Sociology of Sport

What are social ideologies?

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What are games?

-May involve rules, but they are not solid. No specific beginning and end. May or may not be physically challenging.

What is society?

-A collection of people living in a defined geographical territory and united by a political system and shared sense of self-identification that distinguishes them from other collections of people.

What is functionalism theory?

-Attributes to societies the characteristics of cohesion, consensus, cooperation and stability. -Systems that are linked together interdependently. -High degree of consensus on societal goals -How it contributes to the stability of the whole society. -Each part of society is functional for the stability of the whole.

What is sociology?

-Discipline that describes and explains human social organization in groups of all sizes. -Study what happens when people interact over time. -Processes that help groups form, grow, maintain, and dissolve over time. -Looking at the underlying order of social life. -Looking for shared meaning within groups. This constitutes culture, and directs human behavior by limiting personal choice.

Burnout among young athletes with a psychologist bent vs. a sociologist bent

-Psychologists would focus on the existence of stress in the lives of individual athletes and how stress might affect motivation, performance, and burnout. -Sociologists would focus on how sport programs are organized, the treatment of athletes in sport programs, and athlete's relationships with members of society.

What is the different between sport psychology and sport sociology?

-Psychology is about attributes and processes that exist inside individuals (e.g. cognition, leadership, personality) -Sociology is about social conditions and cultural contexts focusing outside and surrounding individuals

What is conflict theory?

-Social processes leading to disharmony, disruption, instability, and (duh) conflict. -Basic form of interaction is not cooperation, but competition -Power struggle and social control -For instance: -Focusing on power NCAA has on athletes (conflict) compared to the integrating effects intercollegiate sports have on athletes (functionalism).

Why is sport sociology important?

-Sport are tied to social structure and ideology -Sports are a part of major spheres of social life (sport and family/friends and sport and economy)

What is macro level of sociological analysis?

-Study of the larger social setting that affects individuals and small groups

What are cultural ideologies?

-The Gender Logic in sport helps to understand the relation between males and females in a whole society. -This Gender Logic usually worked to the advantage of men, therefore when we participated in sport we learned from a common sense that women were inferior to men.

What is culture?

-The ways of life people create in a particular society. -It consists of all the socially invented ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that emerge in particular groups as people try to survive, meet their needs, and achieve a sense of significance with the process. -Helps make up society

What is sport?

-activity that is guided by established rules. There is a clear-cut winner and loser, and the outcome is not known beforehand. Physically challenging.

What are values?

-criteria used for assessing merits of actions, ideas, feelings, events.

What are roles?

-expectations of behavior for specific positions

What is micro level of sociological analysis?

-focus on the structure of relatively small groups

What are the two levels of sociological analysis used in this class?

-micro and macro levels

What are the critical elements in defining a sport?

-physical activity -competitive activity -institutionalized activity -An activity played for personal enjoyment and external reward

What is play?

-pseudo-organized, or unorganized activity that is often intended as amusement.

What is sport influenced by?

-relationships, politics and economic pressures

What are social institutions?

-social arrangements used to direct behavior in prescribed ways

What is status?

-social position

What are norms?

-social prescriptions of how to act and dress is specified situations

What is sport is a microcosm of society?

-sports are useful in understanding our society