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The effects of social class on sports participation
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Sports in America have many different levels of competition, each with a particular purpose that correlates to their philosophical position. However, I believe that the overall philosophical trend of the sports construction in America is one of Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is an extension of the theory of natural selection made famous by Charles Darwin. The idea is that the fittest individuals are the ones that are be capable of leaving the most amount of offspring, in turn having an impact on the future direction of the particular species. This is where the mantra of “only the strongest survive” originates from. While it is true that at the younger competition levels this philosophical idea does not hold well to sports, however, consider the following analogy: A large pool of athletes in the younger age groups are like the starting population size of a species. However, as the age groups rise, like to high school, college, and maybe to professional leagues, the pool of athletes becomes vastly depleted. This is very similar to individuals in a species dying out to various causes, the idea is that only the strongest survive. Athletes competing at the professional level are so competitive that sometimes they will seek to circumvent the rules of the sport in order to survive and thrive. That is why the philosophical construct of sport in America is that of Social Darwinism. Professional athletes are at the top of the food chain and are under fierce competition and scrutiny from their fellow athletes, and the ever watchful eye of the media. The result is athletes tend to treat their sport more as a game of survival and compete ruthlessly in order to be the best instead of playing for a pure love of the game.
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Pfister, G. (2009). The role of german turners in american physical education. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 26(13), 1893-1925.
Sports for everyone. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.accadi.org.ar/english/obje_3.htm.
Whitner, R. (2013, Apr). Athletics for all. Retrieved from http://www.districtadministration.com/article/athletics-all
Winter, T. (2003). Muscular christianity: manhood and sports in protestant america, 1880-1920. Journal of Religion, 83(4), 636-637. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=8&sid=91caac71-9111-4c9b-ab8e-60b1c2ae3cf1@sessionmgr4004&hid=4112.
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In Introduction to the Philosophy of Sport, Heather L. Reid presents a discussion of how ethics is treated in the arena of Olympism and some of the struggles of defining and how or if the ethical guidelines should be enforced. Reid notes, “Some would say that ethical principles are always the product of a particular culture, so there can no more be universal ethical principles than there can be a universal culture” (Reid, 22). I disagree with the notion that there cannot be universal ethical principles for athletes to follow in sport because even across cultures there are general morals that shape the lives of people from all over the world. For example, murder and cheating are inherently immoral actions, no matter where someone comes from;
A Short Storybook. Sports in America, 1950-1959. New York: Chelsea House, 2010. 42-44. The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the ' Print.
Can cheating be an excuse for the phrase; survival of the fittest, or is it an epidemic moral corruption? Since the advent of modern competitive sport, winning has always been the bottom line. Honesty, honour and fair play have taken the backseat. The purpose of the essay May The Best Cheater Win, by Harry Bruce, is to inform how cheating has become widespread and accepted in America. Sports are an integral part of American culture and indeed an entire industry exists because of these competitive sports. The result of these competitive sports has led to the moral corruption of most athletes, as they would do anything to win. Harry Bruce discusses the distortion of right and wrong that has penetrated all levels of sports, from children's league to regional division. He confidently informs his reader that organized sports not only "offer benefits to youngsters" but "they also offer a massive program of moral corruption".
Coakley, J. J. (2007). Sports in society: issues & controversies (9th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
In the United States today the age for a kid to start playing competitive sports continues to get lower and lower. Parents in America have started to get their children involved in sports at a much earlier age than they used to, hoping that their child will be the next superstar. Parents are placing too much emphasis on winning and being the best, instead of teaching their children how to have fun. Parents in the U.S. are also placing too much pressure on their kids to be the best. Parents in America are becoming much too involved in youth sports and are starting to get out of control, sometimes even resorting to violence and vulgarity.
“…America’s entry into the Second World War and the desire this bred on the part of some English teachers in the Jewish parochial schools to show the gentile world that yeshiva students were as physically fit, despite there long hours of study, as any other American student. They went about probing this by organizing the Jewish parochial schools in and around our area into competitive leagues, and once every two weeks the schools would compete against one another in a variety of sports.”
You see sports everywhere, on your TV and even your local park. The value of sports in the average American is astronomical, sports is a major priority in people’s life. Sports teaches young kids how to be successful (and not successful) at life. There is so much that goes into sports that people who never have played will never understand. With each sport there is specific skill that one must master to be good, and with that takes hours and hours of hard work. You can talk about a certain individual’s skill and capabilities that make him great, but the real value of sports lies within a person. Sports creates determination and a competiveness that can be used in other areas of life, not just sports. There are millions of kids who attempt to become professional athletes but as the level of competition increases the number of athletes decreases, very few of them ever becoming a professional athlete but they are able to take what they have learned from sports into different professions in life. When a kid spends hours in the backyard perfecting his swing it can translate to the kid spending hours of hard work in his job. Companies and business like to hire ex-athletes because they already know what kind of person they are, hardworking and
“Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser,” Vince Lombardi once said. This saying could be the unsung anthem of American sports for children and teenagers. Everyone loves to win. In sports there is always competition. Is there too much emphasis on “the win” for kids and teens? This issue is important because it essentially develops the way children and teenagers think and react; it will affect them later on in life. Too much emphasis on winning is a problem because there is extensive pressure from parents and coaches, and the consequences can be severe.
Drawing explicitly on YOUR field work you are to produce a paper that captures critical episodes relating to learning and teaching you observed when conducting your research. This should allow for an insightful and critical illustration of pedagogical engagement which reviews applied pedagogy through clearly aligning theory and practice.
In conclusion, the sports world society is basically structured like every other civilized nation throughout the world. In means of income, gender, race and the sports fan wanting more then they can get any where else.
Sports have been around for thousands of years. The history of sports in United States began back in the 1840s. United States is a very unique country when we look at its sports, just like every country has a different structure of sports so does US. This paper will be taking about the Sports Organizations and Governance, the sports industry, sports organizations, and Structure of sports in the United States. It will also cover the Sport in the United States vs. Other Western Democracies by taking a look at the State Political, historical context, team objectives, and sports organizations. It will also cover the uniqueness of American sport as well as cover the mass participation and give recommendations on how to increase participation and success.
The complexity of this issue is almost insurmountable. Its array covers the simplistic to that of possible genetic coding of the different ethnic groups involved. John Kenneth Galbraith, a sociological expert said “We associate truth with convenience.” It may be as simple, and I believe it is, as people do what they feel like putting their time and energy into. People pursue what interests them. Does everything have to come back to black and white? Brown’s study states that Black and White athletes have a positive association with the sports that they play and do not perceive racial or ethnic discrimination is any longer a problem. However, Simiyu, states that his research reflects the Black community, the families are actually pushing their kids to strive for a career in professional sports even at the neglect or even the detriment of their educational, personal and cultural development. While white families would rather their children pursue an education and concentrate on a career. Research carried out by Smith College its subsequent finding indicates some people, whites and blacks; both may still believe the findings of a number of controversial studies performed in 1971 that indicated blacks are superior to whites in athletic ability because they are predisposed by their inherited biological make up. Whether its because of “the great hardships involved in slavery” (Smith College) that caused blacks to become inherently better athletes than whites or the fact that some individuals achieve empowerment from pursuing the sport they take pleasure in playing and perfecting their skills in. The fact is the relationship between blacks and whites and sports is a foundation of many conflicting ideas and never ending debates that never ...
The way society views sports can have a huge impact on the sport, and also the participation. If you take Basketball for instance which is over 80% black, people will always view it as a “black” sport because that's what they all see in the media. The way the media shows the sport urges people to think that it’s a “black” sport and that won't change until they present it in more of a open minded view. If you were to look at hockey or lacrosse which are both over 90% white, they are often referred to as a “white” sport. If people changed the way they think about certain sports then it would give kids of the close minded parents a chance to play a sport that they are less likely to play.
Without either rationalization or specialization, sports we see today may look a little different or require athletes to be able to do a broader range of abilities, but as far as shaping what modern sports and the modern athlete look and behave like, the drive to push the limits of human capabilities and break records is what played the largest part in the modernization of sports. Rationalization would have developed to a certain capacity with the rise of equal sporting environments like stadiums or arena’s which controlled who was able to see the event. Specialization allowed athletes who excelled in certain areas to be a valuable commodity and have a place in modern sports. However, the athletes that excelled in all aspects of their sport were typically the ones who achieved the greatest recognition and became the sports heroes that America grew to idolize. Modern sports are about this recognition and fame.
Sports may have impacted our culture much more then we thought it would, and keeps impacting. Sports have affected some of the most important aspects of life, such as jobs and money. It has also affected things as little as who we look up to and how we dress. Culture means “the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively.” The definition of sports is “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” So when we put two and two together we get a a nation or world that has changed due to sports. Back in the mid and late 1900’s sports were used to see whose way of life was better. As time went on and keeps going on, we