Page

279

Last Page

297

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Keywords

Consumerism, cricket, glocalization, Indian Premier League, neo-liberalism

Scopus ID

85046718254

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

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