Spheres Of Mainstream Sport: Subcultural Study

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.

Who has watched the Olympics game or a professional basketball game and not wondered, “Why are so many of the best black athletes?” or “are they better suited to athletics than Whites or Asians genetically? It is well known that black athletes participate more in basketball and football. Comparing with black and white, Asian athletes are less participate in basketball or football. There are racial differences in participation in football, basketball, and other sports. Black males are 2.5 times as likely to participate in basketball. On the other hand, white males are 1.3 times more likely than black males to participate in other sports such as baseball, soccer, and swimming. (Jennifer E) Besides, most of people will curious about why black athletes participate more in basketball or football, and why more Asian-American participate more in table tennis and why Latino are more willing to participate more in baseball. The three factors can

Over the last decade, the prominence and relevance of sports has permeated the social fabric of American culture. As a sociological construct, sports have helped create a new sense of identity for millions of Americans by appealing to their personal and physical needs and by subconsciously influencing the manner in which they interact with one another. When analyzed through a sociological framework, sports have the capacity to transcend racial, political and socioeconomic barriers making it one of the world’s most powerful community-building institutions.

From the perspective of subcultural studies, small communities share distinctive, authentic, values which are underpinned by a specific combination of actors' capitals. In case of the swimming club Kometa, the resulting combination, upon being acknowledged by actors as of distinctive worth, is labelled as a sporting capital, a form of Bourdieu's symbolic capital (Bourdieu, 1984, 1992; Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1992). It is constructed by a desirable combination of social, cultural, economic or media capitals, created during everyday actors' practices, their rituals and affective relationships. Interpreted via Bourdieu's lens, sporting capital depends on inconspicious representation of actors's habitus (compare Wheaton, 2000). In addition, we can

Following the Civil War in the United States, African-Americans still faced extreme forms of racism and troubles all the way up until the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. African-Americans were excluded from nearly all forms of participating in society including the ability to participate in professional sports and be paid at the same level as white athletes. The segregation of sports in this country was never declared by law, however it is something that our culture refused to accept (Reese). The eventual integration of sports in the United States, beginning with baseball and boxing, played a major role in the Civil Rights Movement and had a lasting impact on

In this article Michael Serazio, an associate professor in the department of communications at Boston College informs that Sports culture has become the new religion, but he questions why people are so faithful. Serazio demonstrates that in our culture, humans have created a new meaning and devotion to sports. Stating that totems are an obvious and noticeable form that a society interpreters to be different and shows its personality or beliefs. By creating such logos with distinct characteristics, patterns, and colors to form a physical illustration of sports teams it gives their supporters a recognizable sense of “identity and unity”. Much like religion, our sports teams are diminishing in faith. Serazio questions exactly what icons will continually

While conceptualising a part of the sporting field as a subculture, we have inevitably stepped into the current debate on the nature of today subcultures. There, we defend the position of the post-CCCS subcultural authors, most notably Sarah Thornton (1995), Becky Beal or Belinda Wheaton (Wheaton and Beal, 2003) who adapted the concept of Bourdieu’s symbolic capital and applied it as a subcultural capital, in order to analytically grasp a subculture and its members. Unlike the most recent post-subcultural line of research (Bennett, 1999; Stahl, 2003; Weinzierl and Muggleton, 2003), this ‘middle’ generation of researchers promote subcultures as relatively stable entities or, at least, as entities with clearly defined borders, which have their

The high level of sporting capital indicates orthodox, authentic, behaviour and, thus, the actor behaving this way is a core, authentic, member of the community. The authenticity of membership (and of the whole community) is reflected and verbalised by actors themselves. Whereas, on the level of cultural sociology, we may use authenticity in an analytical way (Magdalinski, 2009; Smart, 2005), actors of the swimming subculture perceive it as a normative and practical category, linked to specific clubbing practices (Hughson and Free, 2006; Stebbins, 2006; Thornton, 1995; Wheaton, 2000; Wheaton and Beal, 2003). Even though actors don't employ the expert language, for them, the swimming club is a ‘healthy’ and ‘clean’ environment set in a ‘fair’

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

Sport is an ever growing aspect of our cultures, and as the access to different avenues of sport begin to present themselves we question the ability of sport organizations to expand globally. This review of literature will examine different avenues of sport and the research that has been done in regards to their effort to expand on a global scale.

Sporting subcultures offer alternative activities that mainstream sports fail to provide. Subcultures in sports such as skateboarding, windsurfing, and parkour can provide; freedom, individualism, unregulation, risk, and pure physical expression when compared to mainstream sports such as football, basketball, and baseball that offer; regulation, organization, and scrutiny. During skateboarding, you are allowed to perform your own tricks and have the freedom to choose what, where, when, and how, to practice. In mainstream sports such as football, you have coaches to guide and influence you, thus suppressing the creativity an alternative sport would provide. For mainstream sports, there are always rules and regulations that must be adhered to.

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.

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

What is the social role of sport? To what extent does social structure influence the practice and experience of sport? Discuss in relation to two of the following: gender, class, ethnicity or Aboriginality, or region. Illustrate your answer with at least three examples from sporting contexts (local or international).

Comparing these two sports societies may have seemed to be a difficult task before reading the descriptions of each. After reading and researching, it is very clear to me that there are specific norms each share, despite the fact that they are for different sports. In each nation, there are similarities in the dedication that each society has towards their given sport. Even though people may not have been dying in arguments over the sport in the American society, there is still a sense of the same dedication and fanaticism. Another thing about the societies that is comparable is the fan base that each society presents towards their given sport. Both groups are very large, intensely loyal and