Full Description
Olympic Games are sold to host city populations on the basis of legacy commitments that incorporate aid for the young and the poor. Yet little is known about the realities of marginalized young people living in host cities. Do they benefit from social housing and employment opportunities? Or do they fall victim to increased policing and evaporating social assistance? This book answers these questions through an original ethnographic study of young people living in the shadow of Vancouver 2010 and London 2012.
Setting qualitative research alongside critical analysis of policy documents, bidding reports and media accounts, this study explores the tension between promises made and lived reality. Its eight chapters offer a rich and complex account of marginalized young people's experiences as they navigate the possibilities and contradictions of living in an Olympic host city. Their stories illustrate the limits to the promises made by Olympic bidding and organizing committees and raise important questions about the ethics of public funding for such mega-events.
This book will be fascinating reading for anyone interested in the Olympics, sport and social exclusion, and sport and politics, as well as for those working in the fields of youth studies, social policy and urban studies.
Contents
Introduction: These Games are for Who? Olympic claims to help the young and the poor 1. Modernizing Aspirations and Legitimation Rationales: Why the Olympics claims to help the young and the poor 2. Olympic Housing Legacies in Vancouver: Clearing the streets with short-term shelters 3. Olympic Housing Legacies in London: Gentrification and displacement of working class communities 4. Olympic Employment Legacies in Vancouver and London: Gender inequality, precarious jobs and low wages 5. Policing and Security in Vancouver: Making the city look good when the world is watching 6. Policing and Security in London: Dispersal orders, racial profiling and protecting tourists Conclusion: These Games are Not For You: Olympic promises, Olympic legacies and marginalized youth in Olympic cities
