Chapter 1

Thursday, January 11, 2024 9:00 AM

Introduction
• Society: the structured social relations and institutions among a large community of people which cannot be reduced to a simple collection or aggregation of individuals
• Democratization: the process of change towards greater social equality - with a fully democratized sport environment including the right to participate, regardless of one's particular set of
social characteristics, and the right to be involved in determination of the forms, circumstances and meanings of participation
• Sport: any formally organized, competitive activity that involves vigorous physical exertion or the execution of complex physical skills with rules enforced by a regulatory body. Informed
physical activities, are often self-initiated, may or may not have fixed start or stop times, and generally have some agreed upon rule system.
○ Sport is connected to significant social institutions, such as the media, education, the economy, and government, as well as a broader web of social relations.

Structural Issues Impacting Participation in Sport and Physical Activity

• Patterns of male and female participation in sports are influenced by social structures and unequal power relations that favor and empower men.
• The gender gap in sport participation has increased, with men being more likely to participate in sport than women.
• Sport participation rates decrease as Canadians get older, with the participation rates of young Canadians declining faster than older Canadians.
• Higher income earners are more likely to participate in sports than less affluent Canadians, with household income decisively impacting children’s participation in sports.
• Sport participation of non-Anglophones is declining, and established immigrants participate in sport less than recent immigrants do.

Sociology as a Social Science

• Sociology: the disciplined study of human social behavior including the analysis of the origins, classifications, institutions, and development of human society on a global level.
○ Sociology is not neutral but is a critical examination of the contemporary social situation with the goal of understanding social phenomena and improving society.
○ Sociologists examine social interactions, structures, power relations, and institutions that enable and constrain individuals and groups.
• Practical consciousness: tacitly accepted and taken-for-granted beliefs that are shaped by experiences of and interactions with various social structures, institutions, and ideologies that are
subject to ongoing refinement.

Origins of the Sociology of Sport

• Sociology of Sport: refers to a field of research focused on the relationships between sport and society, particularly the role of sport in social and cultural life.
• Sociologists of sport study the people involved in sport, the institutions and social structures affecting their experiences, and the processes occurring in conjunction with sport.
• The aims of the sociology of sport include critically examining the role and meaning of sport, describing and explaining the emergence and diffusion of sport, identifying socialization processes,
investigating values and norms in sport, exploring the exercise of power and societal stratification, examining sport's response to social changes, and contributing to policy formation.
• Sociologists of sport are also concerned with how the structure of organized sport and dominant cultural ideologies associated with sport relate to different people in terms of class, race, age,
and sexuality.
• Sociologists of sport serve as experts to government agencies, act as advocates for athletes' rights and responsibilities, promote human development in physical education and sport science,
and encourage better policies and practices within the field.

Defining Sport: Power at Play

• Institutionalization: the process of established dominant sets of patterns, rules, social norms, and relations in society
• Social construction: the historical process through which people collectively invent and reinvent their shared understandings of the social world and its institutions.
• The concept of social construction invites questions about what is considered "natural" and "normal."
• Sport is shaped by social interactions and can be changed and given different forms and meanings over time and from place to place.

Defining Physical Culture

• Culture: the activities, norms, customs, values, symbols, and shared meanings and materials that are part of the day-to-day lives of those in groups and societies - as well as the symbols and
practices that not only bring people together, but also used to disrupt and contest.
• Physical culture: how the physical body is embedded in and shaped by the activities, norms, customs, values, symbols, materials, shared meanings, and power relations that are part of day-to-
day life in groups and societies.
• The body has biological and physiological characteristics that are only experienced and understood within a social context, and it is both part of nature and part of culture.
• The physical body is not only a biological entity but also a social and cultural one, playing a role in relations of power and forms of domination, and can also be tools for resistance.

The Sociological Imagination

• Sociological Imagination: the ability to go beyond personal issues and to make connections to social structures, history, and broader power relations
• People often interpret the world from their own personal perspectives, grounded in their families, neighborhoods, jobs, and friendships.
○ Individual perspectives limit understanding and interpretation of life's obstacles and difficulties
• The sociological imagination is the mind's ability to understand history, biography, and their intersections within society
○ Personal troubles can be addressed and resolved by an individual within the scope of a specific social setting, and often within the scope of their own character
○ Public issues of social structure transcend personal troubles and are related to the organization and to the larger structures of social and historical life. These are, moreover, much broader
issues that cannot be resolved by simply making changes to one’s life or immediate circumstances, or by reference to an individual’s character.
• Three kinds of sensitivities associated with the sociological imagination are historical, comparative, and critical.
○ Historical sensitivity: important for understanding the historical and changing dynamics of social relations to truly understand the present.
○ Comparative sensitivity: learning about how both society and sport have been socially constructed according to different meanings and forms in various cultures. Not only do we learn
about other cultures, but as a result of comparative sensitivity, we come to appreciate and respect diversity and the range of ways that sport and physical activity have been
institutionalized and socially constructed around the world.
○ Critical sensitivity: a willingness to think and act critically about relationships of power and social change, and to try to develop wide-reaching solutions to broader public issues of social
structure

Key Sociological Concepts

• Agency: the ability of individuals and groups to act independently and pursue their own choices.
• Social Structure: the patterned relationships that connect different parts of society to one another and that simultaneously enable and constrain social action.
○ Rules: the internal assumptions and ideologies embraced by humans as common sense and the external laws, regulations, and policies that set limits and possibilities with respect to how
we can act in our social lives.
○ Resources: the various capacities that enable and constrain individuals or groups to engage in practices and social relations
• Social structures set limits and boundaries that can facilitate or restrict the capacity of individuals to act
• Structures are not permanent and can be transformed through interactions and social change

Power in Sport & Society

• Power: the ability of an individual or a group of individuals to employ resources to secure outcomes even when opposed by others
• Power can be understood as a level of control or prestige of one group over another as an exercise of agency.
• To have power and achieve a result or social change, one needs access to a range of resources and favorable rules.

Hegemony & Ideology

• Hegemony: the process through which dominant individuals and groups are able to exert moral and intellectual leadership to establish ideological systems of meanings and values as common
sense in democratic societies
• Ideology: common sense ideas and beliefs that serve the interests of dominant groups and that work to legitimize and sustain their positions of power and influence

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