Sociology of sport

Sociology of sport, alternately referred to as sports sociology, is a sub-discipline of sociology which focuses on sports as social phenomena. It is an area of study concerned with various socio-cultural structures, patterns, and organizations or groups involved with sport.

There are many perspectives through which sport can be viewed. Therefore, very often some binary divisions are stressed, such as: professional vs. amateur, mass vs. top-level, active vs. passive/spectator, men vs. women, sports vs. play (as an antithesis to organized and institutionalized activity). Following feminist or other reflexive and tradition-breaking paradigms sports are sometimes studied as contested activities, i.e. as activities in the centre of various people/groups interests (connection of sports and gender, mass media, or state-politics).

The emergence of the sociology of sport (though not the name itself) dates from the end of the 19th century, when first social psychological experiments dealing with group effects of competition and pace-making took place. Besides cultural anthropology and its interest in games in the human culture, one of the first efforts to think about sports in a more general way was Johan Huizinga's Homo Ludens or Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class. In 1970, sports sociology gained significant attention as an organized, legitimate field of study. The North American Society for the Sociology of Sport was formed in 1978 with the objective of studying the field. Its research outlet, the Sociology of Sport Journal, was formed in 1984.

Today, most sports sociologists identify with at least one of four essential theories that define the relationship between sports and society, namely structural functionalism, conflict theory, critical theory, and symbolic interactionism.

Alternative viewpoints

Jean-Marie Brohm in "Sport: A Prison of Measured Time" presents a Marxist critique of organized sport as an instrument of indoctrination and subordination.

See also

• History of sport
• Women's sport
• Anti-jock Movement
• Physical Cultural Studies
• Harry Edwards

Further reading

• Bourdieu, Pierre (1993). How can one be a sports fan?. London: Routledge In The Cultural Studies Reader, During, S. (ed.). pp. 339–355. ISBN 0-415-07708-7. OCLC 28818343.

• Cashmore, Ernest (2000). Sports Culture: An A-Z Guide. London, UK; New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-18169-0. OCLC 41548336.
• Coakley, Jay J. (2004). Sport in Society: Issues and Controversies (8th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-255657-9. OCLC 51631598.
• Collins, Michael F. and Tess Kay (2003). Sport and Social Exclusion. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-25959-2. OCLC 51527713. - Examines how social factors that exclude participation in sports, including poverty, age, ethnicity, gender, etc.
• Danielson, Michael N. (1997). Home Team: Professional Sports and the American Metropolis. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-03650-0. OCLC 35397761.
• Dunning, Eric and Dominic Malcolm (editors) (2003). Sport: Critical Concepts in Sociology. London, UK; New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-26292-5. OCLC 51222256. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
• Dyck, Noel (2000). Games, Sports and Cultures. Oxford: Berg. ISBN 1-85973-312-3. OCLC 44485325.
• Dunleavy, Aidan O.; Andrew W. Miracle; C. Roger Rees (1982). Studies in the Sociology of Sport. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press. ISBN 0-912646-78-0. OCLC 8762539. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
• Eitzen, D. Stanley and George Harvey Sage (2003). Sociology of North American Sport (7th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-235400-3. OCLC 49276709.
• Giulianotti, Richard (2005). Sport: A Critical Sociology. Oxford, UK; Malden, MA: Polity. ISBN 0-7456-2545-2. OCLC 56659449.
• Giulianotti, Richard (2004). Sport and Modern Social Theorists. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-80078-8. OCLC 55095622.
• Guttmann, Allen (2004). From Ritual to Record: The Nature of Modern Sports (Updated with a new afterword ed.). New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-13341-3. OCLC 54503875.
• Guttmann, Allen (1994). Games and Empires. Modern Sports and Cultural Imperialism. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-10042-6. OCLC 30036883.
• Heywood, Leslie, and Shari L. Dworkin (2003). Built to Win: The Female Athlete as Cultural Icon. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-3623-0. OCLC 51304091. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |chapterurl= and |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Houlihan, Barrie (editor) (2003). Sport and Society: A Student Introduction. London, UK; Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 0-7619-7033-9. OCLC 52460691. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |chapterurl= and |coauthors= (help)
• Jarvie, Grant; Maguire, Joseph (1994). Sport and Leisure in Social Thought. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-07703-6. OCLC 30030487. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
• Jarvie, Grant (2006). Sport, Culture and Society. An Introduction. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-30647-7. OCLC 60650865.
• Jay, Kathryn (2004). More than just a Game: Sports in American Life since 1945. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12534-8. OCLC 54503879. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |chapterurl= and |coauthors= (help)
• Johnson, Jay and Margery Jean Holman (2004). Making the Team: Inside the World of Sport Initiations and Hazing. Toronto, Canada: Canadian Scholars' Press. ISBN 1-55130-247-0. OCLC 55973445.
• Jones, Robyn L.; Armour, Kathleen M. (2000). Sociology of Sport: Theory and Practice. Harlow, Essex, England: Longman. ISBN 0-582-41912-3. OCLC 46486583.
• Laker, Anthony (2002). The Sociology of Sport and Physical Education: An Introductory Reader. London, UK; New York, NY: RoutledgeFalmer. ISBN 0-415-23593-6. OCLC 46732587.
• Lenskyj, Helen Jefferson (2003). Out on the Field: Gender, Sport and Sexualities. Toronto: Women's Press. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
• Loland, Sigmund,; Skirstad, Berit; Waddington, Ivan (2006). Pain and Injury in Sport: Social and Ethical Analysis. London, UK; New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-35703-9. OCLC 60453764.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Maguire, Joseph A. (2002). Sport Worlds: A Sociological Perspective. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. ISBN 0-88011-972-1. OCLC 48162875.
• Joseph A. Maguire; Kevin Young, eds. (2002). Theory, Sport & Society. Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Boston, MA: JAI. ISBN 0-7623-0742-0. OCLC 48837757.
• Nixon, Howard L. (2008). Sport in a Changing World. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59451-442-5. OCLC 181368766.
• Scambler, Graham (2005). Sport and Society: History, Power and Culture. Maidenhead, England; New York, NY: Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-21071-6. OCLC 58554471.
• Scraton, Sheila and Anne Flintoff (2002). Gender and Sport: A Reader. London, UK; New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-25952-5. OCLC 47255389.
• Sugden, John Peter and Alan Tomlinson (2002). Power Games: A Critical Sociology of Sport. London, England; New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-25100-1. OCLC 50291216.
• Tomlinson, Alan (2005). Sport and Leisure Cultures. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-3382-7. OCLC 57000964.
• Tomlinson, Alan and Christopher Young (2006). National Identity and Global Sports Events: Culture, Politics, and Spectacle in the Olympics and the Football World Cup. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-6615-9. OCLC 57349033.
• Waddington, Ivan (2000). Sport, Health and Drugs: A Critical Sociological Perspective. London, UK; New York, NY: E & FN Spon. ISBN 0-419-25190-1. OCLC 42692125.
• Woods, Ron B. (2007). Social Issues in Sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. ISBN 0-7360-5872-9. OCLC 70673116. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |chapterurl= and |coauthors= (help)
• Yiannakis, Andrew and Merrill J. Melnick (2001). Contemporary Issues in Sociology of Sport (Revised ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. ISBN 0-7360-3710-1. OCLC 45207842.
• Young, Kevin and Kevin B. Wamsley (2005). Global Olympics: Historical and Sociological Studies of the Modern Games. Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Oxford, UK: Elsevier JAI. ISBN 978-0-7623-1181-1. OCLC 62133166.
• Young, Kevin and Philip White (2007). Sport and Gender in Canada (2nd ed.). Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-541987-1. OCLC 70062619.

External links

• International Sociology of Sport Association
• North American Society for the Sociology of Sport
• Sociology of Sport Journal