Sociology and the ethnography of human rights at mega-sport events

Abstract

Sociology and human rights are sometimes perceived as Western liberal constructs. To do sociological studies of human rights in locations where both discipline and topic are contested, therefore, necessitates a sophisticated treatment of the relation between them if trustworthy results are to be generated. In order to do so, this article speculates on the potential of disciplinary development by assessing the conditions for doing sociological ethnography of mega-sport events. More specifically, it explores the ramifications of the International Olympic Committee’s Host City Contract from 2024 onwards. This contract requires the event bidder to actively engage in the protection of human rights. But how can we explore ethnographically the execution of this requirement? Rather than resuming ideas on a ‘syncretised’ sociology as a response to the burdens of methodological nationalism and Eurocentrism, this article uses the IOC contract as an example and lessons from the Fédération de Internationale de Football Association’s (FIFA) work on human rights to argue that there is an unexplored potential in improving sociological ethnographic research by adapting it to the specifics of a topic.