Chapter 16
A reformist goal for changing sports emphasizes
improving sports by making them more fair and equitable.
The major demographic change that will influence sports in the future is
increased social and cultural diversity.
Using structural theories as a guide for changing sports would lead to an emphasis on
changing symbols, vocabularies, and ideologies.
When highly visible and popular athletes become involved in efforts to change something related to sports, they usually have goals that are
conservative.
When joining opposition groups to establish a vantage point for changing sports, a person is most likely to be successful when working to
create more diverse sport spaces at a local level.
In the chapter it is noted that changing sports is often so difficult that some people who want different sport experiences have found it easier to
create new sports.
When commercialism and consumption pervade a society, people are viewed as
customers rather than citizens.
Athletes who endorse transformational changes that involve deep structural and ideological changes in society are
likely to lose popular support and media coverage.
The Gay Games are an example of
people seeking an alternative to dominant sport forms.
Telecommunications and the electronic media will influence the future because
people use media content to form standards for assessing their experiences.
Who would be most likely to use a critical approach as they worked to change sports? Someone with
radical goals.
Using structural theories as a guide for changing sports would lead to an emphasis on
regulating economic processes related to funding priorities.
The most important issue related to the use of technology in sports is
regulating the ways that technologies are incorporated into sports.
At any point in time in a culture, dominant sport forms
represent the interests of people who have power in that culture.
When commercial ideology pervades sports in a society, sport participation
revolves round consumption.
Some participants in alternative sports resist attempts to make their sports more like mainstream power and performance sports because they don't want to
see competition replace creativity and support for other participants.
The legendary snowboarder Terje Haakonsen felt that spending years perfecting a specialized skill to conform to a single definition of technical perfection in the Olympics
would destroy the basis for fun in his sport.
The classic embodiment of power and performance sports is
American football.
Using cultural theories as a guide for changing sports would lead to an emphasis on
changing symbols, vocabularies, and ideologies.
Which of the following efforts to create the future would a pro basketball player be most likely to join?
A program to improve reading skills among low-income children.
The author uses adult kickball as an example of
a child's game being turned into a power and performance sport.
Power and performance sports emphasize that people reach their potential when they
achieve machine-like efficiency.
Being an effective change agents requires a vision of what sports and social life could and should be, a willingness to work hard, and
an ability to rally the resources needed to produce results.
Pleasure and participation sports generally emphasize
an ethic of good health.
The sponsorship of power and performance sports is generally motivated by the idea that it is important to be associated with
athletes and teams who are currently winners.
The popularity of power and performance sports is connected with gender relations because these sports
celebrate physical superiority and dominating others.
Using interactionist theories as a guide for changing sports would lead to an emphasis on
developing alliances with people in sports.
Organization and rationalization have a tendency to undermine the
element of play in sports.
In the introduction to the chapter, the author explains that the future of sports will
emerge in an uncontrollable and random manner.
Few people have radical goals for changing sports because people who support radical goals usually
focus on changing living conditions more than changing sports.
When people play pleasure and participation sports, they are likely to
focus on their connections with other participants.
When people use an inside vantage point for changing sports the biggest problem is that by the time they have the power to exert influence they will
have a vested interest in maintaining sports as they are.
The author points out that celebrity athletes
have little real power as change agents in society.
When considering the future, it is useful to remember that
sports are social constructions.
The media help to maintain the popularity of power and performance sports by associating them with
storylines that resonate with the experiences of consumers.
Older people tend to prefer sports that stress
the cultivation of the body rather than driving it.
When people have conservative goals for changing sports, they emphasize
the growth and efficiency of existing sport programs.
Pleasure and participation sports will become more popular in the future because
there are growing concerns about improving health and fitness.
A radical goal for changing sports emphasizes
transforming current sports and creating new forms of sports.
