Sociology of Sport

Starting with how women are portrayed in media, Trolan (2013) states that in today’s society, individuals are shown magazines, newspapers, and television programs with articles and photographs, “of what it means to be a woman or man” (Trolan, 215). This is remarkably obvious when discussing the world of sport. Although women have achieved a somewhat higher level of respect in the everyday world, within the sporting world, “they are still viewed as women first and athletes second” (Trolan, 215). Krane, Choi, Baird, Aimar, and Kauer (2004) also articulate that women participating in sport live in two extremely separate cultures: the sporting culture and the culture in which they face the continual battle between being an athlete and being a woman. Being viewed as

Gender classification is a predominant topic within today’s sports and is most broadly understood through the portrayals of sports media. Through overt and covert ways, sports media has continued to promote a masculine representation of sports (Millington & Wilson, 2010; Messener, Duncan, & Jensen, 1993). By understanding the way in which sports media portrays sports, one can recognize how masculinity has dominated the world of sports. With the aid of two unique studies of sports media, this paper will critique the way in which media has effected the gendered depiction of sports.

Women athletes are often exploited by marketers and advertisers who want to increase their revenues and bottom line sales. Advertisers focus more on the women’s “skin” and sex appeal rather than women’s athletes, leaving the impression that woman are not as talented in the sports as male athletes (Roenigk 1). Many spectators and advertisers do not take female professional sports seriously and think that female athletes play more for fun. Therefore, female athletes do not receive as much attention for their talent. Advertisers exploit women athletes by focusing on their looks and appearances. Advertisers focus on the female athlete’s sex appeal rather than talent (Julius 2). Those who are more talented can be drafted to play professionally where they receive a salary. However, marketers still focus more on male sports. Therefore, increased revenue continues as spectators buy tickets to watch professional male athletes. The female athletes continue to generate revenues from sex appeal and looks over talent. This professional salary in no way compares to the pay received by professional male athletes.

In our society sports are a very important social construction. As sports continue to grow, they are becoming more integrated into the major spheres of social life. Sports have become an entity, due to the fact that they not only create entertainment and jobs; sports have become a huge platform for various causes. Sports are extremely important to our society and have very powerful influences. Though experiences vary from person to person, most people have some sort of experience with sports. I personally have experienced sports more from the spectator and participant stance, and have been impacted from each perspective a great deal. Compared to sophomore safety, Jamal Adams my sports experience has been very different from impact and perspective.

In the Journal “Sport and Society: Annual Review of Sociology” written by Robert E. Washington and David Karen they talk about gender and sports in one section of their Journal. In this section the author addresses masculinity in sports and the attempts of Title IX to try and make sports equal in the sense that if women make up 40% of the athlete population they should receive 40% of the resources. However, this is not the case “The most recent data (Suggs 2000) reveal that in 1998–1999 women made up 42% of Division I athletes, received 42% of scholarship monies, 31% of recruiting budgets, 34% of coaching-salary budgets, and 33% of total operating expenses. According to Andrew Zimbalist (2000:B9), women “still play in inferior facilities, stay in lower-caliber hotels on the road, eat in cheaper restaurants, benefit from smaller promotional budgets, and have fewer assistant coaches.” (Washington and Karen, 2001) This long quote showcases that although women are starting to get what they deserve when it comes to a the percentage of Athletics that they comprise it is still not up to par. Although it is not technically salary, the gap in scholarship money and money spent of faculty for female athletes showcases how money it’s sports always goes to the male athletes no matter at what level. In a more recent example that further pushes the points that were made in Washington and Karen’s journal would be the U.S. Women’s Soccer team compared to the U.S. Men’s Soccer team. Both

Sociology is the study of the social worlds that people create, maintain and change through their relationships with each other. Sports in American society have a major impact on these social worlds and culture throughout the past century. Sports have an impact on social interaction, social structure and the shared ways of life and shared understandings that people develop as they live together. Compared to other forms of physical activities, sports are defined as “well established, officially governed competitive physical activities in which participants are motivated by internal and external rewards.” A critical sociological look into an individual’s development through sport is defined as a Sportography. Darion Scott, born and raised in Compton, California showed me through an interview of his sports history, how sports influenced his life in a positive way and provided a window into his culture and society.

According to the textbook racial and ethnic issues have become more prevalent in sports as global migration and political changes have allowed people from diverse backgrounds to come together to follow their dreams of playing sports (Coakley, 2017, p. 216). An example of this is many major league teams have training facilities across several continents allowing athletes from across the globe to be discovered. Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Gift Ngoepe is the first South African born player to make it to the major leagues. This breakthrough has force society to create perceptions about the South African culture and how it impacts Major League Baseball.

Sport is a creation of social reality and no other foundation except possibly religion, commands the ethnic fascination that sport does. Sport also offers competitiveness and organized conflict in controlled surroundings that are not found in other parts of social life. There is an everlasting connection between social class, ethnicity, and sports. Baseball in the United States is a good example of this because they continue to recruit players from the blue-collar part of the population leaving out black males; this attracted a good amount of scholarly attention and speculation. Black players were banned from major league sports until 1940. “Sport is an arena of patterned behaviors, social structures, and interinstitutional relationships that holds unique opportunities to study and understand the complexities of social life.” The treatment of African Americans in sport has been problematic for years; they had to overcome many different obstacles due to discrimination from coaches, managers, players, and even the fans.

Sports participation is something that is looked at closely in todays society because of the amount of participants there are in sports today. Social classes and participation is heavily influenced by the way people live their lives, where they live, what country they live in , and perhaps most importantly, the socioeconomic class they may fall into. In some understatements, sports may serve as an identifier of what social class a family or individual may fall into, simply by looking at who we are dealing with and what sport this individual may play. As a student in a sport sociology class we find trends in countries worldwide when comparing certain sport involvement and social class. Throughout this essay I will have three arguments that will support my point about social class and participation in sports. My first point will be how economic resources affect the middle-class, second will be how social capital affects middle-class sports, and lastly lower-class and participation in sports.

With the rise of feminism, gender inequality has been quite the topic in todays time. With the wanting of equal rights and treatment it has been pointed out as per which all places males have the hegemonic overview and women are the oppressed; one of the areas where its unequal in gender is in sport. This paper will examine and break down the issues regarding sex and gender biases within sports in modern day media and how it can be resolved.

Sport plays a huge role in today’s society. It contributes to one’s health and fitness, social interaction, social and motor skills, patriotism, fun and entertainment. It also stimulates the economy and tourism leading to interaction between different cultures, for example the Olympics, and sport role models. Sports clearly are an important part of cultures and societies around the world as such events as the Olympics

Normative ethics functions well in the sporting environment because it can help settle more disputes when the values of the participants coach, players, and parents enter into a conflict. While many sporting organizations are practical withy policies, actions, produces, and strategies in place they cannot cover every actions. Thus by applying the normative ethics written and unwritten codes of conduct can be put in place. Normative ethics is used only as a guideline to propose, identify and great a system for the enhancement of sports. Under the normative ethics several principle exists. Based on my original pillars of ethics being Integrity, Privacy, Harm and caution I would have to identify Social benefit as an action I use more than originally

The growing culture of athletics has exploded into more than that of just a sport. Collegiate and professional American football has grown itself into a multi-billion dollar industry with a fan base of over 350 million people. As the game of football has grown and evolved, so has the demand for bigger athletes. All positions have increased in size through the years, however one position has seen the greatest increase in size. The average weight of an NFL offensive lineman today is 310 pounds. This is an average increase of 50 pounds in 60 years. Teams and coaches are pushing for players to get larger at a faster rate, primarily offensive lineman. The drawback with this philosophy is as the size of the individual increases, as does the risk of health complications. However, size isn’t the only concern for these players that has recently has had light shed upon it, the process of playing a line position (offensive or defensive) includes repeatedly taking head collisions against the opposing player. Recent research has shown that this type of play, even while wearing protective headgear, is causing lasting brain damage and head trauma. The purpose of this review is to examine the research that has been conducted on the negative health effects associated with playing the offensive lineman position at the collegiate and professional level. Also, why these conditions are arising and what the

How do sports impact us? Does it benefit us in any way? Sports can impact individually and as a whole. They can motivate us, and famous athletes can inspire us. Sports have been around for centuries, they are still growing.

Sport sociology examines sports as a part of cultural and social life, and adds a different dimension and perspective to the study of sport and exercise. More specifically, sport sociology examines the relationship between sports and society and seeks answers to many issues and questions regarding sport and culture. Sociology of sport poses critical and controversial issues; additionally, sports are considered a microcosm of society, the same social issues that exist in larger society also exist in sport culture. I have chosen eight peer-reviewed Sociological Journals to expand upon the understanding of this topic that I found to be the most relevant and offer diverse yet complete perspectives on sports.