In the reading of “Sports Sociology's Still Untapped Potential,” a piece by Rick Eckstein, Dana M. Moss, and Kevin J. Delaney we find the information that provides clarity on why sports are such an important piece to the fabric of the world. In the article the authors use factual information, real world examples, and historical context gathered from other sources to prove that we are just beginning to understand how powerful the world of sports is in the human life. Their research they gathered is a real insight to why sports have become so powerful, how sports in society are a piece to many cultures well-being, and how it can also be a scary thought in relationship to the impact it has on social life. They review the aspects that not much …show more content…
As pointed out in “Sport’s Sociology’s Still Untapped Potential” these touches have a short term and long term effects. Gender in sports for example is very interesting to me because women’s sports in recent years has caught up to the man’s games in both quality and numbers. This is particularly due to the women’s movements of the 1900’s and of the social equality of the world, which now provides women more opportunities in everything from business to politics. For example, there is a chance the United States might have its first women president, and if it was included in this study, then the political element of change will indirectly have an impact on women in athletics because it's once again proving if given the chance the abilities are the same man or women. Sports can use this like it has used other examples to show equality in all aspects of its fabric. Things like more women’s professional or national team, more college teams and …show more content…
In other words, it’s my feeling that lots of research around financial aspects of sports in the society is done on a local level. Another example is in this region of the world is just this last year a new arena was built in Sacramento, California for the National Basketball Association (NBA) team, the Sacramento Kings. In order to facility this area, or any new arena’s for that matter it takes a lot. With this type of investment a lot of research of financial and social impact goes into the study. It’s also a huge impact on local and regional government as they have to get approvals from City, County, and State planning. Including many times voting on the initiatives and getting taxpayers money to help start the process. This of course would create a pile of data that is excisable and can be retrieved for research. There also has been many studies on the safety of sports lately, The National Football League (NFL) is under major pressure to protect its players and make the game safe for all players at every level. It’s this safety protocol that has led to many research and study efforts to provide good data points for observations. These safety studies include many pieces of social elements that can once again be reflected on to provide information than just for the study
The presence of activity and sport is found within cultures and societies all over the world, and throughout history. Activity in the form of sport can often be the purest form of expression for a society or individual. The sporting world is often thought to be a microcosm of the actual world with the problems and issues of society still being ever present in the sporting community. Since sport can be used as an expression of self, it is no wonder that sport is often a reflection of the society that it occupies. One such society that was deeply impacted by the role of sport is that of Native American boarding school students in the 1800’s and 1900’s. These students lived tough lives but just like how it had helped other cultural societies, sport was able to provide these students with basic needs of autonomy and pride.
Social justice in sports is key to having relationships in sport as well as in a career. To understand this, people need understand the definition of social justice. Social justice is defined by John Rawls as basic liberties that should be given to all people. When this is fully understood, people should examine the idea of giving benefits to the weakest people in the community (Robinson, 2015, p. 1). When one applies the definition of social justice to sports, it brings out the many flaws that the sports demonstrate. The significance of social justice in sports brings attention to issues of gender, race, age and ability, and social class, and how they should be rather than how they are currently seen.
Sports are a popular pastime among all ages and types of people. People not only participate in them for fun, but also for money, physical fitness, rush of competition, and for many other personal reasons. Playing sports is especially common among young people in schools. Athletics are great and enjoyable for many reasons, but there can be a point where sports participation can go too far and become negative for children and adults. Sports specialization for young people is an increasing trend that results in sports having a negative impact on individuals and society.
Jessica Statsky, in her essay, “Children need to Play, Not Compete” attempts to refute the common belief that organized sports are good for children. She sees organized sports not as healthy pass-times for children, but as onerous tasks that children do not truly enjoy. She also notes that not only are organized sports not enjoyable for children, they may cause irreparable harm to the children, both emotionally and physically. In her thesis statement, Statsky states, “When overzealous parents and coaches impose adult standards on children's sports, the result can be activities that are neither satisfying nor beneficial to children” (627). While this statement is strong, her defense of it is weak.
Coakley, J. J. (2007). Sports in society: issues & controversies (9th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Jarvie, G. (2012). Sport, Social Division and Social Inequality. Sport Science Review. 20 (1-2), 95–109.
Abstract: Society is affected every day by many different kinds of sports. These sports often govern society's way of life. People all over the nation turn their TVs to sporting events, such as golf, during the weekends. Scott Stossel states that "more than six million Americans enjoy watching golf on the weekends." Parents use sports as a teaching tool for their children. Kids learn teamwork and discipline from team sports programs and sports have also helped many students with their grades. Kids who want to compete in school sports are taught to keep their grades up or they won't be able to play, but the greedy coaches and schools often look around grades to keep their "star athletes" in the games. Adults have been affected by sports in their bank accounts. Tax increases for funding a new stadium, golf course and even school programs have hurt the middle class Americans. Sports have taken control of small communities and soon will take control of society
This essay's purpose is to analyze to what extent does sporting subcultures offer an alternative. We should start by identifying the nature of every, to differentiate these physical cultures. Mainstream game in society has widely come to be a vehicle for manifestation and the development of neoliberalism, forming a relationship that is dialectic, in the most capitalistic country in the entire world. Meaning, sports such as professional basketball, baseball, football, and baseball, are with there being many restrictions on player's activities and their freedom of expression being highly bureaucratized. Together with the highly rule-based structure of mainstream game restricting participant's freedom, there's been an increased inclination for risk and excitement to distinguish the individual from adapting to social norms such as race, gender, and class based
The general public habitually admires individuals with capabilities that average people cannot accomplish. Caused by veneration, sports exhibit individual’s participation in organized competition with anticipating prominence. In addition, this perception manifest throughout high school campuses. According to Dawn Comstock, author of “Epidemiology of Injury in High School Sports” the “popularity of high school sports has increased over each of the past 25 years with almost7.8 million student-athletes participating during the 2013/2014 academic year”. Conversely, unexperienced athletes join high school sports with expectations of obtaining popularity.
Sports are an important aspect of society. They help people to strive to reach certain goals and join people together, but they also can divide people and turn a fun game into the main purpose of someone’s life. Taking sports games too seriously can be harmful to both the athlete and the spectator. The attitude of always winning at any cost in sports has managed to distract us from other important parts of our lives, such as health and education. This importance of the value of sports can heavily influence the way that we see ourselves as both the spectator and the athlete by creating a positive self image and distilling confidence and discipline within the player, or by embedding self doubt and inversion.
Sports throughout history have shown close ties and relations to values and cultures of a society. Sports and competition have adapted and grown as the world and people have grown and developed. Sports are often seen as simple consequence of the industrial revolution. The Impact of increased urbanization, better communication and transportation, as well as more time and income for specialization, all led to the creation of sports. (szymanski). In essence As the public sphere grew so did the concept of sport. (Szymanski). Even the impact colonization had on spreading sports, shows the congruence between the development of society and development of modern sports. What make sports very unique is that they always bring about a sense of culture
Adopting an anthropological questions, researchers frame fundamental questions around a wide range of theoretical models (Coakley and Dunning 2004:150). Researchers in the anthropology of sport tend to employ a distinctive framework within which to address among other things, specialised problems like gender and sport, sport and ritual, and violence in human society (Blanchard 1995:23). The anthropology of sport is primarily a behavioral science closely related to cultural anthropology (Blanchard 1995:23) and tied to the knowledge that sport is an institution and a component of culture (Coakley and Dunning 2000:151). Cultural anthropologists believe that play, sports, and physical activity are universal features of cultures, past and present. Following this rationale, the study of sport should enable researchers to access the quality and nature of social problems of particular cultures (Blanchard 1995; Chandler et al
The economic impact of media sports illustrates the central importance of our culture. For example: Statistics show that Americans spend more than $60 billion annually on sports (it is between 1% and 2% of Gross National Product). Being a star in media sports in America means receiving a temporary income of 6 or 7 figures. Personal Identification and Heroes Sports fans often identify themselves with teams, players, and regions so that outcome takes on personal significance to them.... ...
Sports, a very popular past time today, have been around since ancient times. Greek Olympic Games featured events from chariot races, javelin throws, to wrestling. In addition, a game similar to soccer was played in China by the second century BC. In England, a violent rugby type game was even played to settle feuds between villages. With the development of the industrial revolution and the creation of the first public schools, sports decreased in violence and were played more recreationally and constructively. Basketball was invented to help the youth in New England spend their energy in the winter months. Since the early 1900’s sports have been a key experience in the United States (“History of Sports”). I have played sports for many years, and the experience has helped me grow significantly as an individual.
Over the last few decades there can be seen a major shift in female participation within sports and physical activity. Many have the mentality that due to making immense headway recently, means that females can cease to worry about their ability to participate, however I do not agree with this. Despite a noticeable shift in female participation over the last few decades, women continue to face adversity through trying to prove the legitimacy of female athletes and sports, a lack of shift in gender ideology, and being seen as equals to males within the world or sports and physical activity in general.