PED 217 - Social Aspects of Sport

Chapter 1

Introduction

Sports are the most dominant influence in American popular culture. No other element of our society receives the media attention and individual participation as sport.

Those who support sport as a valuable institution argue that its programs improve physical and emotional health, and build character. Critics however, rip on sports as being a kind of drug that distracts people from the more serious issues in life.

Infatuation with sport is showing signs of crumbling-greed, violence, mayhem, and injury are becoming more prevalent. Concern over sport is not new; it was largely criticized as far back as A.D. 200.

Sport is a part of virtually every social institution in society, and is clearly the most popular leisure activity in America today. In 1995 major league baseball drew over 71 million fans. Over 64 million people do exercise walking for some sport activity.

The economic impact of sport

Sport is big business, athletes salaries are very high, advertising costs for the super bowl are 2.5 million dollars per minute, university teams are awarded millions to participate in bowl games, sport betting is in the billions of dollars (ESPN video), with the Super Bowl being the single event with the largest number of bettors and most dollars wagered.

Sport and Politics

Political figures such as Teddy Roosevelt (who was a force in the major changes in college football), John F. Kennedy (used Sports Illustrated to let us know how soft and out of shape we were getting), General Douglas McArthur was brought into a dispute between the AAU and the NCAA, and even the Supreme Court has made decisions about situations brought on by sport, and it’s used as a political tool in the Olympic Games.

Sport and Culture-life expressions from sport: teamwork, game plan, cheap shot, foul play, out of bounds, score, pinch hit.

Military leaders use sport terms to describe how things are going (kicking some butt)

Sport and the Media: On network TV, sports occupy about 15% of all telecasts. The media has influenced changes in:

1. Baseball-the introduction of night games.
2. Football-Thursday, Sunday, and Monday night games.
3. Public television: gave Ken Burns 1 million dollars to make the history of baseball
4. Books: with sport themes are commonly on the market
5. Movies: sport films are commonly in theatres.

What is sport?

It is not a specifically defined concept. At times it’s referred to as games. However checkers is not a sport and boxing is not a game. Ballet and modern dance require high levels of skill, but they are categorized as art. Professional wrestling is clearly a form of entertainment but it also requires physical tools (ESPN video)

Play: There are 5 characteristics.

1. Play is free: individuals choose to participate.
2. Unlike sport, play is not limited to gyms, playgrounds, and stadiums.
3. Play is uncertain: the outcome can’t be predetermined.
4. Play is simply for play, and not for prizes or awards.
5. Play may contain a make believe component (the girl pretends she is Brett Farve in a yard football game).

Game: structured on the basis for rules by which players must abide, and is characterized by winning. One participates for a number of reasons (recognition, status, or prestige).

In defining sport there are 3 variables:

1. Type of activity involved.
2. The structure of the contest: it has rules.
3. The participant’s orientation: Why are they doing it?
   1. Intrinsic concerns: they are doing it for no reward, just for the love of the game and are considered amateurs
   2. Extrinsic rewards: they are doing it for money or materials and are considered professionals for the most part.

Many other course subjects: history, psychology, sociology, economics, and physical education contribute to our knowledge about sport. Many of them center on different aspects of the culture of sport.

Consider a college football game.

Sociology: the study of human social life. Its subject matter ranges from the intimate family to the hostile mob, from crime to religion, from the divisions of race and social class to the shared beliefs of a common culture.

Social behavior should not be viewed as good or bad, better or worse, right or wrong, but merely as different.

Social structures refer to organizations of behavior within a web of social relationships. It could be a player and a coach or as big as a football team.

A very dynamic component of sport in society is social process: these are patterns that keep occuring characterizing individuals and groups. Some social processes include commercialism, and mass communication, and help to explain the development, maintainance and change within sport.

The sociology of sport represents describing, explaining, and analyzing sport as an element of the social order. Sport can be examined, dissected, and understood from a variety of viewpoints.

Sport is a social phenomenon:

1. Sporting events take place in social contexts involving opposing teams or players.
2. Sporting events are socially defined: their goals, objectives and means.
3. Different sports tend to develop unique subcultures, norms, values, and language (40-love).
4. Sport displays a pattern of social organization among participants, officiating agents and fans (If a pitcher beans a batter, the other pitcher has to hit someone, umpires will automatically throw out someone who argues a called third strike, fans in Cleveland bark and throw dog biscuits at their opponents).

Structural functionalism-a focus on social structures such as families, clubs, groups, and organizations, and their contributions, positive and negative, to the larger society (bleacher fans at Wrigley Field in Chicago treat the game as if it were a frat party, and the rest of baseball people believe that the Cubs don’t care about winning because of it).

The institution of sport is linked with other social institutions:

1. Family: sport socializes children and provides a source of family recreation, while the family provides players, encouragement, and money through transportation, fees, and equipment.
2. Education: Sport is a source of school spirit, an outlet for adolescent energy, and keeps kids out of trouble. In return, education legitimates sports through trophies, rallies, and assemblies.
3. Economy: Sport provides spin off dollars for bars, hotels, restaurants: profits for TV, radio, and newspapers: profits for sporting good manufacturers. In return: corporations support sport by buying tickets
4. Polity: Sport reinforces patriotism and civil religion at sporting events (9-11), and political values. In return sport is protected by favorable tax laws, government subsidies to stadiums (Miller Park), and antitrust exemptions (find out what that is).
5. Religion: Sport reinforces traditional morality through the athletic creed, and there are organizations of Christian athletes. In return, churches sponsor athletic leagues.

Conflict theory: What is functional for one group is not functional for another (artificial turf is great for owners, but athletes are losing careers over the dangerous turf). It is an example of a class struggle between workers and owners, the haves and the have nots, the powerful and the powerless.

What other examples in sport can we mention relating to the conflict theory?

Conflict theorists view sport as a social institution where those occupying positions of power (owners) dominate the workers (athletes and fans). Many see sport as a diversion and temporary fix from the harsh realities of everyday living. We need to identify with respected and winning organizations.

Also, conflict theorists see professional athletes as economic commodities (Michael Jordan returning to play basketball in Washington elevated the price of tickets, sold out the arena, and kicked up merchandise from Washington with his name on it.).

Conflict theorists define college football as a ploy to divert the attention, time, and energy of youth from more meaningful activities-education. They tend to be very critical of established practices.

On the other side, the functionalist theory is that college football is a socially valuable activity which has positive consequences for the participants, community, and the larger society. It is something in which the young adults are socialized into the traditional male role, emphasizing strength, toughness, and endurance. It reinforces the ethic of hard work and effort, and gives the lower class a chance to enhance their status in life.