Week 1

Question 1

What is involved in defining sports ?

Answer 1

1. structured - rule set; spatial limitations
2. goal-oriented - objective; end; final aim
3. Competitive - score being kept; judgement/measure
4. Ludic - opposite of labour or work; element of play involved
5. Culturally situated - specific contexts

Question 2

When was the old Olympic games created ?

Answer 2

776-394 B.C.E.

Question 3

When was the modern Olympic games created ?

Answer 3

1896

Question 4

Do sports stay static ?

Answer 4

No, sporting practives, taste and cultures increase/decrease across time and space
* history
* geography
Example: Baseball used to be “Americas” sport but now its football

Question 5

What occured in the 1800’s + early 1900s ?

Answer 5

rationalization of invidiual + team sports
* professionalized
* wealthy owners
* large stadiums
* endorsements

Question 6

How is amateur sport activity today ?

Answer 6

• Decrease in youth vs adults
• Decrease in wealthy vs poor
• Decrease in organized vs casual

Question 7

How are professional sports franchise today ?

Answer 7

• transnational corporations
• operates in many markets

Question 7

What occured in the 1980s-2000s ?

Answer 7

commercialization of professional/elite amateur sports
* television networks, speciality cable networks increase
* broadcasting right for sports -> $$$
* sponsors and advertisers -> $$$

Question 8

What occured with money increasing ?

Answer 8

conflicts b/w atheletes and teams
* overcompensation

conflicts b/w ahtletes and coaches
* over work conditions

Question 9

What are the perspectives on sport ?

Answer 9

• functionalist
• social reproduction

Question 10

What are totems ?

Answer 10

objects, usually in the natural world, that become sacred when they are represented in a symbolic form

Question 11

What is the concept of collective effervescence ?

Answer 11

the intense states of excitement and feelings of common solidarity that clan members experience when they come together to practise religious rituals

Question 12

What is the concept of communitas ?

Answer 12

intense forms of solidarity, unity and equality that members of a social group may feel, particularily when sharing a common experience or a socially significant “rite of passage”

Question 13

What is the difference b/w macro- and microsocialogical processes ?

Answer 13

• macro: societal level
• micro: everyday social interaction