Marxist Theory and Sport

This essay will be an attempt to bring together the ideas from our class readings about the Marxist sociological perspective as well as insight from other readings to further my understanding of Marxism and its applications to sport. I will lay the groundwork for the theory then proceed with how his theory is applied to accessibility issues in sport, distribution of power in sport and commercialization of sport.

Basics of Marxist Theory

The most widely used political and ideological system of thought is that of Karl Marx. Marxism is a set of ideas trying to provide an explanation for human society. Although a little over a hundred years old his theories and thoughts have led to coups, revolutions and new waves theories and academics. As well, it is this systemic theory that has led many academics to look at the way they teach, discuss, write and even look at the way the world acts and thinks, even within their own small worlds. Within the world of sport the ideological views have no real place however it is possible to equate the views of Marx to the idea of sport.

Marxism is known as the interpretation of the thoughts of Karl Marx (1813 - 1883), a German social theorist and political revolutionary. Karl Marx wanted to understand the politics, culture and economics of the newly emerging nations within Europe. He emphasized the leading role of the economy in society as a whole as well as in societal parts, known as superstructures. These superstructures are non-economic aspects of society, i.e. culture, religion, social life, education, religion, politics and social institutions. Marx identified society as consisting of two classes: The so-called Bourgeoisie and the so-called Proletariat. The Bourgeoisie is a capitalistic, wealthy and powerful minority consisting of aristocracy and upper class members meanwhile the Proletariat, also known as working-class, holds the majority of societal members who are poor, semi- or unskilled workers. The Bourgeoisie owns the entire means of production and wealth, therefore they are powerful and hegemonic. Their hegemony is maintained because only they have access to the financial and productive means. Their ideologies, i.e. their thoughts and beliefs, are hegemonic and influencing as they have the power to establish them in society (Rigauer, 2000).

In contrast, the Proletariat is alienated from and by the Bourgeoisie. Th...

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... of sport in our society still cannot be ignored. Thus, giving his theory partial credibility in my opinion. While I struggled to understand how this information could be used directly in the field of sport administration, in the end, I have learned that simply being aware of different sociological theories can help to understand why society behaves the way it does in the sport context. This application is very indirect; however, it will allow me to approach future situations with a deeper understanding of sports in society.

References

Rigauer, B. (2000). Marxist Theories. In J, Coakley and E. Dunning (Eds.), Handbook of Sport Studies (pp. 28-47). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Giddens, A. (2001) Sociology 4th ed. Cambridge. Polity Press.

Haralambos, M. and Holborn, M. (2000) Sociology Themes and Perspectives 5th ed. London. HarperCollins Publishers Limited.

Abercrombie, N. et al (2000) The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology 4th ed. London. Penguin Books.

Manthorp, N. (2003) Guardian Unlimited Network. Feature Article. Accessed Online. Available : http://sport.guardian.co.uk/cricket/story/0,10069,870038,00.html

Safai, P. (2005). Lecture Notes - APA 5304. January 18, 2005.