Sociology of sport

Sociology of sport, alternately referred to as sports sociology, is a sub-discipline of sociology which focuses on sports as social phenomena. It is an area of study concerned with various socio-cultural structures, patterns, and organizations or groups involved with sport.

There are many perspectives through which sport can be viewed. Therefore, very often some binary divisions are stressed, such as: professional vs. amateur, mass vs. top-level, active vs. passive/spectator, men vs. women, sports vs. play (as an antithesis to organized and institutionalized activity). Following feminist or other reflexive and tradition-breaking paradigms sports are sometimes studied as contested activities, i.e. as activities in the centre of various people/groups interests (connection of sports and gender, mass media, or state-politics).

In most premodern societies, the gender role for females and males in sports was reinforced at a young age. The sociology that formed surrounding sports enforced the idea that sports were too masculine for women and are encouraged to play noncompetitive games while men were able to compete.[1] The impact of sports and games was to prepare young children for adulthood. The separation between the roles of men and women in a society of sports is expressed through media and gender identity. On media, the sports viewership varies by gender. Men's sports are more prominent in the media versus women's sports and the sports broadcast vary. On NCAA news, the text and text space greater than 2:1 coverage of men’s sports over women’s, the pictures are around 2:1 male athletes over female athletes.[2] For males the sports typically include football, hockey, baseball, soccer, basketball, pro wrestling and boxing,[3] while women's sports covers figure skating, gymnastics, skiing, and diving.[4] There is a contrast in the sports for each gender: the men's sports include confrontative, combative coordination and the women's sports are less aggressive and more individual and stylish. Participation in “masculine” sports creates gender identity conflict for females, likewise participation in “feminine” sports creates gender identity conflict for males.

The emergence of the sociology of sport (though not the name itself) dates from the end of the 19th century, when first social psychological experiments dealing with group effects of competition and pace-making took place. Besides cultural anthropology and its interest in games in the human culture, one of the first efforts to think about sports in a more general way was Johan Huizinga's Homo Ludens or Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class.[5] In 1970, sports sociology gained significant attention as an organized, legitimate field of study. The North American Society for the Sociology of Sport was formed in 1978 with the objective of studying the field.[6] Its research outlet, the Sociology of Sport Journal, was formed in 1984.

Today, most sports sociologists identify with at least one of four essential theories that define the relationship between sports and society, namely structural functionalism, conflict theory, critical theory, and symbolic interactionism.

Alternative viewpoints

Jean-Marie Brohm in "Sport: A Prison of Measured Time"[7] presents a Marxist critique of organized sport as an instrument of indoctrination and subordination.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rowe, David C, and William N. Thompson. “Sociology of sports.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 10 Mar. 2017, www.britannica.com/topic/sports/Sociology-of-sports.
  2. ↑ Shifflett, Bethany, and Rhonda Revelle. “Gender Equity In Sports Media Coverage: A Review Of The Ncaa News.” Journal of Sport and Social Issues, vol. 18, no. 2, 1994, pp. 144–150., doi:10.1177/019372394018002004.
  3. ↑ Messner, Michael A., et al. “The Televised Sports Manhood Formula.” Journal of Sport and Social Issues, vol. 24, no. 4, 2000, pp. 380–394., doi:10.1177/0193723500244006.
  4. ↑ Sargent, Stephanie L, et al. “The Gender Gap in the enjoyment of televised sports.” Sage Journals, Feb. 1998.
  5. ↑ Lueschen, G. 1980. Sociology of Sport: Development, Present State, and Prospects. Annual Review of Sociology, 6: 315 — 347.
  6. ↑ "About NASSS". North American Society for the Sociology of Sport. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  7. ↑ Jean Marie Brohm (1978). Sport, a prison of measured time: essays. Ink Links Ltd. ISBN 0906133017.
  8. ↑ "Sport: A Prison Of Measured Time: Essays by Jean-Marie Brohm". Goodreads. Retrieved February 4, 2017.

Further reading

  • Bourdieu, Pierre (1993). How can one be a sports fan?. London: Routledge In The Cultural Studies Reader, During, S. (ed.). pp. 339–355. ISBN 0-415-07708-7. OCLC 28818343.
  • Cashmore, Ernest (2000). Sports Culture: An A-Z Guide. London, UK; New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-18169-0. OCLC 41548336.
  • Coakley, Jay J. (2004). Sport in Society: Issues and Controversies (8th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-255657-9. OCLC 51631598.
  • Collins, Michael F. and Tess Kay (2003). Sport and Social Exclusion. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-25959-2. OCLC 51527713. - Examines how social factors that exclude participation in sports, including poverty, age, ethnicity, gender, etc.
  • Danielson, Michael N. (1997). Home Team: Professional Sports and the American Metropolis. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-03650-0. OCLC 35397761.
  • Dunning, Eric and Dominic Malcolm (editors) (2003). Sport: Critical Concepts in Sociology. London, UK; New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-26292-5. OCLC 51222256.
  • Dyck, Noel (2000). Games, Sports and Cultures. Oxford: Berg. ISBN 1-85973-312-3. OCLC 44485325.
  • Dunleavy, Aidan O.; Andrew W. Miracle & C. Roger Rees (1982). Studies in the Sociology of Sport. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press. ISBN 0-912646-78-0. OCLC 8762539.
  • Eitzen, D. Stanley and George Harvey Sage (2003). Sociology of North American Sport (7th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-235400-3. OCLC 49276709.
  • Giulianotti, Richard (2005). Sport: A Critical Sociology. Oxford, UK; Malden, MA: Polity. ISBN 0-7456-2545-2. OCLC 56659449.
  • Giulianotti, Richard (2004). Sport and Modern Social Theorists. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-80078-8. OCLC 55095622.
  • Guttmann, Allen (2004). From Ritual to Record: The Nature of Modern Sports (Updated with a new afterword ed.). New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-13341-3. OCLC 54503875.
  • Guttmann, Allen (1994). Games and Empires. Modern Sports and Cultural Imperialism. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-10042-6. OCLC 30036883.
  • Heywood, Leslie, and Shari L. Dworkin (2003). Built to Win: The Female Athlete as Cultural Icon. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-3623-0. OCLC 51304091.
  • Houlihan, Barrie (editor) (2003). Sport and Society: A Student Introduction. London, UK; Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 0-7619-7033-9. OCLC 52460691.
  • Jarvie, Grant & Maguire, Joseph (1994). Sport and Leisure in Social Thought. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-07703-6. OCLC 30030487.
  • Jarvie, Grant (2006). Sport, Culture and Society. An Introduction. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-30647-7. OCLC 60650865.
  • Jay, Kathryn (2004). More than just a Game: Sports in American Life since 1945. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12534-8. OCLC 54503879.
  • Johnson, Jay and Margery Jean Holman (2004). Making the Team: Inside the World of Sport Initiations and Hazing. Toronto, Canada: Canadian Scholars' Press. ISBN 1-55130-247-0. OCLC 55973445.
  • Jones, Robyn L.; Armour, Kathleen M. (2000). Sociology of Sport: Theory and Practice. Harlow, Essex, England: Longman. ISBN 0-582-41912-3. OCLC 46486583.
  • Laker, Anthony (2002). The Sociology of Sport and Physical Education: An Introductory Reader. London, UK; New York, NY: RoutledgeFalmer. ISBN 0-415-23593-6. OCLC 46732587.
  • Lenskyj, Helen Jefferson (2003). Out on the Field: Gender, Sport and Sexualities. Toronto: Women's Press.
  • Loland, Sigmund,; Skirstad, Berit; Waddington, Ivan (2006). Pain and Injury in Sport: Social and Ethical Analysis. London, UK; New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-35703-9. OCLC 60453764.
  • Maguire, Joseph A. (2002). Sport Worlds: A Sociological Perspective. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. ISBN 0-88011-972-1. OCLC 48162875.
  • Joseph A. Maguire; Kevin Young, eds. (2002). Theory, Sport & Society. Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Boston, MA: JAI. ISBN 0-7623-0742-0. OCLC 48837757.
  • Nixon, Howard L. (2008). Sport in a Changing World. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59451-442-5. OCLC 181368766.
  • Scambler, Graham (2005). Sport and Society: History, Power and Culture. Maidenhead, England; New York, NY: Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-21071-6. OCLC 58554471.
  • Scraton, Sheila and Anne Flintoff (2002). Gender and Sport: A Reader. London, UK; New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-25952-5. OCLC 47255389.
  • Sugden, John Peter and Alan Tomlinson (2002). Power Games: A Critical Sociology of Sport. London, England; New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-25100-1. OCLC 50291216.
  • Tomlinson, Alan (2005). Sport and Leisure Cultures. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-3382-7. OCLC 57000964.
  • Tomlinson, Alan and Christopher Young (2006). National Identity and Global Sports Events: Culture, Politics, and Spectacle in the Olympics and the Football World Cup. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-6615-9. OCLC 57349033.
  • Waddington, Ivan (2000). Sport, Health and Drugs: A Critical Sociological Perspective. London, UK; New York, NY: E & FN Spon. ISBN 0-419-25190-1. OCLC 42692125.
  • Woods, Ron B. (2007). Social Issues in Sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. ISBN 0-7360-5872-9. OCLC 70673116.
  • Yiannakis, Andrew and Merrill J. Melnick (2001). Contemporary Issues in Sociology of Sport (Revised ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. ISBN 0-7360-3710-1. OCLC 45207842.
  • Young, Kevin and Kevin B. Wamsley (2005). Global Olympics: Historical and Sociological Studies of the Modern Games. Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Oxford, UK: Elsevier JAI. ISBN 978-0-7623-1181-1. OCLC 62133166.
  • Young, Kevin and Philip White (2007). Sport and Gender in Canada (2nd ed.). Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-541987-1. OCLC 70062619.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.