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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 the relationship between sociology and sports, and also various socio-cultural structures, patterns, and organizations or groups involved with sport. This area of study discusses the positive impact sports have on individual people and society as a whole economically, financially, and socially. Sociology of sport attempts to view the actions and behavior of sports teams and their players through the eyes of a sociologist.[1]
Sport is regulated by regulations and rules of behavior, spatial and time constraints, and has governing bodies. It is oriented towards a goal, which makes known both the winner and the loser. It is competitive, and ludic. All sports are culturally situated, intertwined with the value systems and power relations within the host society.[2]
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. Homo Ludens discusses the importance of the element of play in culture and society. Huizinga suggests that play, specifically sport, is primary to and a necessary condition of the generation of culture. These written works contributed to the rise of the study of sociology of sport. 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.[3]
It is a common assumption that sports can be viewed as a ritual and a game at the same time. Sports as a result can be viewed as a parallel ritual process which is connected to leisure time and freedom. The symbolic effect of a ritual allows classification of social relationships among men and between women and men, as well as the impact sports has on nations. Some national sports like baseball in Cuba, cricket in the West Indies, and football in a majority of Latin American countries drive passion that goes past the ethnic status, regional origins, or class lines. Therefore, sport is an important field of analysis for achieving better understanding of the functioning of modern societies.[4]
- ^ Macri, Kenneth. "Not Just a Game: Sport and Society in the United States". inquiriesjournal.com. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
- ^ McPherson, Barry D.; Curtis, James E.; Loy, John W. (1989). The Social Significance of Sport: An Introduction to the Sociology of Sport. Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics. pp. 15–17. ISBN 978-0873222358.
- ^ "About NASSS". nasss.org. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
- ^ Archetti, Eduardo P. “The Meaning of Sport in Anthropology: A View from Latin America.” Revista Europea de Estudios Latinoamericanos y Del Caribe / European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, no. 65 (1998): 91–103. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25675799.