Transcript PPT chapter 01

SPORTS IN SOCIETY:
SOCIOLOGICAL ISSUES AND
CONTROVERSIES
CHAPTER 1
THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORTS:
What is It and Why Study It?
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Sports are Social Phenomena
• Sports are related to the social and cultural contexts in
which we live.
• Sports provide stories and images used to explain and
evaluate these contexts.
• Sports provide a window into culture and society.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Sociology is a Tool for
Studying Sports in Society
• Sociology provides useful:
– concepts
– theories
– research methods.
• These tools enable us to ‘see’ behaviour as it is
connected with history, politics, economics and
social life.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Culture
• Culture consists of the ‘shared ways of life’ people
create in a group or society.
• These ways of life are created and changed as people
interact with each other and as they come to terms
with, and even struggle over, how to:
– do things and organise their lives
– relate to each other
– make sense out of their experiences.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Sports and Culture
Sports, as parts of culture, have forms and
meanings that vary from place to place and
through history.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Society
A collection of people:
• living in a defined geographical territory
• united through
– a political system
– a shared sense of self-identification that distinguishes them
from other people.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Sports and Society
• Sports, as parts of society, are social constructions
that are given form and meaning by people as they
interact with each other.
• Sports can also be contested activities – meanings
and purposes, who plays and who sponsors and
provides opportunities.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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The Sociology of Sport
• A subdiscipline of sociology that studies sports as
part of social and cultural life.
• Focuses primarily on ‘organised, competitive sports’.
• Helps us ask critical questions about sports in
society.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Sociology vs. Psychology
• Psychologists study behaviour in terms of attributes
and processes that exist inside individuals.
• Sociologists study behaviour in terms of the social
conditions and cultural contexts in which people
live their lives.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Critical Thinking
about Sports
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Critical thinking about sports helps us:
identify and understand social problems and social
issues associated with sports
look beyond scores to see sports as social
phenomena
make informed choices about sports participation
and the place of sports in our lives
transform sports in progressive ways.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Sociology May Lead to
Controversial Recommendations
• Sociological research may produce findings that
suggest changes in the organisation of sports and the
organisation of social life.
• Those who benefit from the status quo may be
threatened by these research findings.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Why Study Sports
as Social Phenomena?
• Sports activities and images are part of people’s lives.
• Sports are connected with ideologies in society
– i.e., the ‘viewpoints’ that underlie people’s feelings, thoughts
and actions.
• Sports are connected with major spheres of social life
such as:
– family, economy, media, politics, education and religion.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Ideologies
The sets of interrelated ideas that people use:
• to give meaning to the world
• to make sense of the world
• to identify what is important, right and natural in that
world.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Characteristics of
Ideologies
• They are never established ‘once and for all time’.
• They emerge as people struggle over the meaning
and organisation of social life.
• They are complex and sometimes inconsistent.
• They change as power relationships change in
society.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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‘Dominant Ideology’
• Represents the perspectives and ideas favoured by
people who have power and influence in society.
• Serves the interests of people with power and
influence.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Gender Ideology
• A set of interrelated ideas about masculinity,
femininity, and relationships between men and
women.
• Dominant gender ideology consists of prevailing
notions of ‘common sense’ about maleness and
femaleness in a group or society.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Racial Ideology
• A set of interrelated ideas that people use to give
meaning to skin colour and to evaluate people in
terms of racial classifications.
• Dominant racial ideology consists of prevailing ideas
about the meanings of skin colour and the
characteristics of people classified in various racial
categories.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Why Study Sports
as Social Phenomena?
• Sports are connected with major spheres of social
life:
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–
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Family
Economy
Media
Politics
Education
Religion
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Major Professional Organisations
in the Sociology of Sports
• International Sociology of Sport Association (ISSA)
• North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS)
• Sociological Association of Aotearoa New Zealand (SAANZ)
• The Australian Sociological Association (TASA)
* The Sport Management Association of Australia and New
Zealand (SMAANZ) also has a dedicated interest in the sociology
of sports.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Disagreements in the
Sociology of Sport
• Scholars in the field see themselves as:
– sports sociologists concerned with sport science issues
– sociologists concerned with social and cultural issues.
• Scholars may see themselves as:
– professional experts (interested in consulting and the application of
knowledge to improve sports);
– critical sociologists (interested in social and cultural
transformation); or
– knowledge builders (interested in using research to accumulate
knowledge about social life).
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Sport is Defined by Some Scholars
as Activities that are:
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Physical
Competitive
Institutionalised
Motivated by a combination of internal and external
rewards.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Institutionalisation
Occurs when:
• rules become standardised
• official agencies enforce rules
• organisational and technical aspects of the activity
become important
• learning game skills becomes formalised.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Play vs. Dramatic Spectacle
• Play involves expressive activity done for its own
sake; it is often spontaneous and guided by
informal, emergent norms.
• Dramatic spectacle involves performances to
entertain an audience for the purpose of obtaining
rewards.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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An Alternative Approach
to Defining Sports
• Determine what activities are identified as sports in a
society.
• Determine whose sports count the most when it
comes to obtaining support and resources.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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Sports are
Contested Activities
This means that there are struggles over:
• the meaning, purpose and organisation of sports
• who will participate and the conditions under which
sport participation occurs
• how sports will be sponsored and what the reasons for
sponsorship will be.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
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