sports - march 4 Flashcards
1
Q
why study sports in soc
A
- Sports are a central part of people’s lives, and appear to be increasingly so
- Sports are connected to major social institutions
- Sports influence culture and vice versa
- Eg Kansas City shut down after winning the super bowl—impacted the institute of work, the institute of families
- Eg uniforms might differ from country to country based on cultural norms
- Eg Canada synonymous with hockey, but also the assault case from the World Juniors—causing us to have a dialogue on sports culture
- Eg look at sports names—Cleaveland Guardians now instead of Indians, name influenced by culture
2
Q
SES and sports
A
- Higher your social class (SES) is, the higher your likelihood of joining sports is
- Cost of equipment, cost of travel (including hotels obvi), cost of just enrolling in sports, plus for like pro sports you’ve got super expensive shit like camps or boarding schools etc etc
- Socioeconomic barriers to entry into sports
- Applies to both economic and cultural capital
- (people of higher social class are) Less likely to participate in “prole” (short for proletariat) sports
- Eg bowling, boxing, wrestling
- More resources, more time (for people of higher SES to play sports etc)
- Like driving hours for a game—people of lower SES might not be able to do that
- Upper-middle class sports: more rules, more competitive
- Also often more endurance sports says dr B? Because they have the time for it (to train)
3
Q
sports and family
A
- Sports can be a source of unification or division
- Source of unification: family rituals like watching the superbowl, going to a Jays game or something, parents watching sporting events
- Source of division: time commitments lead to families spending less time together (lol think softball season), rivalries maybe?
- Distribution of time—what if parents super support one kid in a sport but not in the other and then the kids grow up resenting each other?
- Daily routine often geared around children’s involvement in sports
- Degree of familial involvement can affect what sports a child plays and what level of involvement they themselves have with them
4
Q
sports and race
A
- Can be used to promote racial ideologies
- The notion that light-skinned people can’t jump and that dark-skinned people are natural athletes are expressions of dominant racial ideology in certain cultures
- The way race can “play out” in sports can be a distilled version of society’s racial issues as a whole
- Also sports team names that can be degrading (Cleveland Guardians)
- Chart—the racialized way announcers often talk about Black players and/or African teams in international competition
5
Q
sports and politics
A
- Countries can engage in “sportswashing” to improve their reputations and mask wrongdoings
- Eg Qatar, Saudi Arabia
- Both have terrible human rights records, but both have engaged in sportswashing (particularly with soccer—Qatar hosted the world cup, they actually bribed people to get selected, the stadiums were built on the backs of migrant labour with poor working conditions—Saudi Arabia getting like Ronaldo for their soccer league
- Countries use sports in other ways to influence diplomatic relations
- Eg because of the war in Ukraine, Russian and Belarusian tennis players couldn’t compete at Wimbledon in 2022 (political way of saying y’all shouldn’t be doing this we’re gonna show you we don’t want you to be doing what ur doing)
- Also the two soccer players who made the like double eagle sign toward Serbia for the Albanian flag after scoring—political gesture trying to get public attention for their politics
6
Q
sports and economy
A
- Money spent by consumers on betting, tickets, concessions, club fees, etc. has a direct effect on the economy
- Sports betting is a 10 billion dollar industry in the US alone
- Companies use sports sponsorships to:
- Promote brand awareness
- Promote corporate image
- Promote community relations
- Just in general to say what kind of company they are
- Eg Red Bull sponsoring extreme sports to show the consumer they’re an extreme brand
7
Q
sports and media
A
- Sports and media have a very strong bond
- Media help teams gain revenue, build fan loyalty, and had facilitated rise of sports journalism
- Video: will Americans ever care about soccer?
- Regular sports days help create a set of rituals (like watching sunday night football)
- Sports films help deliver the “Rocky” message (the underdog story, starting off with nothing and overcoming adversity and eventually making it to the top and winning a championships)
8
Q
sports and gender
A
- World of sports is predicated on the idea of biology
- Biology constructs sports!
- Sex-segregated bodies must be clearly identified
- Why? So that males and females are placed into distinct categories of sports
- This happens from a young age (eg in phys ed)
- Separation of the sexes via physical education classes
- Men become the default athlete and women become the other—eg NBA vs WNBA—male is default
- Athleticism is conflated with “masculinity” and is seen in contradiction of femininity
- Women might wear lots of makeup or do their hair in a way to show that they’re still feminine despite doing a masculine thing
- Among male athletes, the focus is generally on their athletic ability—appearance is secondary
- Among female athletes, the focus is always primarily on appearance—athletic ability is secondary
- This functions to keep athletes (and people more generally) in their “culturally acceptable” categories
- Hegemonic masculinity is differentially imposed and practiced within institutionalized team sports vs individual/less centralized sports
- The presence of “others” (ie teammates) is important in perpetuating hegemonic masculinity
- Eg in individual sports we see players who are like out as gay, but in the big team sports there aren’t (except maybe for that one dude in the NFL) (also lol women’s sports way different obviously)
9
Q
trans athletes
A
- Different sports and leagues have different rules for trans athletes
- Those who allow their participation typically require testosterone suppression for a certain period of time
- What do you think the debate is really about?
- Not every scenario is the same
10
Q
why are we fans
A
- It’s entertaining
- It’s an escape
- Economics and the prospect of “winning big”
Especially w/ sports betting - Eustress—aka good stress
Little bit of tension and then like the sweet release of victory kind of thing - Family bonding
- Group affiliation
And like community membership - Self-esteem
Especially when our team is doing good—like “we won” or “our team is doing good”–the way our team does directly influences how we think of ourselves
11
Q
*using the explanations for why we are fans, how would you explain the Vancouver hockey riots of 2011?
A
They lost in like the Stanley Cup final or smth and people rioted
Feeling of injustice—like blaming the refs maybe?
Your self esteem has taken a hit—you’re the losers
Distress, not eustress
Not an escape—your team lost
Or if you lose a bet on it/a lot of money on it
