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PED 217 - Social Aspects of SportChapter 2A Brief History
The Jamestown Colony: the first permanent settlement in America. This colony placed strong restrictions on play, game, and sport for two reasons:
The Puritans of England disliked sports for several reasons, mostly because it misdirected the spiritual relationship between humankind and god and they resented the amusements that the wealthy enjoyed.
In the 1700’s sports such as running and swimming were suspected of being health hazards.
Benjamin Franklin was an early advocate of physical fitness, but insisted that leisure be used constructively. He compared life to a game.
In 1732 the first social club, the Schuylkill Fishing Company, was organized in Philadelphia, but it and the other clubs that were started were for the snobs (article: Masters Golf tournament). The commoners went to boxing matches, bullfights, and cockfights.
Collegiate sports were just beginning, but were actually banned at Princeton for being too rough. There was no recreation on Sunday because of the Blue Laws: given this name because they were printed on blue paper.
From 1800-1850: boxing clubs offered instruction in the art of self defense. Foot racing, handball, paddleball, and bowling became popular.
Sport participation and spectatorship correlated with social class. Prosperous men occupied the front stage of sport participation, and wealthy individuals sponsored sporting events like rowing and sailing, as well as horse racing and betting (camptown races: the first song based on a sporting theme).
1850-1918
The development of modern sport accelerated between the Civil War and World War I. Sport became a safety valve for people deprived of the freedom of frontier life.
Baseball became popular in the 1860’s, and the Cincinnati Red Stockings were paying their players between 500-1400 dollars. The National League was formed in 1876, and sport was becoming a business run by owners. Other people tried to form leagues, but the only one that made it was the American League, formed in 1900. The first World Series was played in 1903 (PBS video).
The post civil war years witnessed growing concern over amateur and professional issues. The AAU was formed in 1868. Intercollegiate sports were taking off right during this time period, with football becoming very big around the turn of the century with all social classes participating. However people were very concerned about the violence and the abuses of the game, as well as ringers (great players being brought in who did not even attend the school).
In the public schools, New York started competition between schools in 1903 in a number of sports. Women were beginning to get involved in organized sports, and newspapers began to cover games such as polo, lacrosse, volleyball, squash, and basketball (first college game was in 1897).
The first superstars of sport at this time were John L. Sullivan, and Jack Johnson, both boxers (boxing video), Eleanora Sears, and Jim Thorpe, who was hailed as the greatest athlete in the world
1919-1930: known as the Golden Age of sport for 3 reasons:
Page 39 lists a number of “Golden Age” sport personalities. You will do a paper on one of the names listed.
We will examine in later chapters how sport increased as an importance in society from the Golden Age on.
How did sport become so important?
Conflict Theory: Those who control the wealth of the society control the society. The ruling class found sport profitable, and the masses can be convinced into liking it, and sport will take the commoners off their concern about trying to get by. This is called cultural hegemony.
Functionalist Theory: sport satisfies a need or urge for physical recreation. It also fills human and social needs.
Technology and Sport
The first symptoms of the impact of invention were found in the steamboat, and the railroad, which opened up opportunities for hunters, anglers, and sport teams. The telegraph and the penny press helped sport journalism, and the sewing machine revolutionized the manufacturing of sporting goods.
Three processes have been important in the development of American sport:
1. Industrialization: a stage of social and technological development where mass production of goods in factories that employ power driven machinery and a specialized division of labor.
Albert Spalding was manufacturing athletic goods in 1876, and by the turn of the century became nationally known as one of the leaders in sports equipment production.
2. Transportation: during the colonial era it had to be on foot, horse, or water.
3. Communication
Other important inventions:
Urbanization: the migration of people from rural to urban areas.
At the time of the American Revolution (1775-1783) only 5% of the U.S. lived in urban areas. By 1860 there was rapid growth in these areas, and there was a need for recreational outlets. Urbanization brought the need for commercialized spectator sports. By 1890, 35% of all people lived in urban areas, and they encouraged sports through better transportation facilities, a growing leisure class, the ease at which teams and leagues could be organized. Professional teams tend to organize in large metropolitan areas because of their market (Green Bay?).
Even today, the size of a market area is one of the most crucial factors determining the location and success of professional sport franchises (What do you think would have happened if Michael Jordan would have been allowed to buy the Bucks?). |
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