Sociology and Sport A New Look at “Old” Problems: From Theory to Practice

Sociology and Sport Some of the First Books

Sport Sociology films ( Popular Media) 4 North Dallas Forty 4 The Program 4 Blind Side 4 Rudy 4 Brian’s Song 4 The Longest Yard 4 Jerry Maguire

The Study Of Sport and Sociology

Sport and Social Systems ( McPerson and Kenyon,1978) Chapters 4 Sport as a Social Phenomenon 4 Sociological Analysis of Sport 4 Sport Groups 4 Sport Organizations 4 Sport Subcultures 4 Sport and Socializing Institutions 4 Sport and Social Stratification

Nature of Sport- 4 Levels of Analysis ( John Loy) 4 Sport as a Game Occurrence 4 Sport as a Institutional Game 4 Sport as a Social Institution 4 Sport as a form of Social Involvement

Play Games Sport Athletics Number of Athletes Pro War

Play, Game, Sport, Athletics, Dance

Sport As A Game: Play 4 Free Involvement- Voluntary 4 Separated From “Non-Play” By Spatial and Temporal 4 Uncertain of outcome 4 Unproductive- No Material Gain comes from playful activity 4 Rules Govern the Procedures 4 Make- believe and Enjoyable

Play 4 Huizinga(1950): Homo Ludens: A Study of the play Element in Culture 4 Thesis: Human play antedates civilizations, that is- civilizations evolved out of the context of play

Games 4 Freedom- Less complete freedom than play 4 Limits- Games Tend to be confined within specific limits of space and time 4 Outcome- Winner and Loser 4 Investment- Degree of emotion or Ego Investment 4 Strategy and Chance

New Games Concept Play Hard, Play Fare, No Body Hurt!

Caillois: Classification of Games 4 Competition 4 Chance 4 Mimicry or pretense 4 Vertigo

Extreme Sports!

Sport and Dance: Cultural Expression

Sports 4 Structure- Sports imply a structure of teams and leagues 4 Authority- Coaches, A.A.U., High School Sports Associations 4 Written Rules- Agreement among players; However, rules may be altered 4 Investment- More investment of time, energy, money, and ego

The Dominion Post: July, “Poker is a true test of strategy” 4 “Many think a sport must be a physical activity- one that will make a man sweat buckets” 4 “Above all else, poker is not only a sport, but a beautiful sport…”

Athletics 4 High level of physical prowess 4 Authority 4 Officials 4 Written Rules 4 Investment- time, energy, money, and ego 4 Selection process- team players 4 Outcome- Winning “most” important

Sport as a Institutional Game 4 Organizational Sphere (teams, Sponsorship and Government) 4 Technological Sphere (material equipment, skills,knowledge necessary for competition) 4 Symbolic Sphere (secrecy, display and ritual) 4 Educational Sphere ( transmission of skills and knowledge to those who lack them)

Institutions: Three Institutional Spheres 4 Socializing: Family, kinship, school, clubs 4 Regulative: Economic, legal, military, political 4 Cultural: Art, mass media, religion, sport?

Sport as a Social Institution (Sport Order- Organizations) 4 Primary Level (face to face relations) 4 Technical Level (too large for face to face relations, yet members know of every other member) 4 Managerial Level (all members know of one or more administrative leaders) 4 Corporate Level (bureaucracy, central authority, protocol)

Sport as a Form of Social Involvement (social system) 4 Types of Involvement (player) 4 Degree of Involvement(frequency,duration,intensity) 4 Patters of Involvement (normal,cyclic,withdrawal) 4 Boundaries of Involvement (culture,history) 4 Social System: a set of persons with an identifying characteristic and established interactions (Caplow, 1964)

Types of Social Systems 4 Type 4 Social category 4 Group 4 Organization 4 Institution 4 Focus 4 Social identities: social characteristics( Sport identity) 4 Personalities: psy. Characteristics 4 Social structure: positions, roles, ranks 4 Culture: values, norms, sanctions

Objectives 4 Play, Game, Sport and Athletics 4 Classification of Games 4 Define Sport 4 Sport: Four Levels of Analysis 4 Types of Social Systems