Sociology of Sport

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Sociology of Sport

• Nature of the Discipline

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C. Wright Mills and the Sociological Imagination
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What is the Sociological Imagination?

• A form of consciousness or frame of mind that
  looks beyond the here and now of social
  interaction.
• In addition to looking at the current and
  immediate aspects of human interaction and social
  organization, the sociological imagination also
  looks at the historical and broader social
  aspects.

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Using the Sociological Imagination
Personal Troubles (Immediate Aspects)
I know an anorexic athlete.
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Using the Sociological Imagination

• Exploring an Object from Everyday Life

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Step 1
Description--Immediate Aspects

• What is the object under consideration?
• What would you call it?
• How would you describe it in detail?

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Step 2
Current and Local Analysis

• How is it used?
• When and where is it used?
• How is it bought and sold? Be specific as
  possible.
• Who benefits from it?
• Why does it appear the way it does?
• How does it directly relate to your life and/or
  to the lives of others you know?

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Step 3
Broader Social (Global) Analysis

• Does the object exist in other countries? If so,
  in what form?
• How is it used in other countries? How is this
  use different than its use in Canada?
• Is it altered in any way when it is used
  elsewhere?
• Where and how is it made?
• What would life be like without this object?
• Does it affect life on the planet in any
  significant way?

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Step 4
Historical Analysis

• When did the object come into existence? Why did
  it appear at this time?
• How has the object changed over time?
• How has the use of this object changed over time?
• What other aspects of social life have changed as
  a result of this object?
• How has your own use of this object changed over
  time?
• What will this object be like 10 years from now?
  Will it still exist later on in the future?

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Summing up the Sociological Imagination I
The sociological imagination allows us to
understand

• where individuals are located in society and
  history
• how their circumstances are like or unlike those
  of similar others in their society or historical
  period
• how human experiences are structured and made
  meaningful by the larger social forces of their
  society

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Summing up the Sociological Imagination II

• The sociological imagination allows us to develop
  better understandings of society which in turn
  encourages people to make social changes that are
  universally beneficial and that allow people
  greater freedoms.
• The more we know about why we act as we do and
  the overall workings of society, the more likely
  we are to be able to influence our own futures.
  (Giddens http//www.lse.ac.uk/Giddens/FAQs.htmSt
  ructQ2)

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For Next Class

• Read the article by Chambliss posted on ACME
• Come prepared to discuss this article and the
  following question
• What taken-for-granted assumption about
  excellence in swimming does Chamblisss research
  challenge?
• Read Coakley and Donnelly, Chapter 2, and
  complete the discussion questions posted on ACME
  submit them to turnitin.com before 800 a.m.
  Tuesday

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Focus of Sociology of Sport

• Sport sociologists look at the reality outside
  individuals involved with sport (athletes,
  participants, spectators, etc.) that is, they
  look at the societies and cultures in which
  sports are created and transformed
• Sport sociologists often think about how sports
  have been and might be transformed

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Key Terms in Sociology of Sport

• Society
• a collection of people living in a defined
  geographical area united through a political
  system and a shared sense of self-identification
  (Coakley and Donnelly, 2001, p. 3)
• Culture
• ways of life people create in a particular
  society (Coakley and Donnelly, 2001, p. 3)
• symbolic forms and the everyday practices through
  which people express and experience meaning
  (Hall, Slack and Whitson, 1991)

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Discussion Question

• Are sport and physical activity cultural
  activities? Explain your answer.

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Arguments Against Viewing Sport and Physical
Activity as Culture

• culture is found in the high artsactivities that
  move us beyond our basic natural instincts and
  toward refinement
• culture is the context in which intellectual
  growth is fostered and refers to specific skills
  and activities that are considered as being best

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Arguments in Favour of Viewing Sport and Physical
Activity as Culture

• The definition of culture as high culture is
  ethnocentricit is characterized by a belief that
  ones own group is more culturally important than
  another's group
• sports and physical activity can be viewed as
  cultural practices because
• they are human creations
• they have different forms and meanings at
  different times which make them social
  constructions

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Discussion Question

• Much recent research in the sociology of sport
  focuses on the body in social and cultural terms
  rather than biological terms. This research is
  based on the notion that the body is socially
  constructed and given meaning within the context
  of culture.
• Explain what this means and state some of the
  issues that sociologists might study as they
  focus on the body as a social phenomenon.

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Discussion Question

• In Ch. 1 it was explained that sports are
  "contested activities" and that people sometimes
  debate and struggle about "Who will participate
  in sports and under what conditions will their
  participation occur?" Identify two issues over
  which people have debated and struggled when it
  comes to the meaning and organization of sports.

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For Next Class

• Read the article on reserve by Chambliss
• Come prepared to discuss the Chambliss article
  and the following question
• What taken-for-granted assumption about
  excellence in swimming does Chamblisss research
  challenge?
• Read Coakley and Donnelly, Chapter 2 and complete
  the discussion questions posted on ACME.