Prologue -- Changing contexts : the growing demand for transnational human capital and the middle and upper class quest for distinction -- Social background makes all the difference : types of capital, class position and chances for acquiring transnational human capital -- Strategic investments...

At the FIFA World Cup 2006, the method of using the market value of the teams (“transfer value”) was first proposed as a simple and transparent basis for forecasting the outcome of a major football tournament. Indeed, the countries with players of the highest market value were world...