Sport may be an opium of the people – but it matters

Many on the political left, including the linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky, view sport as serving the interests of capitalism, in part by entertaining, pacifying and disciplining the working class, writes Jon Dart.

The French academic Marc Pearlman abhors sport for the same reason Karl Marx disliked religion – that it is akin to an “opium of the people”. However, while Marx understood why people might seek a haven in a heartless world, Pearlman shows much less tolerance, advocating that sport is utterly worthless, impossible to reform or reclaim.