Download what is the sociology of sport?

THE SOCIOLOGY
OF SPORT
1
What is it and why study it?
(SOURCE: MICHAEL BRADLEY)
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‘‘
NEW ZEALANDERS BELIEVE winning in international events is
important. It contributes to social, economic and health benefits;
helps create a sense of strong sense of national identity, pride and
social cohesion; creates a healthy image for marketing New Zealand
goods, services and experiences abroad; helps attract high profile
sports events to New Zealand, with associated economic gains; and
encourages New Zealanders to be active
Sport & Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) Statement of Intent, 2006–09
NOT ALL AUSTRALIANS like to admit it, but sport defines their
culture … It is their proud, shouting declaration of statehood to a
world that is literally and notionally far away …
Kevin Mitchell, journalist in The Observer newspaper (UK) December, 2006
NOW THAT THE SPORTS business is a massive arm of the
international entertainment industry … there’s no way we can
escape its economic, social and environmental footprints … [T]he
growing involvement of big business, of the media and of advertisers
has helped reshape the rules of many games—and, in the process,
fuelled new forms of exclusion.
John Elkington, environmentalist, president of SustainAbility, 2004
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CHAPTER OUTLINE
Introduction
3
Defining culture and society
4
Defining sport
4
What is the sociology of sport?
10
Why study sport in society?
15
What is the current status of the sociology of sport in
Australia and New Zealand
23
Summary: Why study the sociology of sport?
23
Introduction
This chapter focuses on five questions:
1. What are culture and society?
2. What are sports and how might we distinguish them from other
activities?
3. What is the sociology of sport?
4. Why study sport in society?
5. Who studies sport in society, and what are their goals?
The answers to these questions will be our guides for
understanding the material in the rest of the book.
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SPORT IN SOCIETY
DEFINING CULTURE AND SOCIETY
As we use sociology to study sport, it is important to define culture and society. Culture consists of
the ways of life that people create as they participate in a group or society. These ways of life are complex.
They are created and change as people struggle over what is important in their lives, how to
survive and accomplish everyday tasks and how to make sense of their collective experiences.
Culture encompasses all the socially invented ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that emerge
as people try to survive, meet their needs, and achieve a sense of meaning and significance in
the process. Of course, some people have more power and resources than others in the culturecreation process, and sociologists study how people use power and resources in the social world.
Sports are elements of cultures, and they have forms and meanings, which vary over time from
one group and society to the next. For example, traditional martial arts and Sumo wrestling in
Asia are organised differently and have different meanings and purposes than combat sports, such
as boxing and wrestling, in Australia and New Zealand.The meaning, organisation and purpose of
basketball has changed considerably since 1891 when it was developed at a YMCA in the United
States as an indoor exercise activity for men who did not want to play football outside during the
winter. Canadian James Naismith, who invented basketball as part of an assignment in a physical
education course, would not recognise his game if he were to see Lauren Jackson dunk during
the Beijing Olympics. Nowadays a billion people may be watching on television, while thousands
of others pay to see a women’s professional game in person. It is important to know about these
cultural and historical differences when we study sports as parts of society.
The term society refers to a collection of people living in a defined geographic territory and united by
a political system and a shared sense of self-identification that distinguishes them from other people. Australia,
New Zealand, the United States, China, Nigeria and the Netherlands are societies. Each has a
different culture and different forms of social, political and economic organisation. It is important
to know about these characteristics of society as we study the meaning and social significance of
sport from one social context to another.
DEFINING SPORT
Most of us have a good enough grasp of the meaning of sport to talk about them with others.
However, when we study sport, it helps to define what we are talking about. For example, can
we say that two groups of children playing a modified game of netball in a New Zealand town
and a pickup game of soccer in an Australian park are engaged in sport? Their activities are quite
different from what occurs in connection with the ANZ Netball League games and World Cup
soccer matches. These differences become significant when parents ask if playing sports is good
for their children, when community leaders such as town or shire councils ask if they should use
tax money to pay for sports, or when school officials ask if sports contribute to the educational
missions of their schools.
Students ask whether jogging and skipping are sports. How about weight lifting? Hunting?
Scuba diving? Darts? Automobile racing? Ballroom dancing? Chess? Professional wrestling?
Skateboarding? The X Games (action sports competition)? Paintball? A piano competition?
Should any or all of these activities be called sports? In the face of such a question, some scholars
use a precise definition of sports so that they can distinguish them from other types of social
activities.
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A traditional definition of sport
Although definitions of sports vary, many scholars agree that sports are institutionalised competitive
activities that involve rigorous physical exertion or the use of relatively complex physical skills by participants
motivated by internal and external rewards. Parts of this definition are clear, but other parts need
explanation.
First, sports are physical activities. Therefore, according to the definition, chess probably is not a
sport because playing chess is more cognitive than physical. Are billiards and pool physical enough
to qualify as sports under this definition?
Making this determination is arbitrary because there are no objective rules for how
physical an activity must be to qualify as a sport. Pairs ice dancing is considered a sport in the
Winter Olympics, so why not add ballroom dancing to the Summer Games? Members of the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) asked this question, and ballroom dancing was
included in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games as a demonstration sport.
Second, sports are competitive activities, according to this definition. Sociologists realise that
competitive activities have different social dynamics from cooperative or individualistic activities.
They know that, when two girls pass a netball to each other on the grass outside their home,
it is sociologically different from what happens when New Zealand’s Silver Ferns team plays
Australia’s national team in the World Cup Tournament, so it makes sense to separate them for
research purposes.
Third, sports are institutionalised activities. Institutionalisation is a sociological term referring
to the process through which actions, relationships and social arrangements become patterned or standardised over
time and from one situation to another. Institutionalised activities have formal rules and organisational
structures that guide people’s actions from one situation to another. When we say that sports are
institutionalised activities, we distinguish what happens when two surfers compare waves at a
local beach from what happens when surfers compete against one another in an international
competition where their rides are evaluated and scored by officials, the leading scorers winning
money and trophies which often are paid for by sponsors and television networks. In specific
terms, institutionalisation involves the following:
1. The rules of the activity become standardised. Sports have official rules applied whenever and
wherever they are played.
2. Official regulatory agencies take over rule enforcement. Representatives of recognised ‘governing
bodies’—such as a local rules committee for a children’s netball league, a state high school
sports association, the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU), and the International Olympic
Committee (IOC)—enforce the rules.
3. The organisational and technical aspects of the activity become important. Sports occur under
controlled conditions in which there are specific expectations for competitors, coaches and
officials so that results can be documented, certified and recorded. Furthermore, equipment,
technologies and training methods are developed to improve performance.
4. The learning of game skills becomes formalised. Participants must know the rules of the game, and
coaches become important as teachers; participants may also consult others—such as trainers,
dieticians, sport scientists, managers and team physicians—as they learn skills.The fourth point
in the definition of sports is that sports are activities played by people for internal and external rewards.
This means that participation in sports involves a combination of two sets of motivations. One
is based in the internal satisfactions associated with expression, spontaneity and the pure joy of
participation.The other motivation is based in external satisfactions associated with displaying
physical skills in public and receiving approval, status or material rewards in the process.
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SPORT IN SOCIETY
When we use a precise definition, we can distinguish sports from both play and dramatic
spectacle. Play is an expressive activity done for its own sake. It may be spontaneous or guided
by informal norms. An example of play is three 4-year-olds who, during a recess period at
preschool, spontaneously run around a playground, yelling joyfully while throwing playground
balls in whatever directions they feel like throwing them. Of course, it makes sociological sense
to distinguish this physical activity, motivated almost exclusively by personal enjoyment and
expression, from what happens in sports.
Dramatic spectacle, on the other hand, is a performance that is intended to entertain an audience.
It is guided by explicit expectations among the performers. An example of dramatic spectacle
is four professional wrestlers paid to entertain spectators by staging a skilled and cleverly
choreographed tag-team match in which outcomes are prearranged for audience entertainment.
It also makes sociological sense to distinguish this physical activity, motivated almost exclusively
by a desire to perform for the entertainment of others, from what happens in sports. Sports
are distinguished from play and spectacle in that they involve combinations of both intrinsic
enjoyment and extrinsic rewards for performance. This means that all sports contain elements
of play and spectacle. The challenge faced in some sports is to preserve a relatively even balance
between these two elements.
Using a precise definition of sport has important advantages, but it also has potentially serious
problems. For example, when we focus our attention only on institutionalised competitive
activities, we may overlook physical activities in the lives of many people who have neither the
resources to formally organise those activities nor the desire to make their activities competitive.
In other words, we may spend all our time considering the physical activities of relatively select
groups in society because those groups have the power to formally organise physical activities and
the desire to make them competitive. If this happens, we privilege the activities of these select
groups and treat them as more important parts of culture than the activities of other groups. This
in turn can marginalise people who have neither the resources nor the time to play organised
sports, or who are not attracted to competitive activities.
Most people in the sociology of sport are aware of this possibility, so they use this precise
definition of sports cautiously. However, some scholars reject the idea that sports can be defined
once and for all time and use an alternative approach to identifying and studying sports in
society.
An alternative approach to defining sport
Instead of using a single definition of sports, some scholars study sports in connection with
answers to the following two questions:
1. What activities do people in a particular group or society identify as sports?
2. Whose sports count the most in the ways they are funded and supported in a group or
society?
Asking these questions opens the sociology of sport to a greater range of analysis than is
possible when using a static, precise definition. These questions force researchers to dig into the
social and cultural contexts in which people form ideas and beliefs about physical activities. The
researchers must explain how and why some physical activities more than others are defined as
sports and become important activities in the social and cultural life of a particular society.
Those who use this alternative approach do not describe sport with a single definition.When
they are asked, ‘What is sport?’ they say, ‘Well, that depends on whom you ask, when you ask and
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CHAPTER 1 THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT
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What is sport? This question cannot be answered without considering cultural values and power in a
society. In the Olympics, rhythmic gymnastics is a sport although people in some societies believe that ‘real’
sports must reflect ‘manly’ attributes.
(SOURCE: COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE)
Sports as contested activities
hen sociologists say that sports are contested activities, they mean that, through history,
people have regularly disagreed about what sports could and should be.These disagreements
have led to struggles over three major questions about sports and a number of related questions.
As you read the following questions, remember that there are many possible answers to each.
Sociologists study how and why people in different places and times answer these questions in
particular ways
■ What are the meanings, purpose and organisation of sport? The struggles related to this question
have raised other questions, such as the following: What activities are defined as ‘official’
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REFLECT
ON SPORT
W
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SPORT IN SOCIETY
SPORTS AS CONTESTED ACTIVITIES continued
sports? How are sports connected with social values and people’s ideas about one another,
social relationships and the social worlds in which they live? What physical skills are valued
in sport—are strength, size and speed, for example, more important than flexibility, balance
and endurance? How are sport experiences evaluated—is emotional enjoyment more
important than competitive success? What types of performance outcomes are important,
and how is success defined, measured and rewarded? How is excellence defined—in terms
of one’s abilities to dominate others, all-round athletic abilities or one’s abilities to maximise
everyone’s enjoyment in sports?
■
Who will participate in sport, and under what conditions will this participation occur? The struggles
related to this question have raised other questions, such as the following: Will females
and males play the same sport, at the same time, on the same teams, and should rewards for
achievement be the same for females and males? Will sports be open to people regardless of
social class and wealth? Will wealthy and poor play and watch sports together or separately?
Will people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds play together or in segregated
settings? Will the meanings given to skin colour or ethnicity influence participation
patterns or access to participation? Will age influence eligibility to play sport, and should
sport be age integrated or segregated? Will people of different ages have the same access to
participation opportunities? Will able-bodied people and people with disabilities have the
same opportunities to play sport, and will they play together or separately? What meanings
will be given to the accomplishments of participants with disabilities compared to the
accomplishments of able-bodied competitors? Will gay men and lesbians play alongside
heterosexuals? Will competitors control the conditions under which they play sports and
have the power to change those conditions to meet their own needs and interests? Will
competitors be rewarded for playing, and how will rewards be determined?
■
How will sports be sponsored, and what will be the reasons for sponsorship? The struggles related to
this question have raised other questions such as the following: Will sports be sponsored by
public agencies for the sake of the ‘public good’? If so, who will determine what the public
good is? Will sports be sponsored by nonprofit organisations? If so, how will organisational
philosophies influence the types of sports that are sponsored? Will sports be sponsored by
commercial organisations? If so, how will the need for profits influence the types of sports
that are sponsored? To what extent will sponsors control sports and competitors? What are
the legal rights of the sponsors relative to those of the competitors and others involved in
sports?
As you can see, many aspects of sport can be contested! Sport changes depending on how
people answer these questions. Furthermore, answers to these questions are never permanent.
New answers replace old ones as interests change; as power shifts; as the meanings associated
with age, skin colour, ethnicity, gender and disability change; and as economic, political and legal
forces take new and different forms. This means that the definition of sport always reflects the
organisation of a society at a particular time. A precise definition of sport is helpful, but it should
always be used with caution because truths about sport rest in people’s lives, not sociological
definitions. What do you think?
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CHAPTER 1 THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT
9
where you ask.’ They explain that not everyone has the same way of looking at and defining sport
and that ideas about sport vary over time and from one place to another. For example, they would
note that people in England who raced horses and went fox hunting during the 1870s would
be horrified, confused or astonished by what Australians and New Zealanders today consider to
be sports. Similarly, the people who watch Super 14 Rugby games today would look at many
activities that were considered sports in nineteenth-century England and say they were not ‘real’
sports because participants did not train, compete according to schedules, play in leagues or strive
to set records and win championships.
Maybe 90 years from now people will play virtual sports in virtual environments and see our
sports today as backward, over-organised and fun-less activities that do not allow participants to
combine movement with fantasies in ever-changing environments.
Those who use this alternative approach to defining sports understand that there are cultural
differences in how people identify sports and include them in their lives. For instance, in cultures
that emphasise cooperative relationships, the idea that people should compete with one another
for rewards are defined as disruptive, if not immoral (Kohn 1986). At the same time, people in
cultures that emphasise competition may see physical activities and games that have no winners
as pointless. These cultural differences suggest that we should not let a definition of sport shape
what is studied. Those who use this alternative approach do research based on what the people
in particular cultural settings think is important in their own lives (Bale & Christensen 2004;
Newbery 2004; Rail 1998; Rinehart & Syndor 2003).
The assumption underlying this approach is that sports are contested activities—that is,
activities for which there are no timeless and universal agreements about meaning, purpose and organisation.
This means that in the case of sports there are varying ideas about who will participate, the
circumstances under which participation will occur, and who will sponsor sports for what reasons.
The most important sociological issue to recognise when we use this approach is that people in
particular places at particular times struggle over whose ideas about sports will count as the ideas in
a group or society. A guide for thinking about these issues is in the Reflect on sport box ‘Sports
as contested activities on pages 7–8.’
Struggles over whose ideas count when it comes to the meaning, organisation and purpose
of sports are much more common than you might think. To illustrate this, consider the different
ways that sports might be defined as people make decisions related to the following questions:
• Should children younger than 6 years old be allowed to play sport? If so, how should those
sports be organised, and what will be their meaning and purpose?
• Should money from a local youth sports budget be given to a program in which young girls
are taught to jump rope or to a program in which boys and a few girls compete in an in-line
roller hockey league at a local skating rink?
• Should tenpin bowling, darts and men’s synchronised swimming be recognised as Olympic
sports in 2012?
• Should skateboarding be funded by a university sport program?
• Should the Commonwealth Games’ associations in Australia and New Zealand include
cheerleading as an official sport?
• Should a permit to use a sport field in a public park be given to an informal group of frisbee
players or to an organised softball team that plays in an official community league?
• Should synchronised swimming events be covered in the sports section of a city newspaper or
in the lifestyle section?
• Should WWF wrestlers be nominated for a ‘sports’ Person of the Year Award?
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SPORT IN SOCIETY
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How these questions are answered depends on what activities are counted as sports in a society
at a given time.These questions also remind us to be cautious in how we use a single definition of
sport. For example, if sports are institutionalised competitive physical activities played to achieve
internal and external rewards, then why are competitive dancing, aerobics, jump roping and
cheerleading not counted as sports? They fit the definition and recently the activity previously
called ballroom dancing has changed its name to ‘dancesport’ to table a claim for recognition as
a sport. The fact that they are not considered sports when it comes to important issues such as
sponsorships, funding and formal recognition raises two questions: (1) what activities are defined
as sports in a society, and (2) whose ideas and interests are represented most in those definitions?
Answering these questions requires a careful analysis of the social and cultural context in
which decisions are made in everyday life. Asking what activities are identified as sports raises
critical issues. These issues force us to look at the cultures in which people live, work and play
together and struggle over what is important and how they will live together.
FIGURE
1.1
S P ORT INV OLV E S ELE ME NT S O F P L AY AND S P E C TAC L E
PLAY
SPORT
SPECTACLE
ADAPTED FROM P. STONE, ‘AMERICAN SPORTS: PLAY AND DISPLAY’, IN J.T.TALAMINI AND C.H. PAGE (EDS), SPORT AND
SOCIETY: AN ANTHOLOGY, LITTLE & BROWN, BOSTON.
WHAT IS THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT?
This question is best answered at the end of the book instead of at the beginning. However, you
should have a clear preview of what you will be reading for the next 13 chapters.
Most people who do the sociology of sport agree that the field is a subdiscipline of sociology
that studies sport as parts of social and cultural life. Much research and writing in this field focuses
on ‘organised, competitive sports’ although scholars also study other physical activities that involve
goals and challenges (Rinehart & Syndor 2003). The people who do this work use sociological
concepts, theories and research to answer questions such as the following:
1. Why have some activities rather than others been selected and designated as sports in particular
societies?
2. Why have sports in particular societies been created and organised in certain ways?
3. How do people include sport and sport participation in their lives, and does participation
affect who we are and our relationships with others?
4. How does sport and sport participation affect our ideas about bodies, masculinity and
femininity, social class, race and ethnicity, work, fun, ability and disability, achievement and
competition, pleasure and pain, deviance and conformity, and aggression and violence?
5. How are the meaning, purpose, and organisation of sport connected with culture, organisation
and resources in societies?
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CHAPTER 1 THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT
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6. How are sports related to important spheres of social life such as family, education, politics, the
economy, the media and religion?
7. How do people use knowledge about sports as they live their everyday lives?
8. How can people use sociological knowledge about sports to understand and participate in
society as agents of progressive change?
Understanding the sociology of sport is easier if you learn to think of sports as social
constructions—that is, aspects of the social world that are created by people as they interact with one
another under the social, political and economic conditions that exist in their society. To stress this point,
we generally use the term sports rather than sport. We do this to emphasise that the forms and
meanings of sports vary from place to place and time to time. We want to avoid the inference
that ‘sport’ has an essential and timeless quality apart from the contexts in which people create,
play and change sports in society. Figure 1.1 illustrates that this approach may make some people
uncomfortable because they have vested interests in sports as they are currently organised and
played. They are not anxious for people to see sports as social constructions that are subject to
change if people wish to organise and play them differently.
We also want to emphasise that the materials in the book are based on systematic empirical
data, qualitative or quantitative, and that our statements about sport and sport experiences are
different than those made in blogs, talk radio, television news shows, game commentaries and
everyday discussions between people interested in sport.
Differences between sociology of sport and psychology of sport
An additional way to understand the sociology of sport is to contrast it with the psychology of
sport. Psychologists study behaviour in terms of attributes and processes that exist inside individuals.
They focus on motivation, perception, cognition, self-esteem, self-confidence, attitudes and
personality. They also deal with interpersonal dynamics, including communication, leadership,
and social influence, but they usually discuss these things in terms of how they affect attributes
and processes that exist inside individuals. Therefore, they would ask a research question such as
‘How is the motivation of sport’s participants related to personality and the perception of their
physical abilities?’
Sociologists study actions and relationships in terms of the social conditions and cultural
contexts in which people live their lives. They focus on the reality outside and around individuals
and deal with how people form relationships with one another and create social arrangements
that enable them to control and give meaning to their lives. Sociologists ask questions about
the ways that actions, relationships and social life are related to characteristics defined as socially
relevant by people in particular groups. This is why they often deal with the social meanings
and dynamics associated with age, social class, gender, race, ethnicity, (dis)ability, sexuality and
nationality. A sociologist would ask a question such as ‘How do prevailing ideas about masculinity
and femininity affect the organisation of sport programs and the experiences of those who
participate in sports?’
When psychologists apply their knowledge, they focus on the personal experiences and
problems of particular individuals, whereas sociologists use their knowledge to focus on group
experiences and social issues that have an impact on entire categories of people. For example, when
studying burnout among adolescent competitors, psychologists look at factors that exist inside the
competitors themselves. Because stress is a key ‘inside factor’ in human beings, psychologists focus
on stress experienced by individual competitors and how it affects motivation, performance and
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SPORT IN SOCIETY
burnout (Smith 1986). When applying their knowledge, they help competitors manage stress
through goal setting, personal skill development and the use of relaxation and concentration
techniques.
Sociologists, on the other hand, study burnout in connection with the social reality that
surrounds adolescent competitors. They focus on the organisation of sport programs and the
relationships between competitors and other people, including family members, peers and
coaches. Because competitors are influenced by the social context in which they play sport,
the application of sociological knowledge emphasises that to control burnout we must change
the organisation of youth sport programs and the dynamics of competitors’ relationships so that
competitors have more control over their lives and more opportunities to have experiences and
relationships outside of sport.
Both approaches have value, but some people may see a sociological approach as too complex
and disruptive.They feel that it is easier to change individual competitors and how they deal with
stress than it is to change the social conditions in which competitors live their lives. This is why
many people who control sport programs prefer psychological over sociological approaches.They
do not want to change patterns of organisation and control in their programs. Similarly, many
parents and coaches also prefer a psychological approach that focuses on stress management rather
than a sociological approach that focuses on changing their relationships with competitors and
the organisation of sport programs.
Using the sociology of sport
The insights developed through sociological research are not always used to make changes in
favour of the people who lack power in society. Like any science, sociology can be used in various
ways. For example, research findings can be used to assist powerful people as they try to control
and enhance the efficiency of particular social arrangements and organisational structures. Or
they can be used to assist people who lack power as they attempt to change social conditions and
achieve greater opportunities to make choices about how they live their lives.
Science is not a pure and objective enterprise.Therefore, sociologists, like others who produce
and distribute knowledge, must consider why they ask certain research questions and how their
research findings may affect people’s lives. Sociologists cannot escape the fact that social life is
complex and characterised by conflicts of interests between different groups of people. Like the
rest of us, sociologists must deal with the fact that some people have more power and resources
than others. Therefore, using sociology is not a simple process that always leads
to good and wonderful conclusions for all humankind. This is why we must
The rituals of sport
think critically about the potential consequences of sociological knowledge
when we study sport.
engage more people
This book has been written to help you use sociology to do the following:
in a shared experience
1. Think critically about sport so that you can identify and understand social
than any other
problems and social issues associated with sport in society.
institution or cultural
activity today.
Varda Burstyn, The Rites of Men,
1999
Coakely Chap 1.indd 12
2. Look beyond issues of physical performance and records to see sport as
a social construction that influence how people feel, think, and live their
lives.
3. Learn things about sport that you can use to make informed choices about
your own sport participation and the place of sport in the communities and
societies in which you live.
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CHAPTER 1 THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT
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4. Think about the ways that sport in your schools and universities might be
transformed so they do not systematically disadvantage some categories of
people while privileging others.
Controversies created by the sociology of sport
Research in the sociology of sport sometimes creates controversy. This occurs when research
findings suggest that there should be changes in the organisation of sport and the structure
of social relations in society as a whole. These recommendations may threaten some people,
especially those who control sport organisations, benefit from the current organisation of sport
or think the current organisation of sport is ‘right and natural’. These people have the most to
lose if there are changes in the organisation of sport and social life. People in positions of power
and control know that changes in society could jeopardise their positions and the privilege
that comes with them. Therefore, they prefer approaches to sport that blame problems on the
weaknesses and failures of individuals. When theories put the blame for problems on individuals,
solutions generally call for better ways to control people and teach them how to adjust to society
as it is, rather than calling for changes in how society is organised (McKay 1991).
The potential for controversy that results from a sociological analysis of sport can be illustrated
by reviewing research findings on sport participation among women around the world. Research
shows that women, especially women in poor and working class households, have lower rates of
sport participation than do other categories of people. Research also shows that there are many
reasons for this, including the following:
1. Women are less likely than men to have the time, freedom and money needed to play sport
regularly.
2. Women have little or no control of the facilities where sports are played or the programs in
those facilities.
3. Women have less access to transportation and less overall freedom to move around at will and
without fear.
4. Women are often expected to take full-time responsibility for the social and emotional needs
of family members—a job that is never completed or done perfectly.
5. Many sport programs around the world are organised around the values, interests and
experiences of men.
As a result of these reasons, many women do not see sport as appropriate activity for them to
take seriously. It is easy to see the potential for controversy associated with such research findings.
For example, sociologists might use them to suggest that opportunities and resources to play
should be increased for women, that women and men should share control over sport, and that
new sports organised around the values, interests and experiences of women should be developed.
Other suggestions would call for changes in ideas about femininity, masculinity, gender relations,
family structures, organisation of work and the distribution of resources in society.
When sociologists say that increasing sport participation among women or achieving gender
equity in sport programs requires such changes, they threaten those who benefit from sport and
social life as they are currently organised. In response, these people see the sociology of sport as
too critical and idealistic and often claim that these changes would upset the ‘natural’ order of
things. However, good research always helps people think critically about the social conditions
that affect our lives. Studying sport with a critical eye is easier if we have informed visions of
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SPORT IN SOCIETY
BREAKING
BARRIERS
CULTURAL BARRIERS: ARE WE NOT ATHLETES?
L
ouise Sauvage became the first person with a disability to become the Female Athlete of the Year in
Australia in 1999. In addition, she won four Boston Marathons and a total of nine gold medals at
the Paralympics in Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney. Randy Snow is a ten-time US Open Wheelchair Tennis champion, and International Tennis Federation champion, US Tennis Association Player of the Year
and winner of many athletic awards. Asked about the Paralympics for elite competitors with physical
disabilities, Randy Snow has this to say:
Paralympians are better competitors than our able-bodied counterparts. We work
just as hard, do it for a lot less money, carry education to our venue as well as
competition and have overcome physical challenges to do our sports. Our stories
display … true resiliency … therefore better matching us with the way life really
exists.
(in Joukowsky & Rothstein 2002, p. 39)
Snow’s comment plus the relative invisibility of sport for competitors with a disability raises a sociological question: Whose sport counts in society? The answer is that ideas and decisions about sport are
based on multiple interactions that occur under particular cultural, political and economic conditions.
For sociologists this raises three additional questions, namely: Who is involved in and excluded from
these interactions? Whose interests are represented or disadvantaged by the decisions made? How can
cultural, political and economic conditions be changed so that decisions are more representative of all
people in a social world?
Most readers of this book have never had friends whose physical or intellectual impairments made
them ‘disabled’ and never met an athlete from the Paralympic Games or Special Games. This means that
if we asked you to close your eyes and imagine five different sport scenes, few of you would picture a
scene involving competitors with an amputated limb, in wheelchairs, blind, with cerebral palsy or with
intellectual or developmental disabilities.
This imagination exercise is not meant to evoke guilt. Our views of the world are based on personal
experiences; and our experiences are influenced by the meanings that we and others give to age, gender, race, ethnicity, social class, sexuality, (dis)ability and other characteristics that are defined as socially
significant in our cultures. Neither culture nor society forces us to think or do certain things, but the only
way to mute their influence is to critically examine social worlds and understand the ways that cultural
meanings and social organisation create constraints and opportunities in people’s lives, including people
with disabilities. In the following chapters, Breaking barriers boxes present the voices and experiences of
people with disabilities. If you are currently able-bodied, each box alerts you to social and cultural barriers that constrain the lives of people with disabilities. If you have a disability, each case acknowledges
the barriers that you, Louise Sauvage, Randy Snow and millions of others face in the pursuit of sport
participation. These barriers, according to many people, are ‘just the way things are’. Eliminating them
is impossible or unrealistic because they require changes in the organisation of relationships, schools,
communities and societies. However, we are not victims of culture and society. If we have informed and
idealistic visions of what sport could and should be, it is possible to identify and eliminate barriers. Fung
Ying Ki, a triple gold medal winner in the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, knew that it was possible to break
barriers when she said, ‘I hope that, in the future, there will no longer be “disabled competitors” in this
world, only “competitors”’ (in Joukowsky & Rothstein 2002, p. 115).
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CHAPTER 1 THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT
15
what sport and society could and should be in the future. Without such visions, often born of
idealism, what would motivate and guide us as we participate in our communities, societies and
world? People who make a difference and change the world for the better have always been
idealistic. This is illustrated in the Breaking barriers feature opposite.
Sport is a part of everyday life in wealthy countries, when and where people have the time, energy and resources to
organise and play physical games. Every Saturday during the winter, many people go to this park where young boys
and girls play soccer. It is a rich site for studying sport in society because social dynamics resolve around issues related
to gender, social class, race and ethnicity, family and community.
(SOURCE: CHRIS HALLINAN)
Different approaches in the sociology of sport
Some scholars who study sport in society are more interested in learning about sport than society.
They focus on understanding the organisation of sport and the experiences of competitors and
spectators. Their goal, in most cases, is to improve sport experiences for current participants
and make sport participation more attractive and accessible. They also may do research to
improve athletic performance, coaching effectiveness and the efficiency and profitability of sport
organisations.These scholars often refer to themselves as sport sociologists, and see themselves as
part of the larger field of sport science.
Scholars concerned primarily with social and cultural issues usually refer to themselves as
sociologists who study sport or as cultural studies scholars. Their research on sport in society is
often connected with more general interests in leisure, popular culture, social relations and social
life as a whole. They use sport as a window into culture, society and social relationships and they
study sport as metaphorical stories that people tell themselves about themselves thereby revealing
their values, ideas and beliefs.
Differences between scholars are not unique to the sociology of sport. They occur in every
discipline as researchers make decisions about the questions they will ask and the knowledge they
seek to produce. Knowledge is a source of power, so our knowledge in the sociology of sport has
practical and political implications. It influences the ways that people view sport, integrate them
into their lives and make decisions about the organisation and place of sport in society.
WHY STUDY SPORT IN SOCIETY?
This is a serious question for people in the sociology of sport. The answer that most of us give
is that we study sports because they are given special meaning by particular people in societies,
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SPORT IN SOCIETY
they are tied to important ideas and beliefs in many cultures and they are connected with major
spheres of social life such as the family, religion, education, the economy, politics and the media.
Sport is given special meaning in people’s lives
We study sport in society because it is an important part of everyday social life around the world.
As we look around us, we see that the Olympic Games, soccer’s World Cup for men, the Tour
de France, the Australian Tennis Open and the International Rugby Board’s World Cup are now
worldwide events capturing the interest of billions of people. As these and other sport events are
viewed in person or through the electronic media by people in over two hundred countries, they
produce vivid images and lively stories that entertain and inspire people and provide them with
the words and ideas that they use to make sense of their experiences and the world around them.
Even when people do not have an interest in sport, their family and friends may insist on taking
them to games and talking with them about sport to the point that they are forced to make sport
a part of their lives. Sport images are so pervasive today that many young people are more familiar
with the tattoos and body piercings of their favourite sport celebrities than they are with political
leaders who make policies that have a significant impact on their lives.
People worldwide increasingly talk about sport—at work, at home, in pubs and clubs, on dates,
at dinner tables, in school, with friends and even with strangers at bus stops, in airports and on
the street. Sport provides non-threatening conversation topics with strangers. Relationships often
revolve around sport, especially among men, and increasingly among women. People identify with
teams and competitors so closely that what happens in sport influences their moods, identities
and sense of wellbeing. People’s identities as competitors and fans may be more important to
them than their identities related to education, career, religion or family.
Overall, sport and sport images and stories have become a pervasive part of our everyday lives,
especially for those of us living in countries where resources are relatively plentiful and access to
the media is widespread. For this reason, sport is a logical topic for the attention of sociologists
and anyone else concerned with social life today.
Sport is tied to important ideas and beliefs in many cultures
We also study sport in society because it is closely linked with how people think about and see
the world. Sociologists try to understand these links by studying connections between sport and
cultural ideologies.
Ideologies are webs of ideas and beliefs that people use to give meaning to the world and make sense of
their experiences. Ideologies are important aspects of culture because they embody the principles,
perspectives and viewpoints that underlie our feelings, thoughts and actions. However, ideologies
seldom come in neat packages, especially in highly diverse and rapidly changing societies. Different
groups of people in society often develop their own ideas and beliefs for giving meaning to the
world and making sense of their experiences, and they do not always agree.
These groups may struggle over whose ideologies provide the most accurate and useful ways
of giving meaning to and explaining the world and their experiences in it.
As various groups use and promote their ideologies in society, sport becomes socially relevant.
As social constructions, sport can be organised to reinforce or challenge important ideas and
beliefs. People create and organise sport around their ideas and beliefs about bodies, relationships,
abilities, character, gender, race, social class and other attributes and characteristics that they define
as important in their lives. Usually, the most popular forms of sport in a society reinforce and
reproduce the ideologies favoured and promoted by people with the most power and influence
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CHAPTER 1 THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT
17
The body and the sociology of sport
REFLECT
ON SPORT
U
ntil recently, most people viewed the body as a fixed, unchanging fact of nature.
They saw it in biological rather than social and cultural terms. But many scholars
and scientists now recognise that we cannot fully understand the body unless we
consider it in social and cultural terms (Blake 1996; Brownell 1997; Butler 2004;
Cole 2000; Schilling 1997; Turner 1997). For example, medical historians have shown that the
body and body parts have been identified and defined differently through history and from one
culture to another. This is important because it affects medical practice, government policies,
social theories and our everyday experiences (Fausto-Sterling 2000; Lupton 2000; Preves 2005).
Changes in the ways bodies have been socially defined (or ‘constructed’) influence widespread
ideas about sex, sex differences, sexuality, ideals of beauty, self-image, body image, fashion,
hygiene, health, nutrition, eating, fitness, racial classification systems, disease, drugs and drug
testing, violence and power and many other things that affect our lives. In fact, body-related ideas
influence how people define desire, pleasure, pain and quality of life. For example, nineteenthcentury Europeans and North Americans used insensitivity to pain as a physiological indicator
of general character defects in a person. Furthermore, they saw muscular bodies as indicators
of criminal tendencies and lower-class status (Hoberman 1992). Today, however, partly
in connection with how sport has been defined, people see the ability to ignore pain as an
indicator of strong character, instead of defective and deviant character. They now regard a
muscular body as an indicator of self-control and discipline rather than criminality. The
social dimensions of physical bodies are especially apparent in sport. As sociologist John
Wilson explains:
[In sport] social identities are superimposed upon physical being. Sport, in giving value to certain
physical attributes and accomplishments and denigrating others, affirms certain understandings of
how mind and body are related, how the social and natural worlds are connected. The identity of the
athlete is not, therefore, a natural outgrowth of physicality but a social construction. Sport absorbs
ideas about the respective physical potential of men versus women, whites versus blacks and middleclass versus working-class or moral people. In doing so, sport serves to reaffirm these distinctions.
(Wilson 1994, pp. 37–8)
Due in part to sport science, many people now see bodies as complex machines with component
parts that can be isolated and transformed to enhance specialised competitive performances.This,
in turn, has led to an emphasis on monitoring and controlling athletic bodies in forms such
as weigh-ins, tests for aerobic capacity, muscle biopsies and tissue analysis, the identification of
responses to various stressors, hormone testing, the administration of drugs and other chemical
substances, drug testing, blood boosting, blood testing, diet regulation and restriction, vitamin
regulation and the measurement of body-fat percentage, muscle size, anaerobic capacities and on
and on.
In the future, we are likely to see brain manipulations, hormonal regulation, DNA testing,
body-part replacements and genetic engineering. Therefore, the body is cultural in the sense
that it is now studied and understood in terms of performance outcomes, rather than subjective
experiences of bodily pleasure (Pronger 2002). In many sports today, the ability to endure pain
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SPORT IN SOCIETY
THE BODY AND THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT continued
rather than experiencing pleasure is an indicator of the ‘disciplined body’, and limiting the
percentage of body fat is so important that some bodies are starved to be ‘in good shape’.
Thinking about the body this way challenges traditional Western ideas about mind–body
separation. It highlights the notion that culture is embodied, and raises critical research questions
such as the following:
1. How do people form ideas about natural, ideal and deviant bodies in sport and in culture
generally?
2. What are the moral, cultural and sociological implications of how bodies are protected,
probed, monitored, tested, trained, disciplined, evaluated, manipulated and rehabilitated
in sport?
3. How are bodies in sport marked by gender, skin colour, ethnicity, (dis)ability and age, and
what are the social consequences of such marking?
4. How are bodies in sport represented in the media and popular culture in general?
These questions make many people associated with sport uncomfortable because the answers
often challenge taken-for-granted ideas about nature, beauty, health and the organisation and
purpose of high-performance competitive sport. But it is important to ask these questions.
What do you think?
in that society. In the process, those ideologies often become dominant in that most people learn
to use them as they make sense of the world and their experiences in it. When this occurs, sport
serves as a cultural practice that supports and solidifies particular forms of social organisation and
power relations.
Gender ideology We can use gender ideology to illustrate these points. Gender ideology consists
of a web of ideas and beliefs about masculinity, femininity and male–female relationships. People use
gender ideology to define what it means to be a man or a woman, evaluate and judge people and
relationships and determine what they consider to be natural and moral when it comes to gender.
It also is used as people create, play and give meaning to sport.
Dominant gender ideology in Australia and New Zealand has traditionally emphasised
that men are naturally superior to women in activities that involve strength, physical skills and
emotional control. Through most of the twentieth century, this idea was used to establish a
form of ‘common sense’ and a vocabulary that defined female inferiority in sports as ‘natural’.
Therefore, when a person threw a ball correctly, people learned to say that he or she ‘threw like
a boy’ or ‘like a man’. When a person threw a ball incorrectly, they learned to say that he or she
‘threw like a girl’. The same was true when people were evaluated in terms of their abilities to
run or do sport in general. If sport was done right, it was done the way a boy or man would do it.
If it was done wrong, it was done the way a girl or woman would do it. The belief that
doing sport, especially sport that is physically demanding, would make boys into men has long
been consistent with the dominant gender ideology in many cultures—not just in Australia
and New Zealand.
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CHAPTER 1 THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT
19
Consequently, when women excelled at these sports, many people claimed that they were
‘unnatural’. Dominant gender ideology led them to assume that femininity and sporting
excellence, especially in physically demanding or heavy-contact sports, could not go together.
As they tried to make sense of strong, competent women competitors, they concluded that such
women must be male-like or lesbians. When this conclusion was combined with related ideas
and beliefs about nature, morality and gender, many people restricted opportunities for girls and
women to play sport.
This gender ideology was so
widely accepted by people in sport
that coaches of men’s teams even
used it to motivate players. They
criticised men who made mistakes
or did not play aggressively enough
by ‘accusing’ them of ‘playing like
a bunch of girls’. As they made
sense of sport and gender, these
coaches inferred that being female
meant being a failure. This ideology
clearly served to privilege males and
disadvantage females in the provision
of opportunities and the allocation of
resources to play sport. Although it
has been challenged and discredited
in recent years, the legacy of this
gender ideology continues in many
social worlds to privilege some boys
and men and disadvantage some girls
and women.
Fortunately, ideology can be and
sometimes is changed. People may
question and struggle over it, and
some people organise challenges that
produce changes in deeply felt and
widely accepted ideas and beliefs. In
the case of gender ideology, sport
has occasionally been a site or ‘social
place’ for challenging dominant ideas
about what is natural and feminine.
The history of struggles over the
meaning and implications of gender
in sport is complex, but recent
challenges by both women and men
Billboard showing Nike ad during 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
who do not accept traditional ideas
(SOURCE: NEWSPIX)
and beliefs have led to important
changes in gender ideology.
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SPORT IN SOCIETY
Women competitors have illustrated clearly that females can be physically powerful and
capable of noteworthy physical achievements surpassing those of the vast majority of men in the
world. Furthermore, the accomplishments of women competitors have raised serious questions
about what is ‘natural’ when it comes to gender. We will discuss issues related to gender ideology
in sport in nearly every chapter, but especially in Chapter 8. The Reflect on sport box ‘The body
and the sociology of sport’ (pages 17–18) presents issues related to another ideological issue in
our lives: What do we consider to be natural when it comes to the body?
Racial ideology Sport is a site for important ideological struggles. In New Zealand and Australia,
it has been a site for either reproducing or challenging dominant ideas about race, and the
connections between skin colour and abilities, both physical and intellectual. Racial ideology
consists of a web of ideas and beliefs that people use to connect sport to skin colour and evaluate people in
terms of racial classifications. Racial ideologies vary around the world, but they are powerful forces
in the social lives of many people. They are used to place people into racial categories, and they
influence important social practices and policies that affect people’s lives.
The connections between sport and racial ideologies are complex. Racial ideology is often
used as a basis for evaluating athletic potential or explaining athletic success. The notion that
light-skinned people cannot jump and that dark-skinned people are natural competitors are
expressions of dominant racial ideology in certain cultures—an issue discussed in Chapter 9.
Class ideology Class ideology consists of a web of ideas and beliefs that people use to understand
economic inequalities and make sense of their own position in an economic hierarchy in society. With
increasing professionalisation and widespread media coverage the perception that sport offers a
genuine career path for youth in both Australia and New Zealand is perpetuated. Sport provides
many stories and slogans emphasising that people can achieve anything through discipline and
hard work and that failure awaits those who are lazy and undisciplined. By extension, this ideology
leads people to make positive conclusions about the character and qualifications of wealthy and
powerful people and negative conclusions about the character and qualifications of those who
are poor and powerless.Winners are assumed to have strong character, whereas losers are assumed
to have weak character. This way of thinking connects sport positively with capitalism and its
competitive system of economic rewards. This will be discussed in Chapters 8–10.
Sport and ideologies: complex connections As we think about sport and ideologies, it is important
to know that ideology is complex and sometimes inconsistent, and that sport comes in many
forms and has many meanings associated with it. Therefore, sport is connected with ideologies
in various and sometimes contradictory ways. We saw this in the example showing that sport
is a site for simultaneously reproducing and challenging dominant gender ideology in society.
Furthermore, sport can have many social meanings associated with it. For example, baseball is
played by similar rules in Japan and the USA, but the meanings associated with baseball and with
competitors’ performances are different in the two cultures because of ideological differences.
Team loyalty and conformity are highly prized in Japan, and emotional displays by players or
coaches are frowned upon, whereas in the USA individualism is emphasised and emotional
displays are accepted and defined as entertaining. Japanese baseball games may end in ties, but
games in the USA must have clear winners and losers, even if it means playing extra innings
and overtime or ‘sudden death’ periods. The complex connections between sport and ideologies
make it difficult to generalise about the role and consequences of sport in society. Sport has the
social potential to do many things. This is another reason for studying it as a social construction.
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CHAPTER 1 THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT
Sport is connected to major spheres of social life
21
[Sports] are why some
people get out of bed.
Sports define many of
us. Some superstars
command as much
attention as heads of
state and other leaders.
Whether you weigh
the good or bad of
it—it’s a fact.
Another reason to study sport in society is that it is clearly connected to
major spheres of social life, including the family, the economy, the media,
politics, education and religion. We discuss these connections in various
chapters in this book, but it is useful to highlight them at this point.
Sport and the community Sport is closely related to families and
communities. Thousands of children are involved in a variety of
organised sport activities. It is primarily their parents who organise
leagues, coach teams, attend games and serve as ‘taxi drivers’ for child
competitors. Family schedules are altered to accommodate practices and
games. These schedules may also be affected by sport participation by
adult family members. The viewing of televised sports events sometimes
disrupts family life and at other times provides a collective focus for
family attention. In some cases, relationships between family members Bob Davis, vice president,
are nurtured and played out during sports activities, or in conversations American Program Bureau, 1999
about these activities. Local churches and church groups in Australia
and New Zealand are active sponsors of athletic teams and leagues. The
Melbourne Tigers’ Basketball Club was originally known as Melbourne Church because it was
organised around the Church of England Boys’ Club. Rugby players from the Pacific islands
frequently express devout Christian beliefs, with Michael Jones, who played test rugby for New
Zealand, refusing to compete on Sundays. Moreover, other religious organisations have used
competitors as spokespersons for their belief systems, and some participants such as Craig Turley
(formerly with the West Coast Eagles AFL team) defined their sport participation in religious
terms. Sport is an integral part of school life in many countries. Sport is taught and played in
physical education classes, and schools in some countries have interscholastic sports teams that
attract widespread attention among students and community residents. Some US universities
even use intercollegiate teams for public relations purposes, making or losing large amounts of
money in the process. By comparison, the sports sponsored by universities in Australia and New
Zealand are low-profile, club-based teams that emphasise participation and student control—a
model quite different than the one used in the USA. Public school sports programs in Australia
and New Zealand are similarly low-profile compared to the USA. Yet, public specialist Sports
High Schools have been established in Melbourne, Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong. Private
Grammar Schools in Melbourne recruit accomplished sports performers with a variety of
scholarships. These issues are discussed in Chapters 4 and 5.
Sport and the economy The economies of most countries, especially wealthy post-industrial
countries, are affected by the billions of dollars spent every year for game tickets, sports equipment,
participation fees, club membership dues and bets placed on favourite teams and competitors.
Sports teams affect the economies of many communities. Most countries use public monies (taxes)
to subsidise teams and events. In fact, sport and commerce have fused together so that corporate
logos are linked with sports teams and competitors, and displayed prominently in arenas, stadiums
and other places where sports are played and watched. Some sports stars make impressive sums
of money from combinations of salaries, appearance fees and endorsements. Corporations paid
up to $4.8 million for a single minute of commercial time during the 2006 telecast of the US
Super Bowl. They have paid over $100 million to be international Olympic sponsors and have
their brands associated with the Olympic name and symbol for four years. Like Telstra Dome in
Melbourne and Westpac Trust Stadium in Wellington, many sports stadiums, arenas and teams
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22
SPORT IN SOCIETY
are now named after corporations. Sponsorships and commercial associations with sports are so
common that people now believe that, without Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Nike, Ford and other
transnational corporations, sport could not exist. Indeed, sport can be such a powerful carrier
of commercial messages that many governments have acted to ban the promotion of tobacco
products in sporting events, although the Melbourne Grand Prix was granted an exemption from
this ban for many years so that its organisers did not take it to another location. This indicates
that sports are cultural practices deeply connected with the material and economic conditions in
society. These issues are discussed in Chapters 10 and 11.
Sport and the media Television networks and pay TV stations pay billions of dollars for the
rights to televise major games and events. The consortium led by the Seven and Ten Networks
paid the Australian Football League $780 million ($693 million cash and $87 million in free
advertising) to re-capture the rights from a coalition of rival networks. In the USA, NBC (owned
by General Electric) paid the International Olympic Committee (IOC) $2.3 billion for the
rights to the Summer Games of 2004 and 2008 and the Winter Games of 2006. People in sports
organisations that depend on spectators are keenly aware that without the media their lives
would be different.The images and messages presented in media coverage of sport also emphasise
particular ideological themes, and they influence how people see and think about sport and social
life. The media have converted sport into a major form of entertainment witnessed by billions
of people. Sports stars can be global celebrities, and the corporations that sponsor sports inscribe
their logos in people’s minds as they promote lifestyles based on consumption. These issues are
discussed in Chapter 12.
Sport and politics People in many societies link sport to feelings of national pride and a sense
of national identity. For example, as a result of her success in the Sydney Olympics many people
promoted Aboriginal gold medallist Cathy Freeman as an example of positive race relations in
Australia. Many events involve expressions of unity and patriotism, combined with memorials to
commemorate those who died in environmental tragedies, terrorist attacks or wars. The annual
Anzac Test between the Kangaroo and Kiwi rugby league teams is one example. These events
allow people at the games and watching on television to experience widely shared feelings and
reaffirm their sense of shared experience and national identity.
Most people around the globe have no second thoughts about displaying national flags and
playing national anthems at sporting events, and some may quickly reject competitors and other
spectators who do not share their views on the flag and the anthem.
Political leaders at various levels of government promote themselves by associating with sports
as participants and spectators. National political leaders, including the Prime Ministers of Australia
and New Zealand, are often seen at sporting events and regularly make congratulatory phone
calls to competitors and teams in order to bask in the reflected glory of international sporting
success. State governments in Australia have appointed former sports stars to state governorships
using their name recognition and reputations from sport to bolster waning public support for the
vice-regal office.
International sports have become hotbeds of political controversy in recent years, and most
countries around the world have used sports actively to enhance their reputations in global political
relationships. Furthermore, sport involves political processes associated with issues such as who
controls sport and sporting events, the terms of eligibility and team selection, rules and rule changes,
rule enforcement and the allocation of rewards and punishments. Sports and sporting organisations
are political because they involve the exercise of power over people’s lives. For example, during
the 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand there were widespread public protests in New Zealand
which challenged the apartheid policies of South Africa. These issues are discussed in Chapter 13.
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CHAPTER 1 THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT
23
WHAT IS THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT
IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND?
Prior to 1980, very few people studied sport in society. Scholars were not concerned with
physical activities and thought that sport was unrelated to important issues in society. However,
a few sociologists and physical educators in Europe and North America began to think outside
the box of their disciplines. They decided that sport should be studied because it was becoming
an increasingly important activity in many societies. During the last two decades of the twentieth
century, the sociology of sport gradually came to be recognised as a legitimate subfield in sociology
and physical education/kinesiology/sport science.
Research and interest in the sociology of sport has increased significantly in recent years.
For example, Amazon.com has nearly 900 books listed in the ‘sociology of sport’ category. In
2000 only one-third of that number of books were listed. Recent growth has also been fuelled
by the formation of professional associations and academic journals devoted to the field. These
associations and journals enable scholars studying sport in society to meet with one another
and present and publish their ideas and research. The journals related to the field are listed in
Table 1.1. Sociology of sporting organisations include the following:
1. The International Sociology of Sport Association (ISSA). Formed in 1965, this organisation,
formed in 1965, meets annually and attracts international scholars. Since 1965 it has sponsored
publication of the International Review for the Sociology of Sport.
2. The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) established a Leisure, Tourism and Sport Study
section. The association sponsors The Journal of Sociology.
3. Sociological Association of Aotearoa New Zealand (SAANZ) The association sponsors the journal
New Zealand Sociology.
4. The North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS). This organisation, formed in
1978, has held annual conferences every year since 1980, which attract many delegates from
outside North America. It has sponsored publication of the Sociology of Sport Journal since
1984. Various other countries also have their own national associations for the study of the
sociology of sport.
Growth in the sociology of sport will continue to occur if scholars in the field conduct and
publish research that people find useful as they seek to understand social life and participate
effectively as citizens in their communities and societies.
Summary
WHY STUDY THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT?
Sociology is the study of social life, including all forms of social interaction and relationships.
Sociologists are concerned with social issues, social organisation and social change. Their goal is
to enable people to understand, control and change their lives so that human needs are met at
both individual and group levels.
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SPORT IN SOCIETY
Sociologists study sport as parts of culture and society. They look at sport in terms of its
importance in people’s lives and their connections to ideology and major spheres of social life.
Research in the sociology of sport helps us understand sport as a social construction created by
people for particular purposes. As a social construction, sport is related to historical, political and
economic factors.
Some scholars in the field define sport as activities involving: (1) the use of physical skill, prowess
or exertion; (2) institutionalised competition; and (3) the combination of intrinsic and extrinsic
reasons for participation. Using a single definition of sport is problematic if it leads us to ignore
or devalue the lives of people who do not have the resources and the desire to develop formally
organised and competitive physical activities. For this reason, many scholars now recommend
that, instead of using such a definition, we should ask what activities are identified as sports in
different groups and societies at different points in time. This approach forces us to recognise that
sports are contested activities. Further, it focuses our attention on the relationship between sport
and power and privilege in society, and leads more directly to concerns for transforming social life
so that more people have resources to control their lives and make them meaningful.
When sociologists study sport in society, they often discover problems based in the structure
and organisation of either sport or society. When this happens, the recommendations that
sociologists make may threaten those who want sport and sport programs to remain as they are
now. Therefore, sociology sometimes creates controversies. Continued growth of the sociology
of sport depends primarily on whether scholars in the field do research and produce knowledge
that makes meaningful contributions to people’s lives.
Links to relevant websites are available online.
For further exploration of this chapter topic go to www.mhhe.com/au/coakley
TABLE
1.1
PU BLICAT ION S OURCE S FO R S O C I O L O GY O F S P O RT R E S E AR C H
JOURNALS DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT ARTICLES
International Review for the Sociology of Sport (quarterly)
Journal of Sport and Social Issues (quarterly)
Sociology of Sport Journal (quarterly)
Sport in Society (quarterly)
SOCIOLOGY JOURNALS THAT SOMETIMES INCLUDE ARTICLES ON OR RELATED TO SPORT
American Sociological Review
British Journal of Sociology
International Sociology
Journal of Sociology
New Zealand Sociology
Sociological Review
Sociology
Sociology of Education
Theory, Culture, and Society
INTERDISCIPLINARY, SPORT SCIENCE AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION JOURNALS THAT SOMETIMES INCLUDE ARTICLES ON OR
RELATED TO SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT TOPICS
Avante
Canadian Journal of Applied Sport Sciences
Sport in Society (formerly Culture, Sport, Society)
European Physical Education Review
Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews
Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance
Journal of Sport Behavior
Journal of Sport Management
Coakely Chap 1.indd 24
Journal of Sport Sciences
Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy
Quest
Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport
Sport, Education, and Society
Sport Science Review
Women in Sport & Physical Activity Journal
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CHAPTER 1 THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT
25
JOURNALS IN RELATED FIELDS THAT SOMETIMES INCLUDE ARTICLES ON OR RELATED TO SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT TOPICS
Adolescence
Aethlon: The Journal of Sport Literature
The British Journal of Sport History
Canadian Journal of the History of Sport
European Sport Management Quarterly
The European Sports History Review
International Journal of the History of Sport
International Journal of Sport Psychology
Journal of Human Movement Studies
Journal of Leisure Research
Journal of the Philosophy of Sport
Journal of Popular Culture
Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology
Journal of Sport History
Journal of Sport Media
Journal of Sports and Economics
Leisure Sciences
Leisure Studies
Managing Leisure
Olympika: The International Journal of Olympic Studies
Soccer and Society
Society and Leisure
Sport in Society
Sport History Review
Sport Management Review
The Sport Psychologist
Sporting Traditions
Sport in History (formerly The Sports Historian)
Youth & Society
CHECKING YOUR UNDERSTANDING
1. Which mainstream sport in Australia or New Zealand is closest to becoming a dramatic
spectacle? Give reasons for your choice, and illustrate what would be necessary to prevent that
sport from becoming a dramatic spectacle.
2. Some sociologists study sport in society because sport is tied closely to ideologies in Australia,
New Zealand and other nations. Explain what is meant by ‘ideologies’ and then show how
sport is related to ideas about gender, race and social class in Australia or New Zealand.
FURTHER READING
Andrews, DL & Jackson, SJ (eds) 2001, Sports Stars: The Cultural Politics of Sporting Celebrity.
Routledge, London/New York. (Sixteen articles focusing on the cultural, political, economic
and technological factors that together influence sport celebrity around the world and how
celebrities influence the everyday private lives of people around the world.)
Coakley, J & Dunning, E (eds) 2000, Handbook of Sports Studies, Sage, London. (Forty-two chapters
on the ways sports are studied as social phenomena and on the sociology of sport in various
countries and regions around the world.)
Collins, C & Jackson, SJ (eds) 2007, Sport in Aotearoa/New Zealand Society, Thomson, Melbourne.
(Twenty-two chapters dealing with historical, theoretical and topical sports issues in Aotearoa/
New Zealand.)
McKay, J 1991, No Pain, No Gain: Sport in Australian Culture, Prentice-Hall, Sydney. (The first
critical analysis of the common assumptions surrounding Australian sport.)
REFERENCES
Bale, John & Christensen, Mette (eds) 2004, Post-Olympism: Questioning Sport in the Twenty-First Century, Berg.
Oxford/New York.
Blake, Andrew 1996, The Body Language:The Meaning of Modern Sport, Lawrence and Wisehart, London.
Brownell, Susan 1995, Training the Body for China: Sports in the Moral Order of the People’s Republic, University of
Chicago Press, Chicago.
Burstyn, Varda 1999, The Rites of Men: Manhood, Politics, and the Culture of Sport, University of Toronto Press,
Toronto, Ontario.
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SPORT IN SOCIETY
Butler, Judith 2004, Undoing Gender, Routledge, New York.
Cole, Cheryl L 2000, ‘Body studies in the sociology of sport’, in J Coakley & E Dunning, (eds), Handbook of Sport
Studies, Sage, London, pp. 439–60.
Fausto-Sterling, Anne 2000, Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality, Basic Books, New
York.
Hoberman, John M 1992, Mortal Engines: The Science of Performance and the Dehumanization of Sport, Free Press,
New York.
Joukowsky, Artemis AW III & Rothstein, Larry 2002, ‘New horizons in disability sport’, in Thomas Artemis
Laqueur (ed.), Making Sex, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Kihn, Alfie 1986, No Contest: the Case Against Competition, Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
Lupton, Deborah 2000, ‘The social construction of medicine and the body’, in G Albrecht, R Fitzpatrick &
S Scrimshaw (eds), The Handbook of Social Studies in Health and Medicine, Sage, London, pp. 50–63.
McKay, Jim 1991, No Pain, No Gain: Sport in Australian Culture, Prentice-Hall Australia, Sydney.
Newbery, Liz 2004, ‘Hegemonic gender identity and outward bound: resistance and re-inscription?’, Women in
Sport and Physical Activity Journal, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 36–49.
Preves, Sharon E 2005, Intersex and identity:The contested self. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Pronger, Brian 2002, Body Fascism: Salvation in the Technology of Physical Fitness, University of Toronto Press,
Toronto/Buffalo, New York.
Rail, Geneviève 1998, Sport and Postmodern Times, State University of New York Press, Albany.
Rinehart, Robert E & Syndor, Synthia (eds) 2003, To the Extreme: Alternative Sports Inside and Out, State University
of New York Press, Albany.
Schilling, Mary Lou 1997, Socialization, Retirement and Sports. Online essay and links: http://edweb6.educ.msu.
edu/kin866/Research/resschilling1.htm (retrieved 8 May 2008).
Smith, Ronald E 1986, ‘Toward a cognitive-affective model of athletic burnout’, Journal of Sport Psychology,
vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 36–50.
Stone, Gregory P 1973, ‘American sports: play and display’, in JT Talamini & CH Page (eds), Sport and Society: An
Anthology, Little & Brown, Boston.
Turner, Bryan S 1997, The Body and Society, Sage, London.
Wilson, John 1994, Playing By the Rules: Sport, Society and the State, Wayne State University Press, Detroit,
pp. 37–38.
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