Culture, Correspondence...and Soccer?

If you were to ask Ronaldo why he was taking a penalty kick in the image above, he’d probably give you a straightforward answer (e.g., “My teammate was fouled in the penalty box”). If you were to ask Ronaldo how he scored the penalty kick in the image above, he’d probably give you a far less straightforward answer (e.g., “I aimed to the right”). Why is this? Why might there be a discrepancy between his answers?

According to Omar Lizardo, “persons acquire and use culture in two analytically and empirically distinct forms” (2017:88). On one hand, persons acquire and use nondeclarative modes of culture (i.e., “...knowledge encountered in experiential…forms…[and] internalized as embodied skills…via slow-learning pathways” (98)). On the other hand, persons acquire and use declarative modes of culture (i.e., “...knowledge encountered in explicit forms and internalized via fast-binding pathways after a small number of exposures (ibid.)).

In the image above, Ronaldo is principally drawing on a nondeclarative mode of culture. By kicking the soccer ball, he is appealing to a skill that requires “repeated long-term exposure to consistent patterns of experience…[and] manipulation of the body” (92). In the image below, Ronaldo is principally drawing on a declarative mode of culture. By talking about his penalty kick to the interviewer, he is appealing to knowledge that “he knows he knows” and “producing [a] justification for [his action]” (ibid.).

Given that Ronaldo is a soccer “expert”, he can “draw on the declarative representation of the [penalty kick] for purposes of teaching a novice” (98). Since he is able to communicate a nondeclarative skill (taking a penalty kick) in a declarative manner (talking in an interview), Ronaldo is illustrating that his penalty kick knowledge is redundant, or indicative of a strong coupling between his use of declarative and nondeclarative cultures. If you were to ask him how he scored the penalty, however, he would likely not (nor would any soccer player) be able to communicate a comprehensive answer. This is because the action of scoring a penalty kick (which includes complex cognitive, physical, and emotional processes) is “phenomenologically opaque” and “so taken for granted that it never rises to conscious awareness” (89,99).

Sources –

Lizardo, Omar. 2016. “Improving Cultural Analysis.” American Sociological Review 82(1):88–115. 

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